Gadabedji Reserve

IUCN Category II - National Park

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The Gadabédji Reserve (French: Réserve de Gadabédji ) is a nature reserve in Niger.

Location

The Gadabédji Reserve lies to the north of the municipal territory of Gadabédji in the Maradi region. It is located in the Sahel region on the southern edge of the Sahara desert.

Characteristics

In the dunes of Gadabédji - reserve grow acacia species such as the Verek acacia and acacia, Wüstendatteln, Bauhinien, Kinkeliba, marula trees and Guiera senegalensis. To wildlife include Dama gazelles, oryx, African ostriches, warthogs, aardvarks, cheetahs, African wild dogs, Korrigums, bat-eared fox and Ethiopian wolves.

In addition to poaching counts illegal transhumance of the major threats to wildlife. Lack of personnel makes it difficult to monitor the conservation area. The administration of the Gadabédji - reserve is the responsibility of Directorate for wildlife, hunting and protected areas in the Niger Ministry of Water, environment and the fight against desertification.

History

Even in the 1930s, the area was one of the richest game in Niger. The increasing nomadic animal husbandry and hunting by sedentary Hausa from the 1940s threatened the wildlife so that the French colonial administration in 1955 founded the Gadabédji Reserve to protect them. In the founding decree ( and in many other sources ) the area of the reserve was given as 76,000 acres, but later calculations showed an actual area of 68,000 hectares. From 1989 to 1991 a reintroduction program for oryx was performed. 1991 Balsam milkweed bushes were planted on the east and the western boundary of the reserve, of which only those who survived in the western part. The Niger State requested at the 2006 UNESCO a recording of Gadabédji Biosphere Reserve in the World Heritage List.