[Posted on behalf of Norbert Schaffer, Head of International Policy and Species Recovery - and apologies for the delay, corrupted file stopped play!]
What a contrast between the rain, heat, mud and sweat we experienced in the habitat of the dwarf olive ibis and the white-collared, air conditioned, almost antiseptic atmosphere in the office of Carlos Vila Nova, the Minister of Public Works and Natural Resources of São Tomé and Principé. But it is exactly here in this office, where the battle for the conservation of the nature of the islands will be fought and where the future of the ibis and a raft of other species will largely be decided. And we are hopeful about this future!
In the past, clearly mistakes were made and key ibis habitat destroyed, turned into oil palm plantations. The reason for this was not a lack of economic alternatives or disregard for the value of wildlife - destruction was caused simply by not knowing about the importance of specific areas for birds and other wildlife. This has to change and it will now change. We were promised by all relevant people, from Minister Vila Nova to the Dutch manager of the Belgian-French palm oil multinational Agripalma active in São Tomé, that should there be a conflict between wildlife and land use changes, wildlife will win. It is now the responsibility of organisations like ABS, our partner in São Tomé and Principé, to identify the most important places for wildlife on both islands. We promised to assist them in this – and we will keep our promise.
But before it is back to desks and e-mails, working through an impressive to-do-list from this trip, we will test the capability of laundry machines, washing away the mud – but certainly not the memories - of an absolutely fantastic country!
Norbert