I have been a volunteer film-maker for Paignton Zoo for the past year. This coming February my colleague, Jono Gilbert, and I will be aiding the Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust’s (WWCT) environmental awareness campaign in a forest reserve in Nigeria. The WWCT have been one of several partners in the Omo-Shasha-Oluwa Forest Initiative for several years and help fund vital work.

The primary aim of the initiative is to preserve one of Nigeria’s
most important reserves, which is of both local and global significance.
The forests and rivers are home to over 200 trees, 81 mammals, 204 birds, 29 fish and 36 reptiles. There are many mammal species, including forest elephant, chimpanzee and white-throated guenon monkeys, all of which are seriously endangered. However, the area is under enormous pressure from unsustainable logging, hunting, forest clearance for agriculture and the introduction of invasive plant species.

Our project will directly benefit the Forest Initiative’s primary goals. By creating bespoke educational videos to be used in their environmental awareness campaign, we will be passing on invaluable knowledge to the local communities and school children who are most dependent on
the forest for survival. We will highlight the importance of the species which live there in an effort to reduce illegal hunting of endangered animals as well as educating about sustainable practices within the forest ecosystem. Without good stewardship, and protection of the trees and endangered species, the forest will lose its value and ultimately its legal protection, which could lead to its eventual destruction.

A further aim is to produce videos for raising awareness of this globally important habitat in the UK. Only by bringing attention to these forest reserves can we hope to raise the necessary support for their continued protection in the future.

More info:
http://www.wwct.org.uk/conservation-research/nigeria/omo-shasha-oluwa