US embassy cable - 05NDJAMENA1556

UNCLAS  NDJAMENA 001556 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SECSTATE FOR AF/C, AF/EPS, OES 
ACCRA FOR USAID/WARP REO, R. CLAUSEN 
LIBREVILLE FOR REO, M. CASSETTA 
DEPT OF INTERIOR FOR FWS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV, CD, Environment 
SUBJECT: MITIGATING THE HUMAN FOOTPRINT IN CHAD 
 
 
1. Summary.  Wildlife biologist, Michael Fay, and a group of 
eight NGOs/foundations will soon undertake an ambitious 
effort to develop a long-term conservation plan to preserve 
Chad's wildlife populations. Program manager Jean-Marc 
Froment from the group, African Parks Conservation, 
accompanied by Chadian wildlife specialist, Dr. Dolmia 
Malachie, briefed the Embassy October 19 on this and other 
environmental projects scheduled to take place in the near 
future.  End summary. 
 
2.  Three previous trips to Chad this year by wildlife 
biologist, Michael Fay, have resulted in increased exposure 
of its environmental issues and potentialities to the 
scientific community, to conservation groups and to the 
public at large, both in the U.S  and in Chad.  For U.S. 
audiences, the September 2005 special issue of National 
Geographic on Africa included the results of Fay's "Human 
Footprint Project," graphically illustrating the impact of 
people on the continent and including photographs and 
commentary about Chad.  For the Chadian audience, Fay gave a 
presentation to environmental groups and officials during his 
November 2004 visit.  He returned in March 2005 to conduct an 
aerial survey, with Dolmia, of large mammals in the Zakouma 
National Park; they counted 3,885 elephants, 5,082 water 
buffalo, and 1,335 damalisk antelope, while estimating 
population numbers for some of the other species.  He will 
return to Chad next week with a new airplane to undertake a 
new, more ambitious effort. 
 
3.  Impressed by Chad's wildlife populations and its rugged, 
remote desert regions which include the Tibesti Mountains and 
the Ennedi massif, Fay and a group of eight environmental 
NGOs and foundations have begun arriving in Chad for a 
four-month project which will result in a long-term 
conservation plan for the country.  A number of specific 
studies are to be conducted during this period, including 
another aerial survey of large mammals, this time focusing on 
the desert regions where the addax and oryx once roamed in 
large herds.  Though it is likely that a number of specific 
zones throughout Chad will be identified and recommended for 
protective status, the focus of the effort seems to be on 
areas north of latitude 16. Strategies and funding mechanisms 
will also be recommended. 
 
4.  Hoping to build on past successes of Paul Fentener van 
Vlissingen, a business leader who is funding the management 
of several wildlife game reserves in Africa and who has 
expressed an interest in becoming more involved in 
French-speaking African countries, the African Parks 
Conservation and its partners in this effort intend to 
explore such avenues of private funding for the areas 
included in their conservation plan.  They also intend to 
approach the ESSO oil production project to see if there 
might be private sector interest there.  The model used by 
the Dutch conservationist involves subcontracting park 
management to private companies, and this is likely the model 
which would be recommended for Chad. 
 
5.  During this briefing from the African Parks Conservation 
representative, Embassy officers were also told that 
additional National Geographic coverage of Chad's environment 
and wildlife is expected in the near future. 
 
6.  Comment.  Embassy continues to believe that fragile 
states such as Chad which teeter on the brink of both 
political instability and environmental disaster need the 
appropriate assistance programs to shore them up.  This 
explains our insistence that an environmental strategic goal 
be retained in the FY 2007 MPP.  The presence of 200,000 
refugees from Sudan, currently having a negative impact on 
the environment in eastern Chad, can be traced in part to 
natural resource constraints in the Darfur and poor 
stewardship of the environment.  Embassy is appreciative of 
the modest amounts of assistance received in previous years 
from the Department of Interior's Fish and Wildlife Service 
and ESF allowances from AF which have been well utilized and 
have made significant differences in the environments of 
communities where those resources have been allocated.  A 
 
 
growing recognition on the part of the NGO community and 
private foundations that Chad still has an environment worth 
preserving, and that there are enough concerned individuals 
to make it happen, is a positive development which we intend 
to encourage and support. 
WALL 
 
 
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