99 percent of Mont Peko National park in Ivory Coast has been destroyed by cocoa farmers according to Ivorian officials. The rise in production of cocoa in the country has had a negative impact on the environment with trees being felled to make room for growth of cocoa.
The West African nation’s President Alassane Ouattara is looking to bring back order with the years of turmoil behind the country. The government will be expelling tens of thousands of farmers from parks and reserves to save the declining forests in the country.
Mento Peko Park is looking to regain its 34,000 hectares from an illegal population of 28,000 people set to be evicted in December. The park is the first in a list of at least 200 parks and reserves looking to be saved from destruction in Ivory Coast.
The country has this year produced 1.8 million tonnes of cocoa which makes 40 percent of World supply cocoa.
With government’s move to encourage conservation, how will deal with social unrest and how will it maintain its position as the World’s top cocoa grower?
In 2013, Ivory Coast attempted this move, starting with Niegre reserve, which led to human rights activists accusing the government of human rights abuses. A huge number of people were reported homeless.
As a measure of avoiding what happened in 2013, the government has given Mont Peko people two years to relocate. The government has also offered transport to at least 800 park inhabitants that have decided to return to their homes in neighbouring country in Burkina Faso.
Some of the farmers have decided to join family members farming legally elsewhere in the country. Thousands say that they have nowhere to go.
The government will offer resettlement packages according to the authorities.
