admin | January 4, 2016
This week’s story from Senegal deals with managing natural resources so that both rural communities and the natural environment benefit. Our Script of the week profiles a community in Ghana which has found a workable solution to this challenge.
Sometimes wild animals damage farms and destroy crops. In other cases, farming activities, including clearing forest for farming, harm wildlife and destroy their habitat. How can farming and wildlife co-exist? People need to farm, but no-one wants to needlessly harm wildlife. What is the answer?
Some communities have found an answer by creating wildlife reserves which generate tourist income. In some cases, these areas are also protected by traditional beliefs which prohibit people from harming the animals in the reserve. Although this week’s script profiles only one such example from Ghana, there are similar cases all over Africa, and indeed all over the world.
As a broadcaster, you can help to solve conflicts between farming and wildlife preservation by interviewing people who represent both interests, and by broadcasting stories, like this one about the Buabeng-Fiema monkey sanctuary, which show how communities have successfully balanced the needs of wildlife and the interests of farmers.