Third round of consultation meetings on the creation of Pinselli-Soyah-Sabouyah National Park

As part of the creation of the future Pinselli-Soyah-Sabouyah National Park, an integral part of the Outamba-Kilimi-Kuru-Pinselli-Soyah (OKKPS) forest landscape, the Guinean Office of National Parks and Wildlife Reserves (OGPNRF) and its partner the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation (WCF) have organised a third series of consultation meetings, which is an important step in the process of creating the park. The PAPFor programme is supporting the initiative in this critical transboundary landscape between Sierra Leone and Guinea that is home to a significant population of chimpanzees as well as rosewood trees and other endangered biodiversity.

From 18-23 october 2023, the WCF and OGPNRF organised meetings in the six rural communities of Soyah, Ouré-Kaba, Maréla, Madina Oula, Sougueta, and Konkouré, in which the future Pinselli-Soyah-Sabouyah National Park will be based. The meetings are part of the process of obtaining free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) from local communities regarding the provisional boundaries of the proposed park. The objective was to discuss land use and zoning of the future national park with the local communities.

The meetings were well attended by the prefects of Mamou, Faranah and Kindia, prefectural Directors of Environment and Sustainable Development, local elected officials (mayors and municipal councillors), sub-prefects, representatives of the youth, women and conservation agents totalling 243 participants, including 31 women.

During the meetings, six signatures were obtained from locally elected officials, marking the agreement of communities regarding the park’s limits and the principle of internal zoning. Some officials made recommendations for the park to be expanded further into their communities while others requested that their villages remain outside the future park. A WCF-OGPRNF Management Team is working to address these issues of concern.