The Last Hope

Foreword

v Foreword The Last Hope offers a fascinating depiction of conservation efforts by protected area managers and the attendant conflicts with the local communities due mostly to the difficulty in balancing conservation objectives with the ever-increasing community livelihood and development needs. Although the author has given the piece an artistic touch, to achieve dramatic effects, the play succinctly relates the story of Cameroon’s first rainforest national park, Korup. The Korup National Park was created in 1986 and a project, sponsored by the World Wide Fund for Nature [WWF] UK, was established in 1988. This project gradually but steadily grew in size, which marked the appearance of several other actors on the conservation scene: WCI, ODA, GTZ, EU, and WWF-CCPO. Although a multi-donor project with shortcomings, GTZ maintained its role in promoting the conservation of the Korup National Park. In order to achieve a long-term sustainable conservation and development impact, GTZ and EU, in partnership with the Government of Cameroon and local NGOs, promoted various community conservation activities, including community-based natural resource management, community forest development, timber concession management, land use planning and rural livelihood improvement. Experiences in Korup have been so enriching that we consider it a duty to share these with other conservation and development initiatives in Cameroon and elsewhere, which is the objective of the drama project. I would like to seize this opportunity to thank the Korup Project staff, village communities, Donor agencies, Government institutions and other partners for their role in the implementation of the Korup Project and their vi contribution towards the realisation of this play. Vincent Ndangang, 2003 Conservation Development Adviser, Korup Project Technical Adviser, GTZ ...