In October this year, Chimbo Foundation participated in the Globe Guards Nature Auction. We offered people the possibility to adopt a sacred forest in the Boé region of Guinea Bissau.
Sacred forests are protected by traditional law. They are sacred because the protective spirit for the village lives there. At most of the sites natural springs provide drinking water to the village. Because of the needs of a growing population and in particular the increase in cashew plantations, these sites are more and more threatened.
Four individuals chose to bid on our proposal and adopted a sacred forest. Chimbo will contract in their name the owner association of a village with important sacred forests to protect the forests of that village for the next 5 years. The owners association will get one or more bikes (depending on the number and size of the sacred forests in their village) at its disposal, which will enable them to combat forest fires and to contact the Foundation or the authorities in case of illegal activities in the sacred forest. The sponsoring also makes it possible to place a trap camera at the entrance of the the most important forest.
In return for their help, the sponsors will have their name placed on a sign at a site chosen by the owners association of that village and they will be in contact with the owners association of the sacred forests of that village.