The Manovo-Gounda St. Floris National Park

? The Manovo-Gounda St. Floris National Park Most people have never heard of Manovo-Gounda St. Floris National Park, or even know where this particular park is located at. For those who do not know, Manovo-Gounda St. Floris National Park is located in Central Africa Republic, which is located in Central Africa. Central Africa Republic is about the size of France. The climate there is very tropical and can also be semi-humid, which means that the country has an annual rainfall from 950 to 1700mm. Rainfall normally occur during the months of June and last till November. From December to May, the climate is normally hot and dry. The country is also very rich in natural resources. Manovo-Gounda St. Foris National Park was established in 1933 and was name Oubangui-Chari National Park and was located on 13,500ha. The park was renamed Matoumara National Park in 1935. In 1940 the name changed again, this time to St. Floris National Park. The amount of land that the park operated on had increased to 40,000ha. By 1960 the park had tremendously grown and was currently operating on 100,00ha and in 1974 it was operating on 277,000ha. In 1979 the name change once again, but this time it changed to the name that the park is currently operating under which is Manovo-Gounda St. Floris National Park. Currently the area of the park is 1,740,000ha or 4. 2 million acres. Manovo-Gounda St. Floris National Park is home to a variety of faunas and floras. The wildlife animals include animals like the black rhinoceroses, giraffes, cheetahs, leopards, wild dogs, buffalos, elephants, etc. There are at least 57 different types of mammals, over 320 different types of birds, and at least 25 species of raptor all residing within the park. At one time this park was considered on of the most protected park in Central Africa. In 1988, the park was added to the Natural World Heritage Site, because of the diversity of wildlife that existed within the park. In 1997, things had drastically change, and the park was added to the World Heritage in Danger List in 1997, due to the heavy poaching that was going on within the park. This meant that the parkhad to have some of the most important and significant natural habitats of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species which this park had. It had a diversity of wildlife and flora, and a lot of it animals were already on the endanger list. There are other elements that the committee have to look at before deciding if an area, whether natural or cultural is entitle to be listed this list (Protected Area Programme, n. d. ). Some might not know what poaching in, and why it is important to finds ways to put an end to this dangerously practice that is destroying our wildlife. According to Ask. com (n. d), poaching is define as illegally hunting and fishing, and a poacher is define as a person who hunts and fish illegally, without a license. Poacher have no regards to any animals life, especially the ones on the endanger list. One of biggest threat to the Manovo-Gounda St. Floris National Parks comes from Poachers. Most of the poachers come from within Central Africa Republic, but they can also come from other countries and can be heavily armed with automatic weapons. These poachers have killed off at least 80% of this park’s wildlife. Let look at the black rhinoceros. Man is the main threat to these animals, but not for their meat, but for the price a person can receive from their horns. The reason these animals are killed at an alarming rate is because people in China believes that the horns or these animals can help reduced a fever. A black rhino is worth at least $200,000 dead (Black Rhino, n. d. ). Even though these animals are currently on the endanger list, poachers have no respect or any regards for the law. Right now there are only a few black rhino remaining in Manovo-Gounde St. Floris. The elephants population have also decline in this park by 75%, and this is also due to the poachers. As anyone can see, poaching needs to be stop and it up the people to do so. Not just the people of this country, but this issue need to be address so everyone from across the world is aware of what is going on. There need to be human intervention, because if this continue to go on, there will be no more Manovo-Gounda St. Floris National Park. The future of this park depends on everyone. Grazing is another issue. According to Ask. com (n. d. ), grazing is defined as to feed on growing grasses and field. Grazing is illegal and most of grazing that goes on with the park is done during the dry season, where there are a large numbers of cattle moving across the grassland going through the park. When grazing happens, it can destroy the grassland that is intend for the wildlife, and it can also cause the spread of disease from the cattle to the wildlife. Manovo-Gounda-St. Floris National Park, Central African Republic (March 2002), states that in 1997, four staff members were shot, causing the tourism in this park to come to a complete halt. Currently the park only has one manager and one assistant manager along with five guards. In order to keep the Park going, major changes need to be made. Since tourism was a great way for the park to pay for itself there need to be great consideration into making the area and park safe again for tourist. In 1988 there was a $27 million grant made to aid in the controlling of poaching and gazing that is going on within this park. How this money was use in to aid in the poaching and grazing situation is not know. The term biodiversity refers to genes, species (plants and animals), ecosystems, and landscapes, and the ecological and evolutionary processes that allow these elements of biodiversity to persist over time. Manovo-Gounda St. Floris National Park was one of the largest parks in Central Africa, and was home to some of the diversity wildlife in the world. At one time, tourism was a source of maintaining the up keep of the park, but all of this was threaten by poachers and the grazing of the land. Humans have become this park worst enemy. Man has fail to realize that these animals or vital to our existence just like insects and plants are. There is a lot that need to be done in order to maintain the diversity of the Manovo-Gounda St. Floris National Park. Where do we start? We have to start with education. In order for the poachers to stop killing off the diversity of the wildlife, they need to be educated on why the park exist, and what the benefit of the park is to the animals and the citizens of this country. They need to be taught what the consequence is if they continue to destroy all of the wildlife or if these animals seize to exist anymore. Education is the just the beginning, but first the people who are doing the poaching need to be educated in the harm this is doing. The residents of Central Africa Republic also need to be educated and need to know the value of this park. They need to know that once this park becomes safe again and tourism is resumed, then they all will be able to benefit from it. Tourism will bring money to their country, and might even bring new business into the country. New businesses, mean creating jobs. In order to do this, money need to be raised. Once the money is raise, some might wonder what and where the money is going. The money will go towards advertising, education, training, security, the up keep of the park. Action need to be taken today, because tomorrow is too late. The future of this park depends on us, the people. The survival of these animals depends on us. The destruction of wildlife is not just happening in the Manovo-Gounda St. Floris National Park. The poaching of wildlife is happening throughout Africa. In order for children our children to have a chance of seeing elephants, giraffes, rhinoceros, wild dogs, cheetahs, money, and other exotic animals up close, then we need to save this park. Let put the awareness out to the citizens of this country and to other countries as well. The majority of this park wildlife has already been destroyed, what we are waiting on the remaining 15-20% that is left. Let come up with a plan to end the poaching and grazing of this park, we can do it. References Ask. com. (n. d. ). Retrieved September 18, 2007, from http://www. ask. com/reference/dictionary/ahdict/103817/poaching Black Rhino. (n. d. ). Retrieved September 18, 2007, from http://www. botany. uwc. ac. za/Envfacts/Black_Rhino/index. htm Protected Areas Programme. (n. d. ). Retrieved August 26, 2007, from http://www2. wcmc. org. uk/protected_areas/data/wh/manovo. html United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre. (n. d). Manovo-gounda st. franis national park, central africa republic. Retrieved August 26, 2007, from http://www. unep-wcmc. org/sites/wh/manovo. html