PADIC-Africa Trains 20 Eco-Guards as Forest Watchdogs, Enforcement of Management Plans/ Bye-Laws in Edondon
Photo: Eco-Guards and the National Park officials posing with the ED, PADIC-Africa, Dr. Martins Egot
Panacea for Developmental and Infrastructural Challenges for Africa Initiative (PADIC-Africa) also known as Development Concern (DEVCON) has trained and equipped 20 Eco-Guards in Edondon community as forest watchdogs, supporting the implementation and enforcement of forest management plan and bye-laws.
The two days training which took place on the 5th and 6th of July is an eighteen (18) months Global Environment Facility (GEF) Small Grant project, funded by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) with the theme; “Developing Forest Economies and Sustainable Forest Management in Edondon” Obubra Local Government Area of Cross River State, Nigeria, is implemented by PADIC-Africa (aka DEVCON).
Briefing the trainees of the task ahead, the Executive Director, PADIC-Africa, Dr. Martins Egot, emphasized on how essential the training was to build collaboration and continuous technical and policy support beyond the lifespan of the project.
He said the project is aimed at encouraging and supporting forest communities that have been practicing forest conservation through effective global management system.
The facilitator, Deputy Conservator of Parks (DCP), Cross River National Park, Mr. Innocent Asuquo took the trainees through the process of Environmental Awareness with emphasis on exploring medium to disseminate environmental knowledge and also Forest Surveillance and the diverse approaches ranging from patrol operations, planning, the gadgets required, patrol ethics and techniques.
Also, the second facilitator, Assistant Chief Park Inspector (ACPI), Cross River National Park, Mr. Michael Charles, further trained the 20 Eco-Guards on information gathering and leadership skills which led to participants selecting among themselves leaders. He further took the participants through lessons on Discipline and team spirit before practical session on Patrol techniques.
Photo 1: In-house training of Eco-Guards in Edondon.
Photo 2: During a road walk
However, the eighteen months project seeks to protect the forest of Edondon from further degradation through more effective rule enforcement and sustainable food production and to increase forest cover by 20 percent through more effective forest management system with more inclusive forest monitoring and rule enforcement.
It is also targeted at increasing women’s income by 20 percent to be achieved through training on market gardening and planting of income generating tree crop like bush mango at the end of the project.
Furthermore, to increase cocoa productivity and income from cocoa by 30 percent through training the farmers to adopt intensification to reduce landscape degradation from forest clearing.