OREANDA-NEWS. May 16, 2013. The first East Nimba Nature Reserve (ENNR) Planning workshop was held in Liberia last week. This initiative is the result of an ongoing partnership between ArcelorMittal Liberia and Conservation International and brought together local communities, non-governmental organisations and government stakeholders to establish a development plan for East Nimba and its communities, in the region close to ArcelorMittal Liberia’s mining operations in Tokadeh.

The Honourable Christiana Dagadu, Nimba County Superintendent opened the workshop of 42 participants. Teekor Yorlay, Assistant Development Superintendent for Nimba and Harrison Karnwea, the acting Managing Director for the Forestry Development Authority attended along with the Co- Management Committee for the ENNR, Gba, Zor and Blei community forestry management bodies, Environment Protection Agency, Forestry Development Authority, CI, Fauna and Flora International, Agricultural Relief Services Inc and other county and community officials.

Conservation International, a non-profit organisation, works to empower communities to responsibly and sustainably care for their environment and global biodiversity. The Washington DC-based charity works with communities, countries and societies to protect tropical forests, lush grasslands and rivers. ArcelorMittal has been working with CI for more than two years in Liberia, on projects including bio-monitoring and bush meat research, land use planning, conservation agreements, long term sustainable financing mechanisms and biodiversity conservation public awareness and education.

The goal of the workshop was to reach an agreement on a management strategy for the Reserve and to discuss how best to manage the region’s resources. Workshop discussions focused on developing a common vision for the ENNR and the socioeconomic and ecological issues that need to be addressed in order to have a successful management strategy for the reserve and its environs.

ArcelorMittal has been working closely with local communities since first investing in the country in 2006. In January this year, the people of Zortapa, Nimba County welcomed a new farming programme in their district. The county’s superintendent, inspector, and Paramount chiefs, among others, formed part of the celebration to welcome the Rural Integrated Center for Community Empowerment (RICCE) project, designed to reduce slash and burn farming – a practice known as ‘shifting cultivation’ - in communities located near to the reserve.

Slash and burn has been used by farmers in the Nimba region for many years, but it poses a threat to the Nimba rainforest of large-scale deforestation, nutrient loss and invasion by weeds and other species. RICCE has been contracted by ArcelorMittal’s Biodiversity Conservation Programme to introduce conservation agriculture, a way of improving current farming methods. In the initial project, 56 farmers in five communities, including two co-operatives, will use low-cost tools and equipment, and traditional crop varieties without herbicides or herbicide tolerant varieties.

Covering more than 13,500 hectares, the ENNR was established in 2003 and is located in the north of Liberia. The reserve covers much of Liberia’s share of the Mount Nimba range and borders the Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve which is a protected area and UNESCO world heritage site in Cote d'Ivoire and Guinea. The Nimba Mountains lie within the Upper Guinea hotspot and the range is one of the most important areas in Africa for biodiversity conservation due to the high number of endemic and endangered species, such as the critically endangered Nimba Toad (Nimbaphrynoides occidentalis).  The Nimba range is the highest ranking Alliance for Zero Extinction (AZE) site in Africa and forms part of the Upper Guinea Endemic Bird Area (EBA). The Liberian Nimba Range is also designated as an important bird area (IBA).