CAWHFI
In 2002, the UNESCO World Heritage Centre developed a project to promote and support protected area management in Central Africa forest protected areas, with a view to applying for World Heritage status for these protected areas.
It is hoped that World Heritage Status will combat the principal threats of illegal hunting and unregulated bush meat trade. This initiative was launched in collaboration with several partners, including the FAO, WWF, Wildlife Conservation Society, Conservation International and Jane Goodall Institute, and the Governments of Gabon, Cameroon, Congo and CAR. The project “Central African World Heritage Initiative” assists the countries of the region to implement key objectives of the Yaoundé declaration.
Project activities concentrate on the strengthening of protection and enforcement in three key clusters of transborder protected areas and corridors, and raising awareness for the issue of bushmeat with local authorities and government officials, local communities and forest companies. Some pilot activities are also planned to test out innovative ways of working with the local communities to regulate the bushmeat trade and to promote designation of the selected protected areas as World Heritage sites.
The Government of France recently approved a project funded by the FFEM to be implemented in synergy with the UNF funding under the CAWFHI initiative. This program will focus on addressing issues of wildlife management with local communities and in private sector concessions in the buffer zones of key CAWFHI supported protected areas.