Bio-diversity

Wonegizi Proposed Protected Area, (37,906.5 hectares) is situated along Liberia s boarders with Guinea in Lofa County, northwestern Liberia. This Trans-boundary forest block is amazing with biodiversity and provides ecological and socioeconomic services to surrounding communities. It is also sources of river systems that directly benefit thousands of communities within the Mano River Basin. Despite its rich biodiversity and many important ecosystem services; unsustainable exploitations of forests resources (uncontrolled clearing of tropical forest for agriculture, excessive hunting, poaching, timber and fuel wood extraction by surrounding communities and outsiders) are the primary causes of deforestation, soil degradation, water pollution, meager economic returns from forest resources around the Wonegizi proposed area. Human/wildlife conflicts have recently emerged with severe consequences as result of the high degree of forest degradation and habitat loss resulting into increased competitions between humans and wildlife for scarce resources. However, as human impacts on biodiversity in the corridor become increasingly severe, the forests ecosystems are rapidly being degraded and depleted while critical watersheds are being damaged. Poverty, lack of sustainable livelihoods and alternative employment or income opportunities, widespread ignorant about ecological values and forest laws, and extreme social and political pressures from impoverished communities are the main factors driving careless and sustainable exploitations of available resources. At the same time, continued destruction of the Wonegizi proposed protected area is not only threatening Liberia, but the entire Mano River basin and our global community in terms of deforestation, soil degradation, pollution of

Liberia