Our Story

In the 1980s, WCS-backed scientists set out to study a little-known forest in northern Congo. They explored fascinating high-integrity ecosystems, met «naïve» chimpanzees and set up a small camp in what would become, thanks to their studies, the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park in 1993.

The collaboration between the WCS and the government of Congo that led to the creation of the Park laid the foundations for a fruitful long-term relationship that allowed the WCS to become a major actor of conservation in the Republic of Congo.

In 1999, the WCS spearheaded an innovative tripartite agreement between the government, the WCS, and a forestry company, the Congolaise Industrielle des Bois (CIB), to extend conservation efforts beyond the Park’s borders, into the concessions where CIB operates.

This tripartite agreement improves the fight against poaching in a buffer zone around the Park, and better engages the Park’s neighboring communities into sustainable economic activities. In 2004, CIB confirmed this commitment by obtaining FSC certification.

In 1999, the Republic of Congo also created its first coastal National Park, Conkouati-Douli, co-managed with WCS for its first 20 years. This involvement in the Gulf of Guinea landscape has enabled WCS to develop expertise in marine issues, and to participate actively in the process launched in 2017 that has led to the creation, in 2023, of Congo’s first Marine Protected Areas.

In 2001, WCS went to co-manage the country’s first Community Reserve, created around Lac Télé, in the heart of the Congo cuvette, a carbon sink crucial to mitigating the climate crisis. WCS is still involved in the community management of this unique reserve, where researchers have recorded the highest gorilla density in the world.

In a third Congo landscape, that of the Batéké Plateau savannahs, WCS also became involved in 2004 through biomonitoring studies and a process of free, informed and prior consent, to contribute to the creation, in 2019, of the Republic of Congo’s fifth national park, named Ogoué-Leketi.

© Tomo_Nishihara
Photo Credit: © Tomo_Nishihara

1993

Creation of Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park, following WCS studies and recommendations

1993

1999

Launch of tripartite agreement for the Park’s Peripheral Ecosystem Management Project (PROGEPP)

1999

1999

Creation of Conkouati-Douli National Park

2001

Creation of Lac Télé Community Reserve

2001

2006

Recording of the highest gorilla density in the world in the Lac Télé Community Reserve

2007

Creation of the Fondation Trinationale de la Sangha (FTNS), bringing together Nouabalé- Ndoki, Dzanga-Sangha (CAR) and Lobéké (Cameroon) National Parks

2007

2008

WCS/MEF agreement for the co-management of the Lac Télé Community Reserve

2012

Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park listed as a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site

2012

2012

Creation of Ntokou-Pikounda National Park, following WCS studies and recommendations

2014

Signature of a Public-Private Partnership for improved management of Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park

2014

2017

Lac Télé Community Reserve becomes a RAMSAR wetland of international importance with WCS support

2017

2017

Landmark study revealed the presence of 145,000 sq km of peatlands in Congo Basin, covering most of Lac Télé Community Reserve

2018

Creation of Ogoué-Leketi National Park,
following WCS studies and recommendations

2018

2021

WCS validates Congo’s first Free, Prior and Informed Consent process for a conservation project

2021

2022

Creation of Congo’s first three Marine Protected Areas with WCS support

2023

WCS leads the identification of 20 Key Biodiversity Areas across Congo

2023

2023

First year with no recorded elephant poaching in NNNP since the poaching spree of the 2010s

2024

Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park is the first site in the world to meet criterion C (ecological integrity) of the global standard for identifying Key Biodiversity Areas.

2024

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