WCS Gabon - Waka

Highlights

Total area:

1,060 km²

Habitat Types

• Mountainous rainforest on very steep slopes
• The Ikobey rift valley

Key species:

• Humans!
• Forest elephant*
• western lowland gorilla*
• chimpanzee*
• mandrill*
• forest buffalo
• grey-cheeked mangabey
• leopard
• black colobus,
• Near endemic plants, such as Garcinia letestuii and many other as yet undescribed species…

WCS Involvement:

Since 2003.

Partners

Gabon National Parks Office, Gabon Ministry of Water and Forests, Missouri Botanic Garden, MacArthur Foundation, CARPE, Boston College.

Body

Believed to be a ‘Pleistocene refuge’, the main biodiversity value of the Park is in plants and smaller animals, many of which are likely unknown to science.

Contacts

Name : Malcolm Starkey
Title : Director, Birougou National Park Project
Email: mstarkey[AT SIGN]uuplus[DOT]com

Address :
Wildlife Conservation Society,
BP 7847,
Libreville,
Gabon.

For more information, see www.wcs.org/africa

Wildlife Conservation Society International Conservation,
Africa Program,
2300 Southern Blvd.,
Bronx, NY 10460, USA

www.wcs.org/africa

Mission

The Wildlife Conservation Society's International Conservation program saves wildlife and wild lands by understanding and resolving critical problems that threaten key species and large, wild ecosystems around the world.

WCS Strategies

• Site-based conservation
• Research
• Training and capacity-building
• New model development
• Informing policy
• Linking zoo-based and field-based conservation

Support this Project!

Contributions to this project can be sent to the WCS Africa Program in NY (address above)

A trainee Park ranger learning to use a GPS © Malcolm Starkey The Oghoubi base camp © Malcolm Starkey

Waka National Park

One of 13 new national Parks created in Gabon in 2002, Waka National Park protects over 1,000km2 of mountainous rainforest in the Chaillu Massif. The impressive Ikobey rift valley, with its steep forested walls rising 1000m from the valley floor, runs the length of the Park and contributes to the diversity of habitats. Believed to be a ‘Pleistocene refuge’, the main biodiversity value of the Park is in plants and smaller animals, many of which are likely unknown to science. The Park also protects important populations of key rainforest mammals such as elephants, gorillas and chimpanzees. With the Gabonese National Park system being so new, WCS’s activities to date have focused on capacity building, training, baseline work with local communities and surveys inside the Park. The recent acquisition of a former logging camp at Oghoubi as a Park headquarters and training centre is a particular asset.

The Human Aspect

Waka National Park is situated in one of the most remote areas of Gabon and surveys before and after Park creation indicate that the Park itself is completely uninhabited by humans. Nevertheless, the Park is situated in a culturally diverse landscape: the surrounding area is inhabited by the Mitsogho, believed to be the originators of the bwiti religion, and the Babongo, semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers. Far from the urban centers of Gabon, these communities depend greatly on the forest for their material and spiritual well-being, and possess a wealth of knowledge about local ecosystems. Having seen the impacts of industrial logging on their forest, local community support for conservation principles is strong; building on this and making sure that conservation occurs in a culturally sensitive manner is our priority. Key activities include:

Developing and expanding the pilot outreach program based on traditional understandings of the forest.
Local capacity building to ensure that any eventual tourism activities are implemented in a culturally sensitive manner.

Threats

Immediate threats include commercial hunting and ivory poaching in logging concessions surrounding the Park. In the medium to long term, maintaining local and national political will for conservation is the biggest priority.

WCS Activities

A comprehensive training program for Park staff, including future managers, Park rangers and outreach personnel.
Infrastructure development at the Oghoubi camp to create a functioning Park headquarters and a base for research and training for the next generation of Park staff.
A detailed program of land-use mapping in communities adjacent to the Park to assess any potential resource use conflicts.
Baseline data collection on the economic strategies and standard of living of communities adjacent to the Park (see also the ‘Parks and People’ factsheet).
Baseline surveys of large-mammal densities and human impact throughout the Park and its periphery.
Evaluation of the tourist potential of the Park and its periphery.
Boundary delimitation and regular boundary surveys to detect and deter incursions by loggers.
A pilot environmental education program, using traditional knowledge and understandings of the forest as a basis for involving local communities in conservation.

Important Next Steps

Continue working towards a management plan for the Park, including a zoning plan and tourism blue-print.
Work with forestry companies operating around the Park to put into place ‘best practice’ wildlife management measures.
Develop and expand the environmental education program to all communities adjacent to the Park, particularly the Babongo villages.
Continue capacity-building work with communities adjacent to the Park to ensure that conservation and tourism takes into account local concerns.
Promote the Oghoubi base as a research site and support applied research of benefit to Park management.
Expand collaboration with Gabonese universities and other training institutions.

INTERNATIONAL CONSERVATION

GABON