Today saw our forest teams heading back into the forest after a nice weekend off, and heading down to transect 2 and 4.  However the optimism of the start of a new week was dampened somewhat by the devastating progress being made by the private developers who have their hands on the coastal plots that run along the southern  and eastern edge of Shimoni east forest. 

It was almost 9 months ago now when we first saw the plots being fenced off and cleared, and the appearance of several large roads that connected all of the plots.  Since then all of the plots are getting destroyed slowly but surely, and one of the sites that was mere foundations a few months ago is almost a fully fledged hotel that can be seen by our marine teams out on the boat when they head north up to Funzi Bay. 

One of the most shocking things our team noticed today though, was the progress that has been made on the roads.  The original ones have become larger, wider and more cleared, and more such roads have sprung up forming large intersections and leading to new locations.  If this continues at this rate then fairly soon the whole area near the coast will be flattened.  And our surveys have shown that this area is widely used by colobus monkeys, yellow baboons, suni’s, Harvey’s duikers, Zanj elephant shrews and countless other species. 

 A section of the new road.  In the distance you can see the smoke from the burning of cut vegetation

It is so sad that the people doing this cannot see what irreversible damage they are doing.  I cannot believe that one can use ignorance as an excuse, as my 4 year old nephew could guess that what they are doing is ruthlessly destructive.  We are going to attempt to get in contact with the owners of these plots as soon as possible.  We are not going to lecture them or demand that they stop – it is their land after all.  We will try and meet with them with our close partners Friends of Shimoni Forest, who can ask on behalf of the community that they at least try and do things more eco-friendly and try to minimise their impact. 

There are simple measures they can take to reduce their impact, such as leaving some of the large trees standing so as to allow a consistent canopy or “corridors” of canopy over the plots.  This will allow primate species to get across from one side of the plot to the other without having to go onto the ground.

We’ll let you know how it goes!