EFSCRJ has received with shock the damning investigative report by Malagen about the allocation of pieces of land within the Tanji Bird Reserve to various businesspeople and politicians (Tanji Bird Reserve Carved Up? Inside Deals to Turn Protected Land into Profit). These beneficiaries are reported to include APP-Sobeyaa Party leader Essa Mbye Faal, Indian business tycoon Nandkishore Rajwani, and Senegalese businessman Khalilou Wague.
The Tanji Bird Reserve has been a protected area since 1993. The Janneh Commission mentioned the reserve in its ‘Volume 3 – Special Landed Properties’ noting that the place was unlawfully leased to the Kanilai Farms for non-conservation purposes. It stated that the Minister of Forestry unlawfully de-reserved parts of the reserve in 2012–2013 to facilitate these leases, bypassing public interest and environmental safeguards. The leases were granted without proper procedures, reflecting Jammeh’s exploitation of presidential authority for personal gain. The Commission deemed the actions a land grab.
The Janneh Commission recommended that all leases should be canceled and to legally re-establish the reserve’s protected status and rehabilitate its biodiversity. The Commission went further by calling for the creation of laws to prevent arbitrary de-reservation of protected areas.
We are deeply disturbed by the fact that the Gambia Tourism Board (GTBoard) and the Government did not only fail to protect this land but also ignored the Department of Parks’ objections to encroachments on the bird reserve. The Government has both domestic and international legal obligations to preserve and protect the environment such as the Tanji Bird Reserve. The encroachment on this bird reserve once again highlights the unrestrained and irresponsible pattern of the Government in selling of the Gambia’s common heritage for personal gain. We remain outraged at how this Government like the Jammeh Dictatorship before, continues to blatantly de-reserve, sell or freely allocate parts of protected forests, parks, wetlands, beaches and other reserved lands to public officials, businesspeople, and other entities at the detriment of public interest.
In addition to the Tanji Bird Reserve, we have recorded several illegal or unethical allocations and encroachments into the Tanbi area in Banjul, Kamalo, Abuko Nature Reserve, Monkey Park, Salagi, Nyambai, Kabafita, Furuya and Nyanaberi forests, among others. Not only have these protected areas been invaded but these precious areas are also left unkempt hence suffer from widespread and indiscriminate litter and dumping.
The environment and the natural resources of the Gambia are not only for the survival of people and nature but also constitute the collective heritage of present and future generations of Gambians. These generations of Gambians have the right to enjoy these resources which are also necessary to safeguard the biodiversity of the country upon which sustainable lives and livelihoods depend. Hence the environment and its natural resources deserve utmost preservation and protection.
While the environment and natural resources are crucial for development and opportunity, their exploitation must not prioritize private gain over public interest and nature. We find it therefore disturbing that the Government continues to willfully disregard its legal obligations but rather takes decisions and actions that destroy the environment.
We hereby categorically state that those who were given land within the bird sanctuary to immediately return the entire pieces of land. Those who are yet to take possession of any piece of land from the sanctuary refrain from acquiring the property. Tanji Bird Reserve requires preservation and total protection.
In light of the foregoing, EFSCRJ hereby makes the following recommendations:
- The President to assume his responsibilities to protect the environment and uphold the rule of law. In this regard, the President to ensure that institutions under the Executive abide by the law and hold those officials accountable who violate the law.
- The President to institute a presidential inquiry on the status of the Tanji Bird Reserve to identify all acts of illegality and threats to it and ensure full protection and accountability.
- GTBoard rescind all land allocations at Tanji Bird Reserve with immediate effect, and the institution be held accountable for its illegal allocations leading to encroachments on protected lands, forests, wetlands, and others around the country.
- Individuals and entities who have been allocated land within the Tanji Bird Reserve to return or abandon these pieces of land immediately and stop any developments they may have undertaken there.
- The Department of Parks and Wildlife assumes full control and management of the Tanji Bird Reserve and restores it to its ecological standards.
- The National Assembly, under its committee responsible for the environment and natural resources to perform its oversight functions by demanding transparency and accountability on the illegal allocations in the Tanji Bird Reserve.
- CSOs and political parties assume their responsibilities by demanding full transparency and accountability for the protection of the Tanji Bird Reserve and the environment.
- All citizens demand full transparency and accountability and protest the blatant corruption and destruction of the environment and our natural resources for private and personal gain.
2025 – The Year of Transparency and Accountability
