The Aïr and Ténéré Addax Sanctuary is a nature reserve in the north center of the nation of

Niger Niger, officially the Republic of the Niger, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is a unitary state Geography of Niger#Political geography, bordered by Libya to the Libya–Niger border, north-east, Chad to the Chad–Niger border, east ...

. The reserve forms part of the larger Aïr and Ténéré National Nature Reserve, which is a

UNESCO World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

. The Aïr and Ténéré National Nature Reserve covers , of which form the Aïr and Ténéré Addax Sanctuary. The Sanctuary exists to protect the critically endangered

Addax The addax (''Addax nasomaculatus''), also known as the white antelope and the screwhorn antelope, is an antelope native to the Sahara Desert. The only member of the genus ''Addax'', it was first described scientifically by Henri de Blainvil ...

, which once roamed much of the

Aïr Mountains The Aïr Mountains or Aïr Massif (Air Tamajeq language, Tamajăq: ''Ayǝr''; Hausa language, Hausa: Eastern ''Azbin'', Western ''Abzin'') is a triangular massif, located in northern Niger, within the Sahara. Part of the West Sa ...

and

Ténéré desert The Ténéré (Tuareg: Tenere, literally: "desert") is a desert region in south central Sahara. It comprises a vast plain of sand stretching from northeastern Niger to western Chad, occupying an area of over . The Ténéré's boundaries are said ...

. Established 1 January 1988, the sanctuary

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

type Ia Strict Nature Reserve, the most restricted faunal reserve in Niger. Plans in the early 1990s to reintroduce captive bred Addax into the sanctuary were derailed by the advent of the 1990s Tuareg insurgency, while reimplementation has been stopped by fighting which erupted in 2007. As of 2006, it was feared that whatever Addax population remained in the sanctuary was no longer self-sustaining.Roseline C. Beudels-Jamar, Pierre Devillers, René-Marie Lafontaine and John Newby. ADDAX NASOMACULATUS
CMS report, 2007, Institut royal des Sciences naturelles de Belgique.

References

*Rod East, David P. Mallon, Steven Charles Kingswood
Antelopes: Global Survey and Regional Action Plans
International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. IUCN (1988) pp. 14–21, 168
unep-wcmc site recordWorld Database on Protected Areas / UNEP-World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC), 2008.

Biodiversity and Protected Areas-- Niger
Earth Trends country profile (2003) {{DEFAULTSORT:Air And Tenere Addax Sanctuary National parks of Niger Protected areas established in 1988 1988 establishments in Niger

See also

References