One of the best places for birdwatching in Africa is the village of Bonko in Ghana. A huge number of bird species nest in a nearby government-owned forest, including the rare white-necked rock-fowl.
Biodiverse rainforests such as the one near Bonko are vulnerable to activities like farming, logging, and mining. Illegal hunting of birds and other wildlife is difficult to discourage in a subsistence economy.
It is generally believed that ecotourism can be a savior in such situations, bolstering weak economies with funds from tourists. But sometimes it’s not that simple.
Photojournalist George Oxford Miller traveled to Ghana and wrote about his experiences in Living Bird magazine. He reports that the leading tour company was paying a village official a fee for each visiting birdwatcher. The idea, Miller wrote, was that “if the villagers saw the benefit, they would be more likely to protect the birds from hunting and disturbance, and stop illegal logging.”
But unfortunately the funds were not trickling down to the villagers. So the tour company has now established a fund to build a school in Bonko. It will serve three small villages near the best birdwatching sites, providing a direct link between ecotourism and the villagers’ well-being.
It’s important to save rainforests, not just because of the birds, but because of the environmental services they perform, especially their ability to store carbon that would otherwise contribute to climate change.
If rainforest protection can be tied to the economic good of the people who live in them, so much the better.
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Web Links
“Can we save the birds of Bonko?” Living Bird magazine
Photo, taken on June 6, 2013, courtesy of Enio Branco via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. Support for Earth Wise comes from the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, NY.