Mr. Richard Malonga has been appointed Director of WCS's Republic of Congo Program, succeeding Mr. Mark Gately. Richard Malonga's experience with WCS Congo began almost 25 years ago in 1995, when Richard first worked as a volunteer for WCS, helping to set up our very first database to track bushmeat consumption. He then played a key role in the launch of the PROGEPP project in...
Songs echoed out across the forest as the first group of participants headed to the start line in the park truck, bouncing along 5 kilometres of red-earth road, giant trees whizzing past. The build up was intense in Bomassa last Saturday morning as the village prepared for the start of the very first Nouabale-Ndoki National Park Run for the Wild. ...
Central Africa’s rainforests are home to our closest relatives, to the world’s largest land mammal and many other weird and wonderful creatures. There is so much still to be discovered about these forests and the animals that live in them, but we are destroying intact forests and forest species so fast that we risk losing them before we know what secrets they hold. ...
A sweeping new study published in the journal Science says that chimpanzee’s complex cultures – including the use of tools and other behaviors – are being lost as human disturbance expands into previously wild areas. The ten-year study, led by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology and the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research, spanned 46 locations 15 countries providing the most complete description...
Pangolins are now considered to be the most trafficked animal, not only in the Republic of Congo, but across the globe. Population numbers of these scaly mammals are declining across Africa and Asia due to the high demand for pangolin scales and meat, which are used in traditional medicine and considered to be a delicacy in countries like China and Vietnam. It is estimated that...
The past year has seen some significant advancements in our projects in the Republic of Congo. We were involved in the creation of a new national park in the Bateke Plateau, worked with the Congolese government on the adoption of its National Action Plan for Elephants, and released exciting results showing that the wildlife populations in the areas we work in in northern Congo are...
Congo’s coastline is dissected by the snaking mass of the world’s second largest river – the mighty Congo - pumping huge volumes of water into the ocean each second. It is here where the warmer more turbid Gulf of Guinea meets the cooler waters of southern Africa. This transition zone encompasses some of the world’s most productive fishing areas, and a wealth of marine biodiversity....
Hands covered by red rubber gloves clap in time with the women’s song, “Salongo… alinga mosala!” (Work together, we like to work hard!). Members of the community join the singing as they move through Bomassa collecting rubbish and cleaning up the town’s main street. Across the planet attention has recently been drawn to the plastic pollution crisis. We are emptying millions of tons of rubbish...