Faro

We have collaborated with the World Agroforestry Center and local people around Faro to establish the Tchamba Rural Resources Center, which functions as a springboard for agroforestry cultivation. The center's nursery has cultivated and distributed to communities approximately 8,000 indigenous tree seedlings, including moringa, anacardium, mangifera, guava, pawpaw, and citrus.

We support communities around Faro National Park in developing land-use plans, which improve natural-resource management by delineating multi-use zones. We also helped create a local “diplomacy network” of local community members to mediate conflict and foster two-way communication between incoming herders and those already grazing and farming in the area. As a result, groups traditionally in conflict over land use are collaborating to establish corridors and improved grazing areas for seasonal cattle pasture and passage.

We build rangers’ anti-poaching capacity, providing tracking technology and training in best practices. We also helped create a community scout contingent based at the park’s borders, which protects against incursions and monitors wildlife. This includes gathering baseline species population data, which is critical to assessing conservation success and monitoring endangered wildlife populations.

We’re developing a new park headquarters in Voko and a park base on the river at Faro Beach to ease park access and facilitate rapid deployment of rangers responding to emergencies and incursions. Our infrastructure work also includes road improvements and maintenance and contributing to planning for river crossings and airstrips that will improve access to the park.