By Mabinty M. Kamara
Deployed approximately 413 kilometres away from the capital city, Freetown, with over 60 kilometres of the journey traversing challenging terrains to reach the foot of the Loma Mountains in Masonia from the Falaba district axis in the far north of Sierra Leone, Mohamed Bangura, Team Lead for a group of Rangers, manning the reserved forest and his colleagues are working under what they describe as “exceptional conditions” as the fight to conserve the mountain ensues.
Loma Mountain is one of the 15 protected areas in Sierra Leone, managed by the National Protected Area Authority (NPAA), established by an Act of Parliament in 2012 to promote biodiversity conservation and enhance the protection of national parks and other reserved areas through its Forest Rangers and Eco-guards of Tacugama, a non-governmental organisation working in the conservation area.
The primary responsibility of the Rangers, according to NPAA’s Loma Mountain Park Manager, Bintu Sia Amara-Kamara, is the day-to-day monitoring of the park, identifying species and human activities in those areas, as well as engaging with the community. "And also, we enforce the laws, when necessary, by arresting and pursuing prosecution where necessary,” she said.
Such is the critical role that Forest Rangers and Eco-guards play in complementing and ensuring that our conservation efforts pay off for the greater good of our country and the world at large because the devastating impacts of climate change, carbon emission and biodiversity know no boundary, economic or social status.
Fighting the in-house thief
However, despite the relevance of conservation efforts, one should maintain sight of the fact that community people in the protected areas have relied on those forests and rivers, more so for their economic and social well-being. Now, they are asked to refrain from activities such as poaching, farming, mining, and timber logging, which is challenging for them to accept, and one could sense the daunting nature of the job of the Forest Rangers. This explains why the Rangers must have the required logistics and livelihood support to execute their functions.
The Irony in Sierra Leone
The Rangers deployed at the Loma Mountain in the Socrala and Masonia outposts in Niene and Nyedu chiefdoms are like firefighters going to battle an inferno with bare hands. They lack accommodation and protection equipment like handcuffs, mobility, uniforms, capacity building, and so on, yet they have to face well–armed poachers in the forests looking for a game or any guard that may attempt to thwart their plans.
In an interview with Politico, Mohamed Bangura, who leads the NPAA Rangers in Masonia Falaba district, highlighted challenges such as the lack of accommodation, motorbikes, or monitoring equipment. He stated that over the past three years, they have minimised human activities threatening the reserved areas through regular monitoring, patrols, and community engagement. However, challenges persist, including the need for more essential equipment and the hostile attitude of some community members.
“Poaching has drastically reduced compared to before. Upon entering the forest, one will find bullet shells all around the place, not to mention logging. Some community people support our work while others, especially in the Socrala axis, are very hostile to us," he said.
He said the lack of accommodation facilities in their deployment areas has caused them to find homes in nearby communities like Masofinia, 7 miles away from Masonia. ‘’We do not have any motorbike to patrol. So, by the time you get to work, the day is almost gone’’.
Bangura then narrated an incident he encountered during work: "One day, I was coming from Masofinia in the morning when someone rode past me with a deer strapped on his motorbike. I stopped him, but because I was in my uniform, which he recognised, he couldn't stop, and by the time I got a bike to chase him, it was already late as he was nowhere to be found. We don't have handcuffs, pepper spray or any other defensive weapon to effect an arrest, unlike the poachers who are armed," he said.
The team lead added that he has recently declared Masofinia, which mainly houses them, to be a transit point for the Loma Mountain animals. "Most of the Loma animals are trafficked through Masofinia. But we are trying to institute a plan to frustrate the hunters and those who buy from them. When we arrest poachers in Masofinia, they will tell us that that is not our deployment area, and as such, we should not work from there," he said.
He said their mandate demands protection both within and outside of the forest and that if poachers were not caught in the forests, they could still confiscate the bush meat to discourage the practice of poaching. He, however, spoke of the stiff resistance they've faced from the community people.
Bangura and the other Rangers used our presence to appeal for more personnel to boost their 25-member team, saying that the forest area is too large to be covered by that number despite the additional 21 from Tacugama.
One of the Rangers explained his experience of being attacked by the youth of the village in the line of duty, which he says restricts their activities in the forest. "They said they don't get any benefit from the Loma Mountain conservation efforts, not even from the employment of the guards, and as such, they see no need to protect it. We continue to be attacked and threatened by these community people,” he said.
However, team leader Bangura said he had already reported the matter to the Sierra Leone Police in Makeni, who had sent a letter to the Paramount chief of Nyedu chiefdom concerning the attack.
The Rangers
Despite the challenges highlighted, the Rangers are emotionally and psychologically connected to the serenity, green scenery, chirping of the birds in the lonely forests and the cold wind that comes from the mountains and the natural flowing rivers, as they patrol the area. Also, their love for conservation and the new families that some of them have had in their deployment areas keep them glued to the forest the more. Bangura and his team described life with nature as the best anyone could ever have “When patrolling, it reassures us of the importance of saving the environment from harsh climate change effects. You don’t even feel the harsh rays of the sun like you will do when away.”
However, the Park Manager acknowledged the challenges faced by the Rangers and mentioned the areas covered by the authority comprising 15 networks of protected areas across the country of which Loma Mountain is part of four national parks managed by NPAA in collaboration with other partners in the sector. She said they have game guards across all those communities to manage those resources.
Madam Amara-Kamara admitted that the Authority itself is challenged with resources, saying that they rely solely on subventions which she said often come inlate. This she said has affected the availability of monitoring equipment like bikes, smartphones having monitoring software and more.
She added that the Loma mountain reserve area has been struggling with development needs since the Biodiversity and Conservation Project supported by the World Bank ended in 2012.
The need for partnership
Creating and sustaining a vast territory as a protected area will require an integrated approach, including ensuring the sustainability of the current protected area network through partnerships from both local and international frameworks.
Therefore, the Park manager said to address the challenges faced by the Authority, they work with partners in the conservation sector, citing Tacugama as a crucial partner in Loma Mountain, supporting Biomonitoring for data collection and also capacitating the communities "because we need them to take ownership of the activities."
She highlighted that most people recruited are indigenous, which is deliberate to ensure community participation. The Manager also mentioned a 650 000 Euro project to be implemented in three Chiefdoms in the Loma Moutain area through the European Union in Sierra Leone.
She said the Authority is working on legislation to ensure that all tourists visiting the sites pass through the government, especially for research, tourists, and other purposes.
Speaking to Politico, Monali Mhaskar, Field Manager for Tacugama in Loma Mountain, said the Sanctuary 2010 conducted a nationwide chimp census, which revealed that Loma Mountain possesses the highest density of wide chimps, hence, their interest in the protection and conservation of the area.
She added that her organisation has recruited 21 eco-guards, one from each of the 21 communities, helping collect data on life. "The idea is they will go into the forest with a smartphone with GPS tools called 'Smart'; a special monitoring device," she said.
Loma Mountain through Tacugama is now being sampled through camera trap surveys. "50 cameras in the western axis were installed in February last year, and another was set in the eastern axis of the forest. The main idea is to understand where the chimps are and their behaviours," she said.
She explained that the camera traps still show signs of poachers and have received reports from their guards of poachers in the Konobai axis in the Falaba district.
Community engagement
However, she said Tacugama engages community people regularly on the impact of poaching, bushfires, and timber logging through the 'Roots and Shoot Club,' involving youths in conservation efforts. The organisation is on the verge of recruiting women as Eco-guards for a more inclusive workforce. Tacugama has provided alternative livelihoods to communities, offering livestock to mitigate the impact of conservation efforts.
"Tacugama did some interventions in a bid to provide them alternative livelihoods. We provided livestock, chickens, and goats to seven communities. The forest is still safe, in my opinion, because the roads are terrible. Once the roads are good, there will be problems because the forest will become more accessible,” Ms Mhaskar said.
The NPAA Park Manager is hopeful that the EU-funded project will address the issue of community beneficiation as there is a specific component of the said project that focuses on community ownership through the Loma Conservation Program to maximise community-derived benefit. "So as part of this project, we are looking at supporting these communities, especially in the areas of social amenities and infrastructure, to ensure that they benefit from the project since they have owned the conservation efforts," he said.
Conservation and climate change are becoming increasingly topical globally. Sierra Leone has recognised this and established the Ministry of Environment to ensure particular focus and attention to address the global challenge.
In 2023, the government also established a department in the Office of the President named ‘Special Initiative for Climate Change, Renewable Energy, and Food Security’.
Note: This author's visit to Loma Mountain was funded by the European Union office in Sierra Leone.
Copyright © 2024 Politico (09/02/24)
