2023-07-27 15:36:22
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In 2017, the Beninese State signed a contract which entrusts African Parks Network (APN) with the management of the Pendjari National Park. More than five years later, Djaléni Djaffo, executive director of the Village Association for the Management of Pendjari Wildlife Reserves (AVIGREF-Pendjari), finds that this option has borne good fruit.
Djaléni Djatto, Executive Director AVIGREF-Pendjari
L’Evénement Précis: Why did the advent of African Parks in Pendjari cause a stir?
Djaléni Djatto: You have to understand that in life, any change always has positive and negative effects, especially on certain social strata. Some took it negatively.
How did it actually go?
Crimes that were taking place inside the reserve have been stopped. These included illegal hunting, illegal logging and the advance of the agricultural front.
How did AVIGREF experience this resistance?
AGRIGREF experienced this resistance as the manifestation of a layer that does not want to move forward, that does not want to make changes and does not want to energize the conservation aspects. That’s why we sided with APN to help the process because we knew these protests couldn’t stop it.
At the time, your premises had even been attacked
Of course because we were thought to be accomplices in the decision. While the decision comes from the government. We are a simple association which accompanies the manager and not which designated the manager. That’s why some believed that if we opposed, it would give weight to their position. We were told that we are not a union structure. We are here to support the manager so that whoever he is, he incorporates our concerns into his management policy.
From 2018 to today, what assessment do you make at Pendjari of the action of African Parks?
There have been a lot of job creations, a lot of activities for the communities and a tourist boom that was observed between 2018 and 2020 when suddenly the COVID and the security aspects took precedence over the dynamism that was launched.
At the time, there were wild cuts of trees in the protected areas of Pendjari. What is the situation today ?
It was the government that stopped that. Measures have been taken to ensure that so-called loggers no longer find outlets and that those who engage in it are truly punished.
Does the APN experience deserve to be continued?
I think we have to continue everything that is good. You don’t always have to be nostalgic for the past. We must persist and insist that we comply with the standards that facilitate social cohesion and the development of our country and that educate our children in good practices.
Interview by Olivier ALLOCHEME
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