Balancing the interests of wildlife and rural communities: Lessons from Buabeng-Fiema monkey sanctuary in Ghana

| November 13, 2017

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This week’s Farmer story from DRC highlights conflicts between farmers and wild animals.

Sometimes wildlife 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 that 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 script profiles one such example from Ghana, there are similar cases all over Africa, and indeed all over the world.

As a broadcaster, you can help solve conflicts between farming and wildlife conservation by interviewing people who represent both interests, and by broadcasting examples, like the Buabeng-Fiema monkey sanctuary highlighted in this script, in which communities have successfully balanced the interests of wildlife and the needs of farmers.

http://scripts.farmradio.fm/radio-resource-packs/package-87/balancing-the-interests-of-wildlife-and-rural-communities-lessons-from-buabeng-fiema-monkey-sanctuary-in-ghana/