For the year 2021, a sum of 1,800,000€ (1,2 billion FCFA) will be made available to the TNS park managers to cover at least a third of their operating needs. This decision comes as one of the resolutions taken during the 25th session of the Sangha Tri-National Trust Fund’s Board of Directors meeting held in Cameroon on November 24 and 25, 2021.
The allocation of these funds should enable the parks to carry out monitoring and conservation activities, increase the socio-economic conditions of local populations, strengthen the enforcement and promotion of human rights, and promote transboundary cooperation activities between member countries and protected areas. This action thus validates FTNS’ commitment to “contribute to the preservation of the biodiversité́ and socio-economic development in the Sangha Tri-national, the first transboundary forest complex in Central Africa and a World Heritage site”.
The Sangha Tri-national, a forest complex with a surface area of about 44,000 km2 of carbon stocks (70% of which has never been logged) is facing several threats ranging from increasing deforestation, cross-border poaching of flagship and emblematic species, a growing population and under-exploitation of its ecotourism potential. It is to alleviate all these concerns that the Sangha Tri-national Trust fund (FTNS) provides annual grants to the three parks of this transboundary forest complex.
In order to make a more significant contribution to the safeguarding of this World Heritage Site, FTNS must increase its investment capital from 60,000,000€ to 100,000,000€. The goal is to reach this amount by the end of 2021.