OKKPS Landscape Steering Committee Members Visit Moyen Bafing National Park

One of the main objectives of the Programme for the Preservation of Forest Ecosystems in West Africa (PAPFor) project in the OKKPS landscape is to create the future Pinselli-Soyah-Sabouyah National Park in Guinea and to strengthen the governance of Outamba-Kilimi National Park in Sierra Leone. From 14 to 18 July 2023, PAPFor organised a field mission for members of the Outamba-Kilimi-Kuru-Pinselli-Soya (OKKPS) landscape steering committee to visit the Moyen-Bafing National Park in Guinea to exchange experiences and enable OKKPS landscape stakeholders to draw inspiration from the best practices already in place at Moyen-Bafing NP.

At the onset of the PAPFor project, it was recommended, among other things, to organize regular meetings between the two protected areas to assess the progress made, and organise training and similar exchanges of experience to maintain cooperation and learning between the two countries.

The visit brought together a total of nine (9) participants, including representatives from the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development of the Republic of Guinea, the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change of Sierra Leone, biodiversity conservation experts, 4 environmental organisations and 2 representatives from other stakeholders involved in nature protection. During this mission the participants visited the 64-hectare natural ecological regeneration (RNE) site in Laffa Boubhè where they met with female community ecoguards. They also visited the farmer-managed natural regeneration (FMNR) fields, and the 4-hectare collective market gardening plain in Idia.

All of these activities enabled participants to understand the strategy for implementing sustainable natural resource management practices through natural ecological regeneration, FMNR, as well as the roles, responsibilities and challenges of female community ecoguards in the Moyen Bafing National Park.