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The Democratic Republic of Congo’s Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN) and conservation organization African Parks commemorated the 80thyear anniversary of Garamba National Park on Wednesday 13thof June.
Garamba National Park is one of the continent’s oldest national parks, declared in 1938, and is an extremely diverse, globally important natural landscape.
The 5,133 km2 park, which is also a World Heritage Site, has been the decades-long target of militant poaching groups, including the Lord’s Resistance Army. Once home to 22,000 elephants, the Northern white rhino, and herds of Kordofan giraffe as recently as the 1970s, today there are fewer than 1,200 elephants remaining, the rhino has been extirpated, and only 48 Kordofan giraffe remain.
African Parks assumed management of Garamba in partnership with the ICCN in 2005, and while poaching was curtailed compared to prior years, the park continued to lose both elephants and rangers over the past decade.
“The illegal wildlife trade has had devastating effects on our natural heritage, both in DRC and throughout Africa. It not only impoverishes landscapes, but negatively affects the millions of people relying on these areas as well” said the Director General of the ICCN Cosma Wilungula Balongelwa.
“But seeing the emerging role a secure Garamba plays in the stability of the region, we are committed more than ever to combatting poaching and to our partnership with African Parks, which is creating a safer landscape and a brighter future for countless people and wildlife in the region”.
With vital support from the European Union, USAID, USFWS, the Wildcat Foundation, World Bank, Randgold Resources, and the Walton Foundation, Garamba’s well-trained and newly outfitted and equipped rangers, along with the integration of new technology, are gaining significant ground to secure the landscape, providing safety for vulnerable communities and wildlife.
“Garamba is one of Africa’s most challenging landscapes to protect, where both people and wildlife have borne tremendous costs inflicted by heavily-incentivized militant groups and regional instability” said Peter Fearnhead, CEO of African Parks.
Sharing 261 kilometres of its border with South Sudan, Garamba is situated in a volatile corner of north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Enlisted as a World Heritage Site in Danger in 1996, Garamba National Park is of irreplaceable natural value warranting significant efforts to secure its protection.
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