We Stand for Congo’s wildlife, ecosystems, and people.

About Us
Our Action

The Congo is home to extraordinary wildlife, habitats, and culture. From sustaining the last stronghold of critically endangered Western Lowland Gorillas to providing crucial refuges for rare species of shark and ray, its ecosystems are among the richest and most significant for wildlife and nature in the world.

Protecting this astonishing biodiversity means saving wild places that sustain the local people, harbor natural resources, and mitigate global climate change.

Elephant

The Congo is home to up to 20% of the world’s forest elephants and 52% of all gorillas

Co2

30 billion tons of carbon are stored in the peat swamps of the Central African Cuvette making the region one of the most carbon-rich ecosystems on the planet

Patrol

The WCS Congo has played a role in the creation and extension of 6 Protected Areas, including 3 of the country’s five National Parks, 13.36% of Congo’s land and 12.01% of its waters are now protected

people

More than 400 people are employed by the WCS Congo in 2024, 94% of them nationals

Image
CHALLENGES

 

The Republic of Congo faces a variety of ever-changing conservation challenges and threats, ranging from forest to coastline, including:

  • Poaching: targetting elephants for their ivory, pangolins for their scales, and sharks for their fins.
  • Illegal, unregulated hunting and fishing: from commercial hunting for bushmeat to overfishing, by-catch and illegal trawling in the coastal areas of the Congo.
  • Zoonotic diseases: growing human pressure on remote wild places increases the exchange interface with wildlife, and the risk of new epidemics.
  • Deforestation and habitat loss: unsustainable resource management, human encroachment, extractive industries, and pollution, particularly coastal and marine pollution from the oil industry.
OUR INTERVENTION

01 NOUABALÉ-NDOKI NATIONAL PARK

We have forged an innovative Public-Private Partnership with the Congolese government in a shared endeavor to preserve one of Central Africa's richest and most pristine tropical forests, a UNESCO World Heritage natural site.

02 LAC TÉLÉ COMMUNITY RESERVE

We support local populations in the management of the largest swamp forest in the world, where wildlife and humans coexist, to promote the sustainable use of its natural resources in the long term.

03 PERIPHERAL AREA

We work beyond the protected area's boundaries in collaboration with extractive industries to consolidate conservation efforts, promote good natural resource management and ensure conservation benefits for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities.

04 CONGOLESE WATERS

We work to strengthen and support government and local actors to create and manage new marine protected areas, through a science-led actions and best practices and implement management plans to ensure the sustainability of Congo's fish stocks and marine biodiversity.

OUR INTERVENTION -Image
OUR STRATEGIES - Image
OUR STRATEGIES

STRENGTHENING COMMUNITIES

We work with and for Indigenous People and Local Communities, actively engaging them in our actions to promote the sustainable use of the resources on which they depend and to foster economic activities that respect their cultures.

APPLYING SCIENCE TO CONSERVATION

We champion scientific research and its practical application to enhance our knowledge of ecosystems and build best practice into our own operations and those of our extractive industry partners.

OPTIMIZING WILDLIFE PROTECTION

We actively combat wildlife crime in collaboration with the Congolese government, building up teams of qualified ecoguards, supported by high standards of training, and effective information and communication systems.

BUILDING CAPACITIES

We promote continuous growth of our teams through training to develop skills and reinforce capacity to respond effectively to today’s challenges.

 

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT