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Misanet.com/IPS, 28 November - Conservation experts ended a three-day workshop in Yaoundé recently with an ambitious programme aimed at rehabilitating the western black rhino - a subspecies of the rhino now found only in northern Cameroon - which is threatened by extinction. However, they warned that success would depend on strong government commitment. In 1980, it was estimated that as many as 3,000 western black rhino existed in the Central African Republic, Chad and Cameroon. But, by 1997, there were only an estimated 10 animals scattered over an area of 25,000 km2 in northern Cameroon. Since 1997, environmentalists say, there are places where rhino spoor is no longer seen and there may now be fewer than 10 animals. "The western black rhino or 'Diceros bicornis longipes'," said Dr Martin Brooks, "of the KZN Nature Conservation Service in South Africa and Yaoundé workshop coordinator, "is the most critically endangered of all African rhinos and time is running out." Without concerted action the subspecies is likely to go extinct in the near future, he added. The experts blamed rapid decline in rhino numbers on poaching, driven to high levels by increasing demand for its horn as an important ingredient for Chinese traditional medicine and is highly priced in Yemen for making dagger handles.
However, due to the work of the French Committee of the World Conservation Union (IUCN), and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), in the region during the past two decades, the fate of the western black rhino continued to feature on the international agenda of conservationists, especially at the last meeting of the African Rhino Specialist Group (AFRSG) in Lake Manyara, Tanzania in May where a number of conservation options were reviewed. The Yaoundé workshop adopted the AFRSG view that the option, with a reasonable chance of success, involves consolidating and intensively protecting all remaining rhinos in one place in the wild. In time, as numbers build up, surplus animals can be translocated to set up additional populations, but this would be many years in the future. However, this would depend on Cameroon authorities demonstrating a significant political will to conserve the few remaining rhinos, sufficient long term funding secured to both set up and run a sanctuary, and a number of fundamental security-related problems addressed. Hence, the recommendation for the creation of a 270-km2 sanctuary within a protected area far away from international borders, undertake field surveys by the end of 2001 to determine the ages, sex and location of the remaining animals, raise numbers to 50 by 2050, and appointment of a director for the rhino programme in Garoua. No option is likely to succeed in Cameroon if effective security measures are not implemented and increased protection for remaining animals in-situ provided, according to AFRSG. "In both Africa and Asia," Dr Brooks explained, "a high degree of political will and significant financial commitment are key factors associated with successful rhino conservation. Experience elsewhere on the continent shows that effective rhino protection in Africa ideally requires a field ranger every 10 km2 and at least one ranger per 30 km2, and can cost as much as 1,000 US dollars per km2 per year." By way of contrast, the Cameroon government budget translates to an estimated expenditure of only eight US dollars per km2 per year, and a field ranger only every 100 km2. These levels, say environmentalists, are insufficient to successfully conserve and protect the rhino. "It is very clear that we lack the capacity to protect the rhino. We cannot even afford frequent flights over the zone for effective surveys," Bala admitted. However, he added, with information now available and its value perceptible (Six rhinos were sold at 50,000 US dollars each during an auction in South Africa last June), the government is determined, with international support, to move the rhino agenda forward. According to Dr. Martin Tchamba of WWF-Cameroon, that determination has been translated in some recent encouraging signs of increased political will and expenditure on conservation in Cameroon. In March 1999, Cameroon, along with other countries in the Congo Basin, signed the Yaounde Declaration, resulting in an emergency Plan of Action for general forest biodiversity conservation being approved in December 1999. The latter mandates the MINEF to work on forest monitoring and protection in protected areas, and crack down on wildlife poaching and illegal trade. Participants to the workshop cited the lack of adequate sentencing of those convicted of rhino crimes in Cameroon as a major problem as, they say, this does not act as a deterrent to potential poachers. They urged Cameroon to follow the successful example of South Africa and Namibia where poachers receive maximum jail terms of 10-20 years and/or heavy fines, while in Swaziland, rhino crimes are considered non-bailable offences and carry a mandatory prison term of at least five years plus a large fine which, if not paid, results in an additional two year sentence. "Cameroon has good anti-poaching legislation. The success of any option will depend upon its effective enforcement," Dr. Tchamba, former head of the Garoua-based WWF-Cameroon Programme's Northern Savannah Project (NSP) which focused its work on the western black rhino, cautioned. "A sufficient number of field rangers will have to be employed, equipped and trained, an appropriate hierarchy of command established, a strong code of conduct for guards introduced, and good remuneration and bonuses provided (both to rangers and traditional rulers in the rhino zone)." Beyond these suggestions, experts drawn from MINEF, WWF, IUCN, the Fonds d'Aides and the North Carolina Zoological Park in the US, recommended that additional infrastructure be developed including the establishment of a secure radio communications system, a network of management tracks and the building of additional field ranger outposts throughout the region. Setting up an intelligence gathering network in the surrounding areas will be an added plus. If progress in setting up and implementing an effective security system is delayed, rhinos may be at an increased risk of being poached, Dr. Brooks warned. He said the AFRSG was ready to assist the Cameroon government in seeking funding for the programme. On the ground, WWF Cameroon has been sensitising the local population through anti-poaching campaigns and patrols and the recent hiring of four game/wildlife guards gives hope that there are better days ahead for the western black rhino.
By Tansa Musa, IPS
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