Common use of Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary Clause in Contracts

Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary. Management of AMWS by Cross River State Forestry Commission currently receives support from a number of NGOs including Fauna and Flora International, the Wildlife Conservation Society, Pandrillus and the Nigerian Conservation Foundation. Although levels of hunting have been reduced through the creation of a team of 23 rangers, there are estimated to be more than 600 illegal farms of various sizes within the sanctuary. Widespread illegal logging in the surrounding Afi River Forest Reserve (ARFR) and the spread of farms from the intervening Buanchor enclave threaten to sever the habitat corridor linking Afi to the Mbe Mountains in the east. Although the steep mountainous slopes of the sanctuary have largely protected it from logging, the forest is frequently damaged by dry-season fires and during the 2005-6 dry season some of the gorillas left the confines of the sanctuary to feed in surrounding farms. Methods for mitigating potential gorilla-human conflict therefore need to be considered. AMWS is currently the focus of an ambitious ecotourism drive by Cross River State Government that includes a plan for habituation of the gorillas at Afi for the purposes of tourism. This habituation proposal is currently the subject of an independent feasibility study. The sanctuary is also the proposed release site for the reintroduction of captive drills (Mandrillus leucophaeus) by the NGO Pandrillus.

Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary. Management of AMWS by Cross River State Forestry Commission currently receives support from a number of NGOs including Fauna and Flora International, the Wildlife Conservation Society, Pandrillus and the Nigerian Conservation Foundation. Although levels of hunting have been reduced through the creation of a team of 23 rangers, there are estimated to be more than 600 illegal farms of various sizes within the sanctuary. Widespread illegal logging in the surrounding Afi River Forest Reserve (ARFR) and the spread of farms from the intervening Buanchor enclave threaten to sever the habitat corridor linking Afi to the Mbe Mountains in the east. Although the steep mountainous slopes of the sanctuary have largely protected it from logging, the forest is frequently damaged by dry-season fires and during the 2005-6 dry season some of the gorillas left the confines of the sanctuary to feed in surrounding farms. Methods for mitigating potential gorilla-gorilla- human conflict therefore need to be considered. AMWS is currently the focus of an ambitious ecotourism drive by Cross River State Government that includes a plan for habituation of the gorillas at Afi for the purposes of tourism. This habituation proposal is currently the subject of an independent feasibility study. The sanctuary is also the proposed release site for the reintroduction of captive drills (Mandrillus leucophaeus) by the NGO Pandrillus.