Cercopan - conserving endangered primates through partnerships with impoverished rural rainforest communities
Last updated 18/06/2008 16:55:22
Primates in West Africa have been decimated by many years of intensive hunting for Bushmeat, together with disappearing habitats through deforestation.
The good news is there IS viable rainforest remaining and that rainforest has fantastic wildlife populations that CAN be saved for future generations to enjoy and benefit from.
The rainforests of Cross River State are some of the richest forests on the African continent and are of worldwide importance as one of Africa's 5 biodiversity hotspots. Over 60% of Nigeria's endangered plant and animal species are found within these forests and nowhere else in Nigeria.
CERCOPAN believes that we can conserve this forest and wildlife – and has positive experiences from people in the rural communities to add weight to this belief. Together we draw together over 20 years of experience working in West Africa to protect primates and their natural rainforest habitat.
We are determined to keep our overheads small; our director has worked as a volunteer full time for over 15 years and in the UK we have no office or paid staff.
CERCOPAN's Origins
Born in 1995, CERCOPAN began with merely a name (derived from the two genera of forest monkeys "Cerco"pithecus and "Cerco"cebus, and PAN, the Greek word for forest), one salaried staff and one volunteer. Originally established as a sanctuary to rehabilitate confiscated primates, CERCOPAN was desperately needed when the new National Park started confiscating illegally kept wildlife - within a year we expanded to include environmental education as a cornerstone of our work.
We continued to expand our remit; in order to reflect our diverse work in education, biodiversity research, forest conservation, community development and livelihoods, we were reborn in 2004 with a new name for our programme in Nigeria– the Centre for Education, Research and Conservation of Primates and Nature.
We now have 40 local staff and 4 international full time volunteers, and in 2006 we became a registered charity in the UK with a 7 member board of trustees.