© African ParksDear Friends,
We first alerted you back in August to the issues Chinko is facing in the Central African Republic, a country shrouded in ethnic battles and ongoing civil war.
Thanks to your support, this park is defying the odds.
Chinko spans an expansive 1.8 million hectares and is situated where tropical forest and savannah collide, resulting in one of the most uniquely diverse ecological landscapes in Africa.
But the park remains under serious and immediate threat.
Armed poachers and herders who move through the region are indifferent to the park boundaries, and exploit and exacerbate the current conflict.They rustle livestock from other pastoralists, smuggle alluvial gold and diamonds, poach and trade in ivory and bushmeat, all with continued devastating consequences for the people and wildlife in the area (which was recently reported in The Economist).
However, our team on the ground has managed to keep these herders out of the entire park over the past year, securing a core zone where we’re starting to see wildlife return - from Giant eland to signs of lions and elephants – who are seeking refuge in that safe space.
Not only are wildlife finding safe harbour in the park, we currently have 280 internally displaced people, mainly women and children, living within Chinko, having sought safety from the war around them. We’ve been providing life-saving assistance to those who lost everything in the ongoing violence in the region.
We are helping the people in and around Chinko to recover through a series of emergency measures, but our resources are being stretched and we need your help.
We are in dire need of providing food, clean water, tarps, mosquito nets, blankets, cooking pots, sleeping mats, medical kit, and soap. Every dollar counts and will go to our Chinko Crisis Fund.
Just $40 can support one person for a month with simple but life-saving needs.
Despite all this hardship, Chinko remains a beacon of hope for wildlife, and people, and we continue to do what we set out to do: preserve biodiversity by creating a safe place so wildlife can breed and thrive, and support the local communities who call Chinko and the surrounding area their home.
African Parks is committed to Chinko with a 50-year mandate in place to manage the park. We take the long-view. And together with your support, we’re doing everything we can to build a future, and create hope in the most challenging of places.
With sincere thanks,
African Parks