The Wildlife Wood Project (WWP) works to assist logging companies in adopting low-impact logging practices and apply innovative, practical and cost-effective measures for managing wildlife in their concessions, thereby helping to provide a sustainable future for both wildlife and people.
Only around 50% of original forest cover remains in Africa today and half of this is allocated to timber exploitation.
The forest roads constructed by timber companies can make previously inaccessible forests accessible to commercial hunters and bring in timber workers who themselves hunt wildlife for subsistence and sale.
Logging activities often accelerate unsustainable hunting of wildlife for the bushmeat trade. The African palm civet (Nandinia binotata) is commonly trapped and hunted for bushmeat.
By increasing access to markets or providing market premiums, timber certification provides a strong economic incentive for timber companies to engage in more sustainable practices.
With agreed wildlife indicators, certification bodies will be better able to determine whether sufficient efforts are being made by a given company to maintain wildlife status in its concession.
The WWP company partners have recruited technical staff (“wildlife teams”) to conduct bio-monitoring surveys and monitor the occurrence of illegal hunting activities in their respective concessions.
The WWP oversees its partner's wildlife monitoring teams and provides them with regular training in field data collection methods.
Data is recorded with CyberTrackers (palmtop computer with integrated GPS units) ( www.cybertracker.co.za
). The WWP trains wildlife monitoring teams in the use of relevant electronic devices and subsequent analysis.
The WWP also trains the wildlife teams in the patrolling of timber concessions, the collection of evidence of illegal activities, and the reporting of these field surveys.
WWP-Cameroon's project manager, Eric, hard at work!
