Between late 2015 and early 2016, the Congo Basin experienced the strongest drought of the past 30 years, due to a particularly strong El Niño Event. Predicted changes in climate will likely cause more of these ‘drought events’. Unfortunately, we do not know much about how these ‘drought events’ affect tropical rainforests. Do many trees die? Do large trees or small trees (or both) die?...
At the end of February 2017 Government representatives, experts on elephant conservation and national and international stakeholders came together in Brazzaville to develop the Republic of Congo’s National Action Plan for Elephants. In April 2015 Congo burnt their ivory stockpile, over 4 tons in total, making a symbolic statement that the country only sees value in ivory when it is where it belongs… on elephants...
In the build-up to World Wildlife Day 2017, the Nouabale-Ndoki National Park anti-poaching force gathered on the grassy lawn at the Park’s headquarters in Bomassa. The Congolese National Anthem was chanted as the modest troop of some 50 rangers saluted the flag’s ascent. The day marked an important step in the Park’s march to protect its forest elephants and the integrity of Ndoki’s World Heritage...
Created in 2001, Congo’s only community reserve includes extraordinary biodiversity: the highest known local densities of gorillas in the world, large populations of chimpanzees, as well as the full range of other Congo forest creatures. The area is managed by the Ministry of Forestry Economy and Sustainable Development (MEFDD) in partnership with WCS Congo, through funding from USAID’s CARPE program. Commercial hunting and wildlife trafficking...
On the 27th of January 2017 seventy kilograms of ivory was seized near a residential home in Ouesso, northern Congo. The group responsible for obtaining and selling the ivory is an ivory trafficking network that has been closely followed by WCS’s Wildlife Crime Unit (WCU) since September 2016, when four members of the network were arrested following collaboration between the Rapid Response Unit (RRU) and...
Last month over one hundred illegally captured African Grey Parrots (Psittacus erithacus) were seized in northern Republic of Congo, not long after the world’s most trafficked bird was offered extra protection at the CITES CoP in September 2016. The seizures, leading to the arrest of three trans-boundary traffickers, took place during operations carried out by teams of rangers and investigators working under the Nouabale-Ndoki Foundation,...
Ten years ago, in 2006, the government of Congo committed to the creation of a new protected area: the Ogooué Leketi National Park, to make a trans-frontier protected zone with the Plateau Batéké National Park in Gabon. The forest was, at the time, one of the last intact areas in southern Congo, naturally protected by the two rivers, the Ogooué and the Leketi, from which...
Cornell University’s Elephant Listening Project and WCS-Congo are launching a new study using hidden microphones in the forest to better monitor forest elephant populations and movements, pinpoint the gunshots of poachers, and record the biodiversity in Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park, Congo. Any animal (including humans) that makes a loud noise can be detected and recorded by the acoustic devices. Elephants are exceptionally good subjects for acoustic...
A team of 6 six rangers congregated in the Joint Operations Centre at Bomassa Park HQ. Maps and photos taken during patrol flickered across the monitor screen as Christian Molango, the patrol leader, detailed what they encountered as they scouted along the banks of the Ndoki river. Then, something unusual caught everyone’s attention – a pair of hippos appeared on the screen....
On October 01-03 2016 the WCS Conkouati-Douli National Park team co-sponsored with Congolese NGO RENATURA a training session in the village of Belello for the teams which will monitor and protect Congo’s beaches during the current marine turtle nesting season. Forty-eight trainees (30 from WCS Conkouati and 18 from RENATURA) spent two days learning how to identify the different turtle species that frequent Congo’s...