Jato Sillah, the minister of Forestry and the Environment has confirmed that the US embassy in Banjul is set to sponsor a US$ 22, 833, 00 forest conservation project at the Kiang West Forest Park, located within the Lower River Region.

The Department of Parks and Wildlife Management in collaboration with WWF WARMER developed the Kiang West National Conservation Fast Track Initiative Project in January 2009 sponsored by the US embassy. These statements are contained in a question and answer sheet read on his behalf at the National Assembly by Sheriff Gomez, minister of Youth and Sports.

According to him, the project aimed among other things to address two major issues of concern: Incidence of frequent bush fires and improvement of tourism infrastructure and facilities to make Kiang West a lucrative destination for tourists, especially eco-tourist visitors.

He added that the Department of Parks and Wildlife Management in collaboration with World Bank has prepared and submitted a project concept paper commonly known as `PIF project identification for JEF Funding. “The main objective of this project is to provide support for the improvement of biodiversity protected area management of institution strengthening,” he said.

He then stated that approval of the PIF will be followed by elaboration of a full project document that would identify critical areas of intervention and strategies to be adopted for the sustainable management of Kiang West National Park and Tanji Bird preserves. Further commenting on the project, Minister Sillah stated that The Gambia annually allocates a limited amount of funds for early burning of protected areas.