of improving fish production, enhance the quality of grazing lands on which the local population were dependent; and to also increase the surface water for subsistence and proliferation of vegetation and wildlife, including avifauna not only of resident birds but also birds that migrate from Europe during the winter season. Under this project, launched by IUCN in 1994 in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment and the Protection of Nature of Cameroon, the hydrological condition of the wetland has undergone improvements following creation of two seasonal watercourses that interconnect the Logone River with the Logomatya River and facilitates water flows spreading to the floodplains. This plan has worked out well and wetlands conditions of the flood plains is reported to have improved substantially. Under this project, a management plan has been evolved. A local steering committee has become functional. The project has envisaged controlled harvesting of a few natural products such as straw and gum arabic under field trials, though their extraction has continued even after the park was established. In 1983, the park had a staff of twenty-five rangers; however, as of 2005, that number had dropped to seven, and poachers from Chad, Nigeria, and Cameroon itself were reported to have gone on a "rampage for the park’s resources." Also in 2005 the Netherlands World Conservation Union Committee agreed to pay for an additional sixteen "eco-rangers" who would assist the regular ones. Floodplain rehabilitation to enhance the carrying capacity of the flood-plain started in 1994, and is reported to have some beneficial effects in the park. As the Waza National Park is the major beneficiary from the project, the statistics show that 370 species of resident and migratory birds are now found in the Waza-Logone area which covers eight specific habitat types, and the number of waterfowl had increased from 59,000 in 1993 to 87,000 in 1997. Similarly, fish production from the flood plains had increased to 2,000 tonnes (dry weight) in 1996/1997 (fish species bred covered Clarias sp., Tilapia sp., Alestes sp., Petrocephalus sp., Labeo sp. and many others. The yield from the pastures was reflected in the growth of livestock to about 100,000 units in the dry season. See also Tourism in Cameroon Wildlife of Cameroon References External links YouTube: Parc Waza (in the French language) National parks of Cameroon Biosphere reserves of Cameroon Far North Region (Cameroon) Protected areas established in 1934