Training guards Waza National Park

Due to the withdrawal of government support for the management of the Waza National Park Cameroun, poaching is rampant in this 1.700 km2 Biosphere Reserve. The government will decide later whether they will get involved (technically and financially) with the management again or not. To bridge this period of anarchy in the park, the NGO and the Centre for Environmental Science (CML Leiden) are requesting funds for the salaries of 8 parkguards, to increase the surveillance intensity in the park. These guards will be recruted from communities surrounding the park.

The project aimed at strengthening anti-poaching activities in the Waza National Park through recruitment of 8 eco-guards, the subsequent training of these eco-guards and through strengthening of existing anti-poaching activities (fuel, car parts, etc.). Eight eco-guards, most of them former Waza Logone Project eco-guards, were recruited from local villages. After recruitment, the eco-guards received a five-day training course in that was organized by the National Park authorities, Provincial authorities and the Wildlife School in Garoua, Cameroon. The training course covered a wide range of subjects such as biodiversity conservation, law enforcement, weaponry and tourism. The recruited eco-guards do not have a legal mandate in Cameroonian law to arrest poachers and consequently served as local informants providing the National Park authorities with information on poaching activities in Waza National Park. Upon receiving information park authorities took appropriate action using regular national park guards and this resulted in an increasing number of arrests being made. Additionally, the number of anti-poaching patrols conducted in the national park was increased resulting in an increasing number of arrests made in the National Park. One of the underlying aims of the project was to function as a bridging period so that Cameroonian authorities would have more time to recruit additional numbers of guards for Waza National Park. So far, Cameroonian authorities have not recruited any additional guards for the project. This is mainly due to extensive re-organizations within the former Ministry of Environment and Forests in Cameroon. This ministry has been split up in two separate ministries and so far there is no clear allocation of budgets to the protected area system in Cameroon. Consequently, the situation regarding poaching in Waza National Park after termination of this project is likely to deteriorate in the near future.