Comoé National Park

• Poaching to the wildlife of this site 
• Need for a management plan

The Centre received the State Party’s report entitled Gestion participative pour la conservation et la gestion durable du parc national de la Comoe, site du patrimoine mondial de l’UNESCO (Nord-ouest de la Cote d’Ivoire) dated 9 December 2002. The preparation for this study was requested by the 23rd session of the World Heritage Committee. The report focuses on the presentation of the Park, management, organization, developments in the Park, and specifically management issues in relation to the local communities around the Park. The second part of the report includes a Management Plan for the Park.

Two awareness-raising seminars were organized from 4 - 6 January 2002 and from 30 – 31 March 2002. The seminars organized by Ecological Research Centre and Department of Water and Forest aimed at raising awareness of the local authorities and local communities on the impacts of poaching on biodiversity in the Park, and finding ways of including local population in combating poaching. The second workshop enabled to validate the Management Plan for Comoe National Park and to determine the priorities for its implementation.

Results of the study reports on factors that impact the site include:

- Wildlife poaching by local population living around the site; by well armed professional poachers (mainly from outside Cote d’Ivoire and often residing in the Park for several months); and by some Park guards themselves who often provide arms to the poachers.

- The captured wildlife from Comoe is being relocated to other Parks such as Abokouamekro Animal Park. The overgrazing by large herds of cattle by ‘Peuls’ herdsmen during the dry season. Dry season wild fires caused by poachers who burn nearly 80% of the Park annually, and drought, are recognized as the main causes for biodiversity degradation.

- Lack of communication between the Park personnel and the local communities; lack of monitoring and antipoaching activities; corruption and the absence of personnel supervision, and lack of resources for guards.

The report proposes specific activities in order to improve the management of the Park. To combat poaching and wild fires, the report recommends establishment of the inter-village committee with judicial status, comprising of members from the local communities and authorities to be charged with Park patrols.

On 7 April 2003, the Centre received a report from Comoe Research Station of the Department of Tropical Biology and Animal Ecology from the University of Würzburg in Germany entitled “Status of the Comoe National Park (WHS), Cote d’Ivoire, Report to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre”. The report confirms the information provided in the State Party’s report. The report further mentions that following the launching of the European Union funded WorldWide Fund for Nature (WWF) project in 1998, some improvements were made related to equipment, maintenance of vehicles and re-organization of the patrol-system. Other improvements included: a six-month special training for 20 game wardens; construction of a surveillance; and construction of a road system extension for about 400 km which enabled better mobility for patrols. As a result of these improvements, the first positive results in reducing the poaching level were achieved in 2000.

At the time of preparing this report the situation in Comoe is unclear. The northern region of Cote d’Ivoire is occupied by the rebels who took over the western, northern, and eastern regions surrounding the Park. Reports show that the rebels could be seen within the Park four weeks into the war and reports of significant increase in poaching. One of the main bridges in the southern part of the Park as well as the Comoe ferry in Ganse were blown up hampering access to the southern region of the Park making it inaccessible.

The Cote d’Ivoire national authorities have expressed interest to request the Committee to inscribe Comoe on the List of World Heritage Danger.