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CNN Live Today

A Win for Wildlife

Aired September 06, 2002 - 12:56   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Environmentalists are hailing a pair of pronouncements which has just concluded the U.N. Earth Summit. The United States has pledged at least $36 million to help protect the rain forest in Africa's Congo Basin. And one of the countries there wants to help protect animals with a national park system.
CNN's Gary Strieker takes us there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY STRIEKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The rain forest in Gabon shelter large populations of central Africa's distinctive wildlife, including endangered species like Gorillas, chimpanzees and forest elephants. But many important forest habitats in the country have been threatened by rapidly expanding logging operations and a growing commercial market for bush meat. And conservationists have worked with Gabonese authority to identify and survey areas for permanent protection.

LEE WHITE, WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY: Basically, go the government has adopted our proposal as it strategy and has taken the decision to set aside all of the proposed areas of national parks.

STRIEKER: The government says there will be 13 new national parks in the system, spread across the country, covering than 10,000 square miles, about the size of Maryland, almost as large as Belgium. The parks will protect a wide diversity species, even sea turtles, and hump back whales in coastal waters.

(on camera): Added together, the parks will exceed 10 percent of Gabon's total land area. Costa Rica is the only country with a higher percentage, although the total size of its parks is a great deal smaller.

(voice-over): The government's announcement was made this week by Gabon's president Omar Bongo. Conservationists are calling his decision courageous, setting a new standard for wildlife protection in central Africa, a standard they hope other nations will follow.

Gary Strieker, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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