Andrew Dunn
Director of WCS Nigeria Program

Andrew Dunn,
Director of WCS Nigeria Program

AAs a boy growing up in England, my family lived in a town dominated by coal mines and shipyards. It was only on school trips to the surrounding countryside that I gradually became aware of the existence of another world. I developed a love and fascination with the hills and moors of northern England, areas completely deforested centuries before, now with their own unique wildlife. I only became aware of this thing called conservation when I attended university, and from then on, my dream was always to spend time in Africa.

I first became involved with WCS in 2004 when I helped develop the WCS Nigeria Program, working with the renowned primatologist John Oates. In the beginning our focus was surveying Cross River gorillas—Africa’s most endangered ape—to see where they survived across the landscape. Today we strive to protect those key populations, as well as the country’s other diverse species of primates, butterflies, birds, and amphibians. We do this by working with governments and with local communities to reduce threats from hunting and habitat loss.

Right now, a proposed superhighway through Cross River State threatens to displace over 180 communities and destroy forest habitat. The route chosen for the 160-mile highway cuts through Cross River National Park and four other protected areas, and threatens the Cross River gorillas as well as other vulnerable species like chimpanzees, forest elephants, and pangolins. WCS is calling on the Nigerian government to stop the construction of this superhighway. We are getting the message out through an online campaign and petition, social media, news articles, and by supporting technical reviews of the Environmental Impact Assessment, which was created in response to petitions like ours. Over 100,000 signatures have been collected and delivered to President Buhari through the Nigerian Embassy in Washington, D.C.

Thankfully we recently received some hopeful news that the government has agreed to drop the originally proposed 12-mile buffer zone around the highway. However, even without the buffer, the project still poses a threat to communities and wildlife. Should the superhighway project move forward, we will advocate that a route should be chosen with all stakeholders—including communities and conservationists—to minimize damage to community forests and existing protected areas.

Despite this and other issues, including hunting for bushmeat, I remain optimistic that with a well-managed network of national parks, we can protect Nigeria’s wildlife. There is growing recognition of the scourge of corruption—perhaps the greatest threat to conservation in Nigeria—and renewed efforts by the government and President Buhari to tackle corruption, mismanagement, and waste in the country. I am confident in the WCS Nigeria Program and proud that we now have long-term commitments to two major landscapes in the country. Within the program, I see a growing cadre of young Nigerian biologists passionate to protect their country’s remaining wildlife, and with them I feel that the future is in good hands.

Andrew Dunn