FTNS, with the support of German Co-operation, has made available to the managers of the TNS protected areas an additional emergency fund of 450,000 euros (nearly 300 million CFA francs) to initiate Covid-19 response activities. Each Park thus benefits from close to 100 million FCFA. This was made official by amendments to the 2020 conventions as specific actions to fight against the spread of Covid-19.
The Covid-19 pandemic is raging throughout the world, and TNS cannot afford to stay indifferent! Despite the fact that no case of contamination has been detected in the area, the economic, political and social consequences have affected the operation of the first transboundary World Heritage site in Central Africa. As a preventive measure, the administrative authorities of the parks, supported by FTNS, have all taken preventive measures to roadblock this pandemic.
Dzanga Sangha Protected Areas
In the CAR portion of the TNS, the authorities of the APDS have resorted to a total containment of the park characterised by the suspension of research and tourism activities! In order to prepare the management teams, staff and eco-guards were sensitised on barrier measures and physical and social distancing. The few screening tests carried out by the WHO team were all negative.
In order to ensure collaborative coordination, the protected area managers also held a meeting with the administrative and local authorities of the town of Bayanga on the response mechanism against Covid-19 in the DPAs and its surroundings. Following this, the Ba’Aka indigenous people were encouraged to return to the forest to ensure their safety. A decision was also taken to set up health checkpoints in Mona-sao and Lindjombo, to carry out awareness raising through Radio Ndjoku, and in villages through megaphones, to promote barrier gestures, produce and distribute protective masks and install hand-washing devices in public spaces.
In order to support the local population in the Covid-19 response, basic food supplies were distributed to the Ba’Aka before they left for the forest. The Park’s services have also initiated a process of mass production and distribution of more than 12,000 protective masks. A total of eighty 30-litre buckets, boxes of laundry soap, tubes of hydro-alcoholic gel, and alternative protection masks were distributed on May 20, 2020 in the town of Bayanga and its surroundings.
Distribution kits to local populations of Bayanga
Lobéké National Park
In the TNS Cameroon Segment, the COVID 2019 response in Lobéké was characterized by a confinement of the park, that is, the halting of touristic and research activities in the area. In order to organize an effective response, the National Park Conservation Service has put in place an action plan with the objective of proposing and implementing actions to mobilize and sensitize the different social strata on the modes of manifestation, transmission and good preventive practices of the coronavirus in the village of Mambélé and its surroundings.
The park managers also attended technical meetings for the coordination and implementation of the response under the supervision of the administrative, municipal and health, defence and Security authorities. These gatherings made it possible to set up response committees in each locality (under the supervision of traditional chiefs and local elected officials) for the rigorous application of preventive measures and to acquire and distribute essential prevention equipment.
In total, more than 10,000 masks, 200 face protectors; hand sanitizers, buckets with taps, and bleach have been obtained with the FTNS support and distributed to the local population. The park is planning to produce posters and other awareness-raising materials in the coming months.
Nouabale Ndoki National Park
In Congo, the confinement alert was sounded on April 1, 2020, news that pushed the park to confine itself and to suspend all tourist visits to prevent risks posed by Covid-19. In order to guarantee the continuous management of the park, the park’s employees have been put into teleworking mode to reduce the risks of contamination.
The park team has also carried out an awareness campaign on the Covid-19 pandemic in the communities of Bomassa and Makao, supported by the installation of about fifteen hand washing points in public places. These social and health initiatives were reinforced by the local manufacturing and distribution of more than 1,300 cloth masks to the local population.
Local health facilities have also been reinforced with prevention kits. More specifically, the health centres in Bomassa and Makao were equipped with 400 pairs of gloves, 850 single-use nose pads, 10 bottles of hydro-alcoholic gel and 1 thermoflash per centre.
A continuous fight accompanied by a distant victory!
Covid-19 persists in inscribing in our thoughts a constant enigma called “how long?”. Nevertheless, the managers of TNS and their partners have not given up, in ensuring that this World Heritage site and its unique universal value remain lasting. FTNS, through its monumental support of nearly 300 million FCFA, demonstrates the paramount importance of promoting and attaining its “100 million EUR investment capital” objective in order to provide a sustainable and suitable solution to the growing daily needs of the parks. In such an unpredictable world, one of the only predictable aspects is an FTNS that is present, perennial, stable, proactive and sufficiently capitalised for the TNS’s survival.