Odzala-Kokoua lies in the heart of the Congo Basin, the second largest rainforest on Earth, and one of the world’s most biodiverse areas and most important carbon sinks.
Funds disbursed
Funding year
Program area
The Congo Basin delivers clean water, food, and shelter to more than 75 million people.
Odzala-Kokoua’s lowland rainforest is dotted with over 140 open saline forest clearings called ‘bais’, which are of exceptional importance for wildlife in the region. Forest elephants have been documented to travel large distances to reach these nutritionally valuable meeting grounds.
Large tracts of savanna are present in the South of the legacy landscape, making Odzala home to a unique mix of species, including the only viable population of spotted hyena in the Congo Basin.
Core zone – IUCN Category II
Fishing partially possible – IUCN Category II
Eco-development zone – IUCN Category II
Gorilla sanctuary – IUCN Category IV
| Country |
|---|
| Republic of Congo |
| IUCN Category |
| IUCN category II and IV |
| Ecosystem type |
| Tropical gallery rainforest ecosystems including patches of savannah |
| Key species |
| Western lowland gorilla, forest elephant, chimpanzee, leopard |
| Conservation and climate relevance |
| Ramsar site, Important Bird Area, significant role as a carbon sink |
| Implementing partner(s) |
| African Parks |
| Governmental partner(s) |
| Agence Congolaise de la Faune et des Aires Protégées |
| Grant type |
| Sustaining |
| Match funder |
| Rob Walton Foundation |
Program in brief
Activities
- An optimally managed park with well-trained staff (management and law enforcement teams alike), to ensure effective management, improved governance, and adherence to human rights standards
- A thriving suite of species so characteristic of Odzala-Kokoua allows for research and biomonitoring to be conducted
- Maintain the necessary infrastructure of the park for the proper functioning of all management activities
- Minimize illegal wildlife extraction and utilization and decrease trafficking of illegal wildlife products through regular ranger patrols
- Support initiatives that allow communities to generate additional revenue from sustainable use of natural resources
- Restore and maintain the integrity of the regional water catchment within the park with minimal impact of water quality and quantity
- Implement a Tourism Development Plan
Conservation challenges
- Illegal poaching for meat and trophies (e.g. ivory) and illegal wildlife trade
- Deforestation through agricultural encroachment and (illegal) mining
- Human-wildlife conflicts, especially elephants raiding fields
- Commercial logging in the landscape’s periphery infringing wildlife corridors
For more information on this landscape’s Environmental and Social Due Diligence (ESDD)
For more information on this landscape’s Milestone Review
Field Insights
Conservation focus
Local partnerships for people and nature
Odzala harbors close to 7,600 Western lowland gorillas, the largest population in a national park in Africa, and over 7,300 forest elephants, which is roughly 7% of the total remaining population.
The fruitful 12-year public-private partnership between the Ministry of Forest Economy, Sustainable Development and Environment and conservation NGO African Parks, who manages this park, has led to effective protection of this national and global asset.
12,000 people live in the park’s periphery and are benefiting from the services the park provides. 2021 saw marked advancements in the community engagement actions through the establishment of a cocoa program in the north of the park, engaging local producers in an improved and sustainable value chain. The research department also saw promising advancements through the procurement of a light aircraft, which supports both improved monitoring of the region as well as the first systematic count of the species both within the park as well as on its periphery.
The results showed highly encouraging wildlife numbers within the park’s boundary, including about 1,150 buffaloes, but human pressures outside of the park remain significant. The survey further helps to direct management measures for 2022, which will be an important year for Odzala-Kokoua National Park as several community projects are launched, including sustainable fishing on the Mambili river and an innovative human-wildlife conflict mitigation tool in the south of the park.
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