Lobeke national park management plan validated

A Workshop for the national validation of the revised development plan and business plan for the Lobéké National Park and its peripheral area has been organized Wednesday in Yaounde.

The stages of the process as presented in the development and implementation guidelines of the protected areas, management plans were carried out among which: participatory evaluation of the implementation of the management and business plan of 2006-2010, the collection of data for the update of the socio-economic indicators in the outskirts of the national park, with impacts on the development of the Park, as well as those on the space resources.

The present national park and its peripheral area, present the context and the process for the revision of the management plan, discuss and validate the proposals of measures and development programmes, as well as the business plan.

Lobeke National Park is part of the Tri-national cross-border landscape of the Sangha (TNS) located between Cameroon, the Central African Republic and Congo. It is a site of conservation by excellence and home to two species of great apes endangered according to the IUCN: the Gorilla (Gorilla) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

This Park is surrounded by the forest management unit (FMU) in which there is the practice of logging and sport hunting. Nearly 22000 people live in the outskirts and depend only on park resources for their livelihood. This human presence increases the pressure on the animal species and gorillas. These gorillas contribute to local development in triple economic, social and environmental terms.