Protected areas are the cornerstone of WWF’s approach to protecting and sustainably managing the Congo Basin’s high-priority landscapes. These landscapes include Ntoukou Pikounda National Park and its periphery in the RoC, Dzanga-Sangha Protected Areas and surrounding forests in the CAR, and Salonga National Park in the DRC. Partners also implement similar efforts in other high-priority landscapes in the region.
Ntokou Pikounda, RoC
Ntokou Pikounda National Park, part of the Dja-Odzala-Minkebe Tri-National landscape, and its periphery are forest elephant strongholds, with around 1,100 in the area. The park also contains high numbers of western lowland gorillas (around 11,000) and central chimpanzees (around 4,000) and harbors important forest clearings and carbon-rich peatlands. Additionally, Ntokou Pikounda houses the only known population of the rediscovered Bouvier’s red colobus, previously thought extinct. WWF works with the Congolese government to strengthen park management efforts.
Dzanga-Sangha, CAR
The Dzanga-Sangha Protected Areas complex, part of the Sangha Tri-National landscape, is a stronghold for great apes and forest elephants and is world renowned for its bais (natural forest clearings) and habituated western lowland gorillas. WWF was instrumental in its creation and has comanaged the complex in a unique partnership with the government of the CAR since 1990.
Salonga, DRC
Salonga National Park is one of the largest parks in the world (larger than the state of Maryland). It contains vast tracts of intact forest, sequestering substantial amounts of carbon. The park is home to one of the last viable populations of forest elephants remaining in the DRC and is a stronghold for bonobos, containing a significant percentage of this great ape population. WWF has worked in Salonga since 2004 and currently helps comanage the park with the government.
Maintaining the integrity of large-scale landscapes like the Congo Basin is essential for sustaining biodiversity and enabling effective climate action. It requires reaching beyond political borders across the six countries with direct stakes in protecting the region.
WWF is a founding member of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership, a coalition of almost 120 partners created in 2002 to enable collaboration on forest management, biodiversity conservation, and poverty reduction in the region. Our role includes helping craft intergovernmental agreements that allow free movement of park staff across borders and joint patrols to bolster antipoaching operations.