Wildlife Protection

Protecting wildlife in one of the world’s last great wilderness

While each protected area and intervention project requires specific strategies, our unified approach to wildlife law enforcement support allows for harmonized ecoguard training, intelligence gathering and communication processes to optimize our impact and ensure the highest standards across the Ndoki-Likouala landscape

CHALLENGES

Global pressure: wave of ivory poaching in the 2010s due to a tenfold increase in ivory prices on the international market; wave of bushmeat poaching in the 2020s linked to a multifactorial economic crisis (covid pandemic and sawmill closure)
Difficulty of operation: the density of the canopy makes the detection of poachers as difficult as the intervention of ecoguards and the use of certain technologies.
Ever-changing threats: poaching targets and methods follow trends that the park must monitor and adapt to the use of metal snares, the changing market for grey parrots, etc.

RESPONSIVE LAW-ENFORCEMENT

The professionalization and increase in the number of
ecoguards, enabled by the signing of the Public-Private
Partnership in 2014, has improved the Park’s security at a
time when it needed it most. Ecoguards receive advanced
training, and annual refreshers on first aid, self-defense,
respect for rights, etc.

INTELLIGENCE-LED STRATEGIES

The development of an intelligence network since 2016, coupled with a team analyzing the modus operandi and the spatial distribution of poaching, has enabled us to step up intelligence-led patrols, leading far more frequently to the arrest of poachers, and key players high up in the wildlife supply network.

SENDING DETERRENT SIGNALS

The strengthening of the Park’s capacity to combat wildlife trafficking and the results achieved have sent out strong signals in the region. These efforts are reinforced by the Park’s extensive outreach activities to raise community awareness of sustainable resource use, from an early age.

ENSURING LASTING IMPACT

The Park can count on a team of legal experts to provide judicial follow-up to efforts to dismantle trafficking networks, which recently maintained a conviction rate for poachers over 80% and resulted in 2020 in a historic 30- year sentence for a high-profile poaching ring leader.