Environmental experts push for support from the Mano River Union of Sierra
Leone, Liberia, Guinea and Ivory Coast to help combat the harmful effects of
deforestation in the region.

SEREDOU, GUINEA REUTERS -
Conservationists are urging the governments of the Mano River Union
(MRU) to resolve problems dividing the four-nation group. It takes its name
from a river which starts in Guinea and forms the boundary between Liberia and
Sierra Leone.

Founded in 1973 to encourage economic cooperation between Liberia and
Sierra Leone, the Mano River Union was expanded seven years later with the
addition of Guinea. It was abandoned due to the civil wars in Liberia, from
1989 to 2003, and Sierra Leone, which pitted the nations against one
another.

On April 1, 2008 Ivory Coast agreed to join the union during a state
visit by Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. President Johnson-Sirleaf
is currently the chair of the MRU.

One of the divisive issues has been the disputed borders of the
Dere-Tiapleu Forests between Guinea and Ivory Coast.

The dispute has complicated efforts to conserve the uniquely-rich flora
and fauna of the Mount Nimba Nature
Reserve which lies across the borders of Guinea, Ivory Coast and Liberia.

"Since this forest was been classified as endangered, it has come
under a lot of pressure from the communities living near the river and from
loggers who come from the Ivory Coast and Guinea. Since the 1990s, around 1995
to 1996, the forest has been invaded by a logging company called Valoris, that
made a pathway in the forest which has now made this forest very
fragile," said Sire Mady Toure, the coordinator of the Mount Nimba
Diversity Programme.

Also high on the list of problems facing the three nations is a
territorial dispute between Guinea and Sierra Leone over a patch of land
alongside the Makona River, occupied by Guinean troops during Sierra Leone's
1991-2002 civil war and claimed by both countries.

"Collaboration between neighbouring countries is not easy. There
are other examples in West Africa, such as the Penjari. We've been trying to
bring the countries and partners together for a decade now. There are always
disagreements, disagreements over access to resources like we saw in the Dere
forest. But it's a very important step because it involves all the
countries," said Fabiana Issler, an environmental expert.

Marie Claude Gauthier, the Jane Goodall Foundation representative in
Guinea, attended a recent MRU meeting and sounded the alarm over the declining
number of primates in the region due to deforestation.
"I can say that the situation for chimpanzees is quite
catastrophic in Guinea. This is the one place in the world where the species
is the most endangered. Luckily, Guinea still has many of them and has the
responsibility to preserve them," Gauthier said.

Toure added that efforts to undo the damage caused by loggers and
farmers are not going well.

"Between 6000 and 6030 acres of the forest have completely
disappeared due to logging, which means that 58 percent of the forest has been
destroyed," he said.

But newcomers Ivory Coast, are confident that the MRU is now up the
task of saving Mount Nimba's plant and animal species from extinction.
"I have a lot of hope for the future. We'll be able to know the
stakeholders from the neighbouring countries. I think that we are motivated
and we will make things move forward," said Col. Laurent Guei Francois,
who runs Ivory Coast's parks and reserves.

The Guinean section of Mount Nimba was made a World Heritage Site in
1981 while the Ivorian section was added to the list in 1982. The southern
section of the range, which is in Liberia, has rich deposits of iron-ore which
may further threaten the reserve's survival.