AFRICAN
CONSERVATION AND WEB SITES FOR AFRICA FROM
AFRICANWEBSITES.NET
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Bui Hippo Project. I am quoting Daniel Bennett here
.. "In March 2001 the government of Ghana banned my research in Bui National
Park. The area is due to be flooded by a
hydroelectric
dam in 2002. Other than the late Paul Choribe, my teams and I are the only
scientists to have conducted biological research at Bui in all 29 years of
the park's existence. In the past I have maintained a neutral stance on the
Bui Dam Project because I have no wish to interfere with Ghana's development
plans and hoped that my research might facilitate them. But Bui National
Park has very few friends and I feel obliged to speak because I believe that
it is the last fragment of pristine wilderness in the entire Volta system
and harbours an exceptionally rich fauna and flora that is in imminent danger
of being destroyed without ever being documented. The site is much too important
to be ignored. Furthermore, the villages that are condemned by the dam have
requested that I maintain my interest in the area. They report that they
have never been consulted about the dam and the effect it will have on their
lives. Our work has been outlawed because of the comments I made about the
effect of the dam on food availability for the hippopotamus population in
the park. Only about 400 hippos survive in Ghana, over 80% of which live
at Bui. Our previous research shows very clearly that all the traditional
feeding grounds of the hippos would be destroyed during the early flooding
stages of the dam, with the effect that many hundreds of hungry hippopotamus
would be forced to move north of the park into inhabited areas." Please visit
the Bui Hippo
Project to read more and find out how you can help or
email Daniel directly.
The
Rainforest Action Network
(RAN) works in various countries in Africa helping groups and
communities to protect their land and forests by allowing
their voices to be heard in the power institutions to which these local people
have no access. RAN focuses primarily on one of the many threats to Africa's
forests, those institutions and companies based in the industrialized countries
that are profiting immensely from Africa's riches, and leaving destruction
in their wake. RAN has confronted the World Bank and their role in creating
and dictating an economic framework that insures the continued exploitation
of the land at the expense of real sustainable development. They work most
closely with local groups who are willing
to risk confronting repressive governments and the foreign
companies with whom they work in order to protect their land and culture.
If you'd like to join RAN or find out what you can do to help, you can email
RAN at either rainforest@ran.org
or osani@ran.org.
The
Ghana Wildlife
Society (GWS) is a non-governmental, non-political,
non-profit making environmental organization which seeks
to conserve wildlife in all its forms to ensure a better environment and
improved quality of life for all people. GWS is the BirdLife International
partner in Ghana. The Society aims to achieve this through:
- Initiating and supporting projects which address specific problems.
- Public awareness and conservation education programmes.
- Promoting the conservation of wildlife protected arrears.
- Encouraging research on wildlife and environmental protection and conservation.
The GWS was first formed
in the early 1970s but functioned for a few years and became dormant. In
1991, it was revived by the Save the Seashore Birds Project - Ghana (SSPC-G),
a project
that aimed at protecting sea and shore birds and their coastal
wetland habitats in Ghana. When the SSBP-G ended in June 1994, the Society
took over and continued the conservation activities initiated by the project.
The structure of the Society comprises general
Membership
(Adult Members' Groups, Junior Members' Groups - the WCG, Affiliates and
Corporate bodies), Council and a Secretariat. The members' groups are open
to all interested persons. Currently there are Adult Members' Groups in Greater
Accra, Ashanti, Western, and Volta Regions. The society’s Secretariat
is based in Accra and currently has 58 full-time and seven part-time employees
to implement the policies, strategies and programmes of the Society. The
Secretariat has three units: Education and Public Awareness, Development
and Conservation projects including Research.
Earthwatch
Institute is
a non-profit organization matching members of the public with scientists
all over the world. You can explore for projects and expeditions in Ghana
- such as an expedition to the Hippo Sanctuary - which can use your help.
Earthwatch
Institute operates on a very simple but radical notion : that if
you fully involve the general public in the process of
science,
you not only give them understanding, you give the world a future. They say
"Join us. The next discovery may be yours." There are a number of email addresses
on which you can contact them, depending upon what part of the world you
are in : Europe -
info@earthwatch.org.uk USA -
info@earthwatch.org; Australia/Japan
- earth@earthwatch.org.
Much of Africa's habitat
and its wildlife is threatened by overpopulation and unsustainable use of
natural resources
by poor people. Raptors are no exception; over 100 species
either breed in Africa or migrate there each winter from Europe and Asia.
Conservation of far ranging species like raptors and other migratory birds
presents special problems to biologists. How do we protect animals that range
so far and need widely dispersed habitats in which to survive?
The Peregrine
Fund's Pan Africa Program aims to establish projects throughout Africa
that train local people to do the studies needed to achieve conservation
of birds of prey and other species. The programme will bring biologists from
diverse countries and cultures together in a common effort to protect Africa's
natural resources. You can email The Peregrine Fund at
tpf@peregrinefund.org.
For more information on Ghana, please click
here.
If you would like to
contact us please email
terry@africanconservation.org
