dja-description : Protected Areas in the Congo Basin: Failing both people and biodiversity?

Country: Cameroon

Type and IUCN Category: Wildlife Reserve, IUCN category IV. Recognised as a UNESCO Man and Biosphere Reserve (MAB) since 1981 and a World Heritage Site since 1987

Size (hectares): 526,000

Date of creation: classified as a wildlife and hunting reserve in June 1950, formally designated as a Wildlife Reserve on 9 July 2007

CARPE landscape: Dja-Odzala-Minkebe (Tridom)

Management plan: a plan developed in 2004 is available online, and was adopted for the 2007-2012 period (PAPACO 2010). No later versions are publicly available.

Local communities: Bantu and indigenous (Kaka, Baka) communities live in and around the Dja Wildlife Reserve (MINFOF, 2004). Reportedly around 5,000 people, mostly Baka Pygmies, live inside the reserve while up to 30,000 people depend on its resources for their subsistence (Ndobe 2007).

Administration: The park is officially managed by the Cameroon Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife (MINFOF). Since 1992, it has been run by ECOFAC, the European Union’s Central African Forestry Ecosystems programme.

Biodiversity information: More than 100 mammal species live in the reserve, including various primates (lowland gorilla, chimpanzees, and mandrills, among others) and forest elephants. Dja also stands out for its floral biodiversity (UNESCO, 2012), and harbours a great variety of bird and reptile species (Ndobe 2007).

Neighbouring and overlapping extractive industries (Mapping for Rights):

10 logging concessions border the Dja Wildlife Reserve:

(1) concession 10-047b (managed by CCIF since 2006);
(2) concession 10-047a (managed by FIPCAM since 2001);
(3) concession 10-048 (managed by SCIFO since 2006);
(4) concession 10-050 (managed by PMF Wood since 2006);
(5) concession 09-014 (managed by GEC since 2006);
(6) concession 09-009 (managed by SFB since 2005);
(7) concession 09-008 (managed by MPACKO since 2005);
(8) concession 09-007 (managed by MPACKO since 2005);
(9) concession 09-006 (managed by SFF since 1997); and
(10) concession 10-036.

There are also three mining industries operating in and around the reserve:

(1) Venture capital Bengbis 166;
(2) EGBTP Mintom2 210; and
(3) CAGEME Mintom 111.

The development of a rubber and palm oil plantation on the south-western border of the reserve by Sud-Cameroun Hévéa, part of Singaporean company GMG Global, and the construction on the Mékin hydroelectric dam on the edge of the reserve have both identified as threats to the reserve. (UNESCO 2015, Cannon 2015). Despite these threats, on 14 July 2016, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee voted not to add Dja to the List of World Heritage in Danger (Conservation Watch 2016)

Information available on funding:

(Please note that some of these grants may be covering several protected areas or landscapes.)

ECOFAC phases I to V (1992 to present)
Funder: European Union
Objective: Supporting management of protected areas in Central Africa
Project area: Central Africa
Funds: Approximately €138,000,000 for phases I to V (Ko 2011) for the whole programme. Specific amounts for Dja are unknown, although as one of RAPAC’s pilot sites, site management reportedly relies heavily on this support (PAPACO 2011)

Supporting measures for Dja (Mesures d’accompagnement du Dja, PMDA), 2003-2006
Funder: ECOFAC, European Union
Objective: Ensuring reduction of pressure over natural resources of Dja Biosphere Reserve (RAPAC)
Project Area: Dja Reserve
Funds: €2,134,309 (Ndobe 2007)

TRIDOM Project, 2007-2014
Funders: Global Environment Facility (GEF), Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP), United Nations Foundation (UNF), ECOFAC, Jane Goodall Institute (JGI), Conservation International (CI)
Objective: Conservation of Transboundary Biodiversity in the Minkébé-Odzala-Dja Inter-zone in Gabon, Congo, and Cameroon
Project area: Cameroon, Republic of Congo, Gabon
Funds: $44,473,600 in total, including $10,117,500 from GEF and $34,356,100 from other donors. Amount dedicated to Dja unknown.

As a World Heritage Site, the Dja reserve also benefits from UNESCO funding.

Forest and Environment Programme, 2016-2019
Funder: GIZ
Objective: The Forest and Environment Ministry, including their decentralized structures, shall exercise their mandate coordinated and made with other relevant actors.
Grant manager: COMIFAC, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the Cameroonian Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife (MINFOF), and the Ministry of Environment, Nature Protection and Sustainable Development (MINEPDED)
Funds: €22 000 000 across Cameroon (amount dedicated to each National Park unknown)

Partnership against Poaching and the Illegal Wildlife Trade Ivory and Rhino Horn) in Africa and Asia, 2017-2020
Funder: GIZ
Objective:Improving the fight against poaching (across sectors, borders and continents).
Grant manager: COMIFAC, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Implementation on the ground through Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS), the Wildlife Trade Monitoring Network (TRAFFIC), the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the Global Nature Fund (GNF)
Funds: €8 750 000 across Africa and Asia(amount dedicated to each country/National Park unknown)