The hippopotamus, a species listed as vulnerable in the IUCN Red Book, is in serious decline in Guinea Bissau.

The hippopotamus, a species listed as vulnerable in the IUCN Red Book, is in serious decline in Guinea Bissau.

In the Bijagós Archipelago there is a special population, as it is the only group of hippos that inhabits maritime-coastal waters and is the westernmost of its world distribution area. In fact, in the IUCN Action Plan for the Hippopotamus, the conservation of this population is considered a priority. The project aims to resolve conflicts between rice crop maintenance and hippopotamus conservation in Orango National Park. Rice production in the fields in flood zones is frequently affected by the presence of the Park’s marine hippos, unique in the world, which also sometimes threaten the safety of farmers.

On the other hand, rice crops represent the subsistence food of the population, so it is intended to make compatible a sustainable production of these crops with the conservation of the hippopotamus in the National Park, in addition to increasing the food security conditions of the local population.

The objectives are, therefore:

• Protect the hippopotamus in Orango National Park.
• Increase rice production, crop numbers and cultivated area of traditional flood crops, bolanha-type, minimizing hippo damage.
• Significantly reduce the burning and deforestation of the tropical forest of the Orango National Park due to the extension of unsustainable rain rice crops, such as mpam-pam.