Collaborative Management of Lobéké National Park

Project Overview

The "Giving a voice to the voiceless: Collaborative Management of the Lobéké National Park" aims to fully integrate Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) into the long-term, sustainable management of the Lobeke National Park (LNP) in Southeast Cameroon.

The Park's Significance

Lobeke National Park is one of Cameroon's most important biodiversity hotspots, recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2012. It hosts some of the continent's highest densities of critically endangered wildlife such as African forest elephants and western lowland gorillas, and forms part of the Congo Basin rainforest—an ecosystem increasingly threatened from multiple fronts.

Current Challenges

Despite numerous conservation initiatives led by government agencies and international organizations, Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities have remained largely excluded from meaningful participation in managing this landscape. External pressure to involve IPLCs has resulted mostly in symbolic or superficial inclusion rather than genuine engagement.

At the same time, IPLCs have faced long-standing marginalization, often being displaced to isolated areas with limited access to education, livelihood opportunities, and economic development. Their traditional access rights to natural resources—resources they have relied on for generations—remain undefined. The absence of clear benefit-sharing mechanisms, decision-making roles, and recognition of their stewardship has further alienated these communities, reinforcing the perception that conservation efforts hinder rather than support their development.

Project Goals

This project seeks to transform the relationship between conservation and local communities by:

• Ensuring genuine, meaningful participation of IPLCs in all aspects of park management
• Securing traditional access rights to natural resources
• Establishing equitable benefit-sharing mechanisms
• Building capacity for IPLC leadership in conservation
• Integrating traditional knowledge with scientific approaches

Resources

Rufford Foundation Grant:
View Project on Rufford Foundation