- Client
- The Nature Conservancy (TNC) Gabon
- Sector
- Conservation finance & government
- Location
- Gabon
- Year
- 2024
Designing a national wildlife monitoring system for Gabon's protected areas
We gave The Nature Conservancy and Gabon's protected-area partners one harmonised, fully costed plan to monitor wildlife across 12 national parks and six study sites.
Gabon's protected areas range from coastal savanna to dense forest. © iStock
12
national parks covered
6
additional study sites
6.3m ha
of protected land in scope
The challenge
Gabon's Permanent Finance programme needed evidence that its protected areas are working for wildlife. Monitoring had been patchy, with different methods used park by park. That made it hard to compare sites, report against international commitments such as the Global Biodiversity Framework, or make the case for long-term funding.
What we did
Commissioned by TNC Gabon, we consulted the national parks agency (ANPN), three government directorates and NGO partners including Panthera, WWF and WCS. We then designed a single national protocol that combines camera traps, bioacoustics and eDNA on systematic grids, sampled in both wet and dry seasons. Each of the 12 parks, their buffer zones and six study sites received its own sampling design, alongside a repeat-survey cycle, a training programme for local teams and a full equipment and operating budget.
The outcome
TNC and its partners now have a fully costed, ten-year plan that is ready to take to funders. Every site uses the same methods and indicators, so Gabon can compare parks, track change over time and report to international frameworks with confidence.
