Mixed review for three-decade EU programme in Gabon’s Lopé National Park

Elephant warning sign by a bridge in the Lopé National Park. Photo by jbdodane/Flickr

Since 1992, the European Union (EU)’s flagship conservation initiative, Support Program for the Preservation of Biodiversity and Fragile Ecosystems in Central Africa (ECOFAC), has made a large number of interventions to save the forests of Central Africa – the second-largest ‘lungs of the Earth’ after the Amazon. 

Now, as ECOFAC draws to a close, an evaluation report by Evidence for Better Policy (ADE) and the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF) has shown mixed results for Gabon’s Lopé National Park, one of the most exceptional zones in the Congo Basin in terms of biological diversity and landscape complexity. 

Located in central Gabon, the landscape was classified as a national park in 2002, after first being designated as a reserve in 1946 and undergoing several spatial and legal developments. The park, which covers over 491 hectares, is a dense tropical rainforest and relict savannah that hosts ecologically-significant primates and a large number of threatened species. It made UNESCO‘s World Heritage Sites list in 2007 thanks to its outstanding mammalian biodiversity, picturesque landscapes, and cultural wealth dating back several millennia. Lopé is managed by Gabon’s National Agency for National Parks (ANPN) and has attracted several international development partners, including the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), and USAID, amongst others. It’s also the site of the internationally-renowned Gorilla and Chimpanzee Study Station (SEGC).

As a key site for the implementation of ECOFAC, the evaluators found that the park has made some significant gains through ECOFAC since 1992 – notably, the installation of four electric fences, which enabled the demarcation of an area of around 50 hectares that is protected from elephants, and within which local people can practise agriculture without threat of wildlife incursions. This move has improved local populations’ tolerance of the park and has been greatly appreciated by local administrative authorities and eco-guards. But, maintenance deficiencies due to budgetary constraints are now putting the sustainability of this infrastructure into question. 

ECOFAC’s sixth phase (ECOFAC6) also facilitated the rehabilitation of three bridges, and the tracks within the park are generally in good shape and suitable for the promotion of tourism. Researchers have observed that some key species, such as buffalos, that they encountered in the park had a relatively short flight distance of about 50 metres – an indication of relative tranquillity in that area. However, the construction of three viewpoints, financed by ECOFAC6 and intended to boost tourist activities, was abandoned due to poor governance, according to the report.

ECOFAC has also financially supported a WCS reference training center within the park, Dr Alphonse Mackanga Missandzou Educational Complex (CEDAMM), to carry out ecological monitoring and fauna and flora inventories and to monitor of the application of the law in protected areas and forest concessions; the management of natural resources and local development, ethics and human rights; the management of protected areas and conservation projects; spatial conservation planning; field technique, and more. The centre’s training activities have however been greatly reduced over the past five years due to financial constraints and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Unaddressed issues

Forest rangers at the Lopé National Park. Photo by ECOFAC

The head of ADE’s impact department, Nastassia Leszczynska, said that despite the importance of the reference centre and its potential impact on the capacity of eco-guard staff and protected area managers in Central Africa (with over 1,200 people trained there so far), it is regrettable that it is a veritable ‘island’ within the Lopé National Park, with no real local links to the conservation service. 

“In addition, the lack of a monitoring and evaluation mechanism for learners/trainees means that it is not possible to measure the impact of training, either in terms of the on-the-job performance of the centre’s graduates, or on improving the governance of protected areas,” she said.

According to Madamba Nazaire, the park’s conservator, the management plan provides for the development and implementation of a surveillance plan, including the subdivision of the park into surveillance sectors, but the plan has never been operational. Besides a lack of staff, which limits effective management of the park, monitoring activities were also interrupted at some point following the cessation of ECOFAC funding. 

The report’s authors noted a general lack of quality governance. “The Local Management Advisory Committee provided for in the regulations and the Park Management Plan does not exist,” they said. “As a result, some initiatives to improve socio-economic conditions are isolated and there is little community involvement, which reduces the prospect of sustainability.”

Rangers complained they had not received training or retraining for several years – more than 10 years for some – in essential aspects such as wildlife legislation, ethics and human rights, legal procedures, and litigation. This has been compounded by a glaring lack of field material and equipment such as GPS, tents, and radios, as well as protection/dissuasion weapons, which demotivates them to attempt to carry out their roles effectively.

Besides the weak patrolling efforts and lack of a career plan for eco-guards, the researchers also found out that the management of ECOFAC eco-guards was “catastrophic”, and included a complete lack of medical insurance, arrears of more than a year of social contributions, no payslips, and arrears of almost 12 months of salary, amongst other issues.

In spite of these serious issues and challenges, local residents that live near the park hold generally positive impressions of the programme – especially in its earlier phases (1-3), which entailed environmental awareness, infrastructure development, and capacity building, and gave rise to jobs, internships, and training opportunities in carpentry, masonry, car driving, agriculture, and more. Some respondents said the management of human resources during these phases was exemplary, citing good social security and adequate salaries. In the present, however, many locals are ambivalent as to what they truly gain from contributing to the sustainable management of the park’s natural resources.

Acknowledgements

ECOFAC’s evaluation was conducted thanks to the Central African Forests Commission (COMIFAC), and its technical and scientific entity Central Africa Forest Observatory (OFAC), through the Strengthening and Institutionalization of the Central African Forest Observatory (RIOFAC) initiative.