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Screensize: 640 x 480 800 x 600 1024 x 768 1280 x 1024 UserName: Password: Format Mode: Basic  Help  Prompt  Format: Videos: Font Andale Mono Arial Arial Black Book Antiqua Century Gothic Comic Sans MS Courier New Georgia Impact Lucida Console Script MT Bold Stencil Tahoma Times New Roman Trebuchet MS Verdana   Size 1 2 3 4 5 6   Color Black Red Yellow Pink Green Orange Purple Blue Beige Brown Teal Navy Maroon LimeGreen Message: * HTML is OFF * Forum Code is ON Smilies [quote][i]Originally posted by Momodou[/i] [br]Tanji Bird Reserve Carved Up? Inside Deals To Turn Protected Land Into Profit Malagen: 17 July 2025 By Kaddy Jawo https://malagen.org/investigations/the-big-story/tanji-bird-reserve-carved-up-for-sale-inside-deals-to-turn-protected-land-into-profit/ Investigations, The Big Story The Government has quietly divided and doled out a large tract of land - equivalent in size to more than 30 standard international football fields - believed to be carved out of the Tanji Bird Reserve by President Jammeh. The new owners - well, those named so far - include lawyer and politician Essa Faal; a Senegalese businessman and financier of President Barrow, Khalilou Wague; and a Gambia-based Indian businessman, Nandkishore Rajwani, who reportedly uses different names to amass land from the state. Every morning at first light, forest ranger Baba Janneh stands at the edge of the Tanji Bird Reserve. He doesn’t call out or make noise, but waits, eyes scanning the treetops for any sign of movement. On one such morning in September last year, Mr. Janneh watches as a white-backed vulture glides silently overhead. “Some days, she stays in the sky longer, looking, circling before she finds a place to rest,” Mr. Janneh said, referring to the vulture. In the ten years he’s been keeping watch at the Reserve, Mr. Janneh has noticed “some strange changes” in the behavior of the inhabitants: the birds. The white-backed vulture is a critically endangered vulture species that is mostly found at the Tanji Bird Reserve. But human encroachment and environmental changes disrupted their fragile habitat, which is also a last place of refuge for hundreds of birds. Now, these birds are at risk of being forced out with nowhere else to go, according to conservationists. But some of the people alleged to have taken a parcel of their habitat to build hotels and resorts however said the birds can stay where they belong. The map however shows that where these birds belong is precisely what’s disappearing. President Adama Barrow promised to fix the environmental violations committed under his predecessor, Yahya Jammeh. But protected areas appear to be under unprecedented pressure in recent years, with repeated attempts – and in some cases, actual steps – to carve up forests, wetlands, and other ecologically sensitive zones. The Tanji Bird Reserve is nestled between the upscale residential neighborhood in Brufut on one side and the bustling fishing community of Tanji on the other. It’s exactly the kind of paradise every hospitality investor or real estate developer dreams of. Here, waves crash on unspoiled beaches. Birds sing from every corner. Monkeys rustle through the trees. And, out on the Bijol Islands – The Gambia’s only offshore islands – seabirds screech and chatter. Covering an area of 612 hectares, the Bird Reserve has for years faced threats from poachers, firewood collectors and local communities claiming parts of it. Former President Yahya Jammeh joined that notorious list in 2012, when he issued directives for his Minister for Lands, Lamin Waa Juwara to hive off a parcel of it. The list of threats has grown much longer soon after the change of government. President Jammeh is replaced by government-backed hospitality investors and businessmen who claim to have followed ‘due process’ to secure the land reserved for wildlife. Conservationists believe that the new threats faced by the Reserve are part of a steady and alarming decline of protected areas, including thriving forests and wetland ecosystems across the country. “We’re not just losing trees,” said Omar Malmo Jr., noting that the de-reservation of the Bijilo Forest Park – or Monkey Park – to make way for a conference centre was a turning point. “Tanji is more than just a bird sanctuary,” Dr. Sambou added. “It’s a living, breathing system. If we lose it, we’re not just losing birds, we’re losing part of our national ecological identity.” Who Gets a Piece of Bird’s Paradise? The ones known so far are lawyer and politician Essa Faal and a Gambia-based Indian businessman, Nandkishore Rajwani. A Senegalese businessman and politician Khalilou Wague, who is a key financier of President Barrow has also been named as an allottee. We reached out to him through the contacts provided to confirm his allocation, but he has not responded to our messages. It all began in 2012 when former President Yahya Jammeh carved out 25 hectares – an expanse larger than 30 standard international football fields – from the Reserve, and allocated it to Hadia Nadiany Bamba, wife of Laurent Gbagbo, who was the President of Ivory Coast. But then, Mr. Jammeh and Mr. Gbagbo fell out. So, Mr. Jammeh took back the land he gifted to Mr. Gbagbo’s wife. He then placed some areas under his mother’s name, Asombi Bojang, and allocated another part to Kanilai Family Farm, a company he owned and used to launder stolen public funds. This tract of land was a subject of investigation during the government-sanctioned inquiry into Mr. Jammeh’s assets and finances. The Janneh Commission, as the inquiry is known, found that the Ministry of Forestry’s decision to de-reserve the area was illegal. Despite the Commission’s recommendation that the land’s protected status be restored and returned to the Department of Parks and Wildlife Management, the GTBoard has divided it up into parcels and has since been distributing them, claiming it is part of a tourism designated zone. It’s not clear how much land Khalilou Wague received or for what purpose. The area allotted to Essa Faal is roughly 3.1 hectares (184mx165mx174 x182m) while Nandkishore Rajwani, who operates Emkay Stores, received about 1.15 hectares (110mx104m x 100m x 115m), according to official documents seen by Malagen. Mr. Faal said he plans to build a mixed-use resort, a project he added would create hundreds of jobs and increase local ownership of hotels in the country. “After spending millions preparing proper documentation, I had to pay a non-refundable fee of over D6 million,” he told Malagen via telephone last year. Mr. Rajwani also said he plans to build a hotel, noting that the land was compensation for a state allocation the GTBoard had taken from him. However, official documents seen by Malagen reveal Mr. Rajwani reportedly uses different names to amass state lands. He has been allocated at least four different plots in recent years using various individual names, including Nandkishore Rajwani and Narendra Rajwani. He has also used different company names such as Lagoona Hotel, Tanush Shopping Centre and Precious Group Ltd. An audit into the GTBoard’s land allocations found the allotments to Mr. Rajwani to be highly problematic. The GTBoard had agreed in principle to give him the land six months before he even submitted any formal application. Barely two weeks after he filed a formal application in January 2019, the allocation was confirmed. At the time, he had not fully paid $546,000 (approx. D26.7 million), representing 5 per cent of the total he’s supposed to pay as Tourism Development Area levy. Nor had he provided proof that he had the funds to build a hotel. Both are prerequisites for such allocations. It is not clear who influenced the various allocations. Mr. Faal had admitted meeting President Barrow over his application for the said land, but rejected claims that Mr. Barrow had influenced the GTBoard’s decision. But President Barrow had publicly admitted to allocating land to Mr. Faal. This Place is Protected The allocations set off a dispute between GTBoard and the Department of Parks and Wildlife, raising questions about where exactly the boundaries of the Tanji Bird Reserve are drawn. “The GTB knows the place is part of the Bird Reserve and all the allocations are illegal,” said a senior official from the Department of Parks and Wildlife. “The barriers are there,” he added, and asked not to be named for fear of repercussions. When contacted, the GTBoard noted in a letter signed by the Director General, Abubacarr Camara that only those involved in the land deal are entitled to details of the allocations. Malagen has learnt that the Department of Parks has since 2021 asked the Attorney General’s Office to clarify the legal status of the land allocations. “Unfortunately, to this day, our letter has gone unanswered,” the senior official at Parks said. The Ministry of Justice has not responded to our request for an interview. Essa Faal however argued strongly that the land given to him does not fall under Tanji Bird Reserve. “Reservation areas are created by law,” he said in a written response. “They are not wished into existence. You must note that the GTBoard holds the lease for the land in question. It is part of the TDA.” Yet, the Reservation Order – a formal legal document that establishes Tanji Bird Reserve as a protected area in 1993 – and the official map, accessed from the Department of Parks and Wildlife, defined the exact boundaries using GPS coordinates. A Malagen team, guided by Tanji Bird Reserve ranger Baba Janneh, toured the Reserve to confirm the details. When we checked the coordinates using a mapping tool, they matched exactly with the area the ranger indicated as the boundaries. “As you can see,” Mr. Janneh said, pointing to the plots he identified as having been given out. “Their allocations are clearly well within the Reserve.” The Birds Will Die Of up to two hundred thousand tourists that visit the country annually, bird watching is a key attraction for at least 70 percent of them. Tanji Bird Reserve, boasting of over 300 species of birds, is the most popular site. Dozens of these bird species are endangered, meaning they are at risk of extinction. Some are found nowhere else in the country except in Tanji, and conservationists said most of the bird species there are likely to be forced out with any encroachment. But Essa Faal said his resort will promote the biodiversity of the Reserve. “I’m a Gambian who wants to invest in my homeland,” he said, citing local and international examples of where investments in hotels have led to promotion of conversation. “My resort is going to be eco-friendly.” Omar Malmo Jr., an environmental activist, however said the de-reservation of the area for any other purpose will compromise the ecosystem’s health and vitality. “The Reverse is not connected to any other forest where the animals can use it as a corridor to move,” he said. “Therefore they will all die.” So far, none of the people allocated land in these contested areas have been able to begin development. Standing in their way are youth from Brufut, alongside the rangers who are holding the line and sending away anyone who tries to start construction. Continue at: https://malagen.org/investigations/the-big-story/tanji-bird-reserve-carved-up-for-sale-inside-deals-to-turn-protected-land-into-profit/ [/quote]   Check here to include your profile signature.