Final Evaluation of Development of the Trans-frontier Conservation Area Linking Forest Reserves and Protected Areas in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire

In West Africa, wildlife species including elephants are found in small, isolated forest fragments. As human and economic activities expand, habitat fragmentation accelerates and animals face a growing threat of extinction. In many forest reserves, communities engage in subsistence agriculture and rely on wild animals for meat. Human-wildlife conflict has also been on the rise, with few efforts so far to solve this problem. In this context, the project GCP/RAF/447/GFF sought to construct a conservation corridor between Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana in the Bia-Diambarakro area, a priority landscape for forest conservation and also home to endemic species. Despite the delays and limited tangible results of the project, most stakeholders expressed high levels of satisfaction with the project given achievements despite limited resources.The project managed to engage stakeholders in the issues of conservation and forest and wildlife protection, and the evaluation recommends immediate actions to continue current work as well as plans to scale up activities to preserve important gains achieved.