ACReSAL TTL Calls for Assessment of Yankari Game Reserve

The Senior Environmental Specialist, World Bank, and Task Team Leader of the Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscape (ACReSAL) project, Dr. Joy I. Agene, has called for a catchment management study and livelihood needs assessment of Yankari game reserve in Bauchi State.

She stated this when the ACReSAL project team comprising the World Bank and FGN had an engagement with the management of Yankari Game Reserve in Bauchi state recently.

She said the project investment in the park will address both the needs of communities in the park buffer zones, and the reserve area. She revealed that Forest areas have critical functions in dryland management strategies for maintaining ecosystem integrity, supporting livelihoods, and slowing desertification.

Dr. Joy noted that Livelihood Needs assessment is paramount, and should be carried out to determine the condition and livelihood activities of the inhabitants and how to better support them. On the strategic watershed plan, she said it includes a set of actions to manage the natural resources, as well as people’s actions and livelihoods in the game reserve. The plan aims to set a balance between how resources are used in a watershed for today’s needs (like harvesting wood, planting crops, herding livestock, and building houses) and protecting those resources for tomorrow’s needs. A watershed plan would be strategically oriented and would identify watershed level priorities, challenges, and opportunities.

She further stated that the plan will both provide an overview of the reserve area as well as “deep dives” into both the sub- or micro-watersheds, to improve sustainable productivity and address the drivers of dryland degradation in the reserve.

She expressed interest in reshaping the famous Yankari Game Resort and expressed sadness over the deplorable condition of the park, declaring that the facility is living in its past glory. She noted that the needs assessment of the entire structure is germane to better support the park in order to attract attention from potential investors and international agencies interested in eco-tourism.

She stressed the need for sensitization and empowerment of the host communities to join in the fight against poaching activities going on in the park due to poverty.

National Project Coordinator of ACReSAL, Mr. Abdulhamid Umar in his remarks assured that efforts will soon be made to make the park viable and attractive again, this will be in partnership with the Bauchi State government. He however advised that the Management of Yankari Game Reserve and Safari should work with the Project Coordinator of ACReSAL in order to have a comprehensive checklist of the park for necessary action.

Speaking earlier, Bauchi State ACReSAL Project Coordinator, Dr Kabir Ibrahim Kabir, stressed the need for intervention in reclaiming the deplorable condition of Yankari Reserve in order for it to regain its lost glory. He lamented that over the years, the place has been neglected and rendered ineffective and unattractive to tourists.

Kabir Ibrahim said that though ACReSAL has done a few things for the park as part of the project objectives to support some national parks management and conservation, he stressed that a lot more still needs to be done.

In his presentation, the General Manager of Yankari Game Reserve and Resort, Mohammed Ladan mentioned that the park has suffered neglect, leading to the dilapidation of infrastructure at the Camp which has in turn led to loss of patronage.

The GM appealed for the intervention of the World Bank through the ACReSAL project in order to revamp the place and make it attractive to tourist again. He commended the Bauchi state government for the provision of two game viewing trucks, conservation gadgets and renovation work carried out in the Yankari Game Reserve through the ACReSAL project.