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

Country: Gabon

Type and IUCN Category: National Park, IUCN category not reported. The waterfalls and rapids of Ivindo National Park were classified as a Ramsar site in February 2009.

Size (hectares): 300,000

Date of creation: 30 August 2002 (decree No. 612/PR/MEFEPEPN)

CARPE landscape: Dja-Odzala-Minkebe (TRIDOM)

Management plan: not publicly available.

Local communities: Local Bantu communities (Kotas) and indigenous peoples (Baka) live around Ivindo National Park, many of whom identify themselves as the traditional inhabitants of the Kongou Falls area.

Administration: The park is administered by the Agence Nationale de Parcs Nationaux (ANPN) with technical and financial support from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF). The stated management objectives are the protection of Ivindo National Park, the development of eco-tourism and the participatory management of the buffer zone (ANPN 2005).

Biodiversity information: The Langoué Baï (or clearing of Langoué) shelters high densities of forest elephants and gorillas. Other primate species are present in Ivindo.

Neighbouring and overlapping extractive industries (Mapping for Rights):

Three logging concessions border Ivindo National Park:

(1) concession 01-045 managed by Honest Timber Gabon (China) since 2007 on the north-east side;
(2) concession 01-010 managed by CORA Wood (Italy) since 2003 on the south side; and
(3) concession 01-007 managed by Rougier Gabon (France) since 2000 on the west side of the park.

Three mining companies operate in and around the park: (1) MOTAPA (in the south, since 2007); (2) CMTR (in the north, since 2007); and (3) AREVA (in the south)

Information available on funding:

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

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 Ivindo unknown.

Multi-national agri-business company Olam also supports a carbon project and anti-poaching policies in the area (RFUK 2016: 91).