Mont Richard-Molard
| Mont Richard-Molard | ||
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 Mont Richard-Molard |
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| height | 1752 m | |
| location | Ivory Coast / Guinea border , West Africa | |
| Mountains | Nimbaberge | |
| Coordinates | 7 ° 33 '40 " N , 8 ° 27' 52" W | |
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| particularities | highest mountain in Ivory Coast and Guinea | |
The Mont Richard-Molard (English Mount Nimba and earlier also Mont Nouon ) is with a height of 1752 m the highest mountain of the Ivory Coast and Guinea . It is located on the border of these two states and is only 9.4 km from the border with Liberia . It is also the highest point in the Nimbaberge .
The towns closest to the mountain are Lola (24 km), Nzérékoré (48 km) in Guinea and Yekepa (14 km) in Liberia .
The mountain is named after the geographer Jacques Richard-Molard , who died on it in 1951 as a result of a fall.
World natural heritage
In 1944, the nature reserve réserve naturelle intégrale du Mont Nimba was founded around the mountain, with an area currently of around 180 km². Because of its biodiversity, it has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1981 . Approx. 130 km² of the nature park is located on the national territory of Guinea , approx. 50 km² on the Ivory Coast . All tourism is prohibited in large parts of the nature park .
Hazards
In Liberia, iron ore was mined from the mountain until 1989 , when supplies were exhausted.
Mont Nimba has been on the Red List of World Heritage in Danger since 1992 . The reason for this was that Guinea unilaterally reduced the boundaries of the nature park and granted a mining company a mining concession for iron ore. Allegedly, the limits were "accidentally" set incorrectly. In 1993 a preliminary agreement was reached to create an enclave within the park's boundaries.
Political unrest in the region, in particular the fact that the Ivory Coast government has had no control over their part of the park for years, have since resulted in the reserve's facilities being largely destroyed. In Guinea, too, the influx of refugees into the park area appears to be continuing, and the destruction of forest areas by shepherds could not be stopped.
Exploration of the iron ore mine began around 2003; illegal hunting by miners now puts additional strain on the reserve. The World Heritage Commission is skeptical as to whether the international mining consortium can be successfully integrated into a protection concept. It is assured by the latter that the Trans-Guinea railway planned for the removal of the ore should end before the borders of the nature park.
Web links
- Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve (English)
- Entry on the UNESCO World Heritage Center website ( English and French ).
swell
- ^ William Basil Morgan, John Charles Pugh: West Africa . Methuen 1969, p. 270
- ^ Diedrich Westermann, Edwin William Smith, Cyril Daryll Forde: Africa . Oxford University Press 1951, p. 335
- Justification of the World Heritage Committee for inclusion in the Red List (English)
- Status report 1999 (English)
- Status report 2006 (PDF; 742 kB), p. 11ff (English)