Working with a local team to clear rubbish from an old rubbish dump within Niokolo Koba National Park

In May 2011 we received RSG funding and began to manage and recycle waste from within and around Niokolo Koba National Park. Since then we have worked together with REGAVOM (a local NGO), and the National Parks Service to construct waste collection facilities, enabling us to recycle a large amount of non-organic and organic waste. For the first year much of this development was dependent on external funding, in this second phase we will increase community involvement and extend the project to run independently.

Within the park we will install animal proof compost bins, and in collaboration with the National Park Service clear the large rubbish dumps from around living areas. Signs will be placed at the park entrance to increase awareness in tourists of the importance of appropriate waste disposal.

In a community living on the periphery of the National Park, a small local enterprise will be established to collect rubbish from125 households. A plot of land will be purchased, and a larger storage space and compost system will be constructed with recycling activities at this new depot continuing as before to separate, store and sell on waste materials. In addition, the biogas digester and incinerator will be installed here, and a well will be built allowing for the creation of an organic garden, a tree nursery and a free-range Guinea fowl farm. Pedal powered machines and a pedal powered generator will be built and used at the depot, the latter as a charging station and to power a custom built cinema system for community focussed environmental education programs and conservation related entertainment. The depot and associated activities will be a community project and a website will be made documenting our activities. All educational and media resources created during this project will be compiled and made available through the depot and website.

In the longer term we hope that the project can be extended to more villages around the periphery of the park. We would also like to expand the environmental education aspect of this project by creating nature clubs in local schools, and we would like to explore other methods for the efficient recycling of waste materials.