The United Nations’ Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has removed
Senegal’s Niokolo-Koba National Park from the list of World Heritage sites in Danger after citing positive results achieved by the West African country and its formal commitment to reappraise plans to the development of the property.
The UNESCO World Heritage Committee, which took the decision during its meeting in New Delhi, India, made the announcement on Wednesday July 24, saying it was satisfied with measures taken by the country to allocate considerable resources to the surveillance of the park in order to combat poaching and illegal gold panning.
The park, which is located in a lush area along the banks of the Gambia River, was included in the List of World Heritage in Danger in 2007 as poaching, basalt mining and other human activities were becoming growing threats.
The gallery forests and savannahs of Niokolo-Koba are home to a rich wildlife, including the world’s largest antelopes.
According to UNESCO, since then, monitoring of emblematic species has been stepped up and considerable resources have been allocated to the surveillance of the park in order to combat poaching and illegal gold panning, as well as to better organize the transhumance of livestock.
The body also commended the setting up of a mine pollution control system, and hailed Senegal for work that has been carried out to improve the fight against the invasive species Mimosa pigra.
The World Heritage Committee called on Senegal to continue its efforts in the coming years in so as to improve the National Park which became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1981.