The JRS Biodiversity Foundation joins the global philanthropic community in concern regarding the negative impacts of COVID-19 upon the sectors and issues that we fund.  The Foundation is awarding a special set of grants to secure the scientific capacity for biodiversity monitoring in select African parks that are threatened by revenue loss during the pandemic.  This investment in the work of African Parks is one of four special awards being made for 2020-2021.

African Parks has 18 parks in 11 countries under management, which total more than 34 million acres and represent 9 of the 13 ecological biomes on mainland Africa. This is the largest and most ecologically diverse amount of land under protection for any one NGO on the continent. National parks and protected areas are managed in partnership with governments and local communities with a business approach to conservation. This approach includes the mutually reinforcing aspects of law enforcement, biodiversity conservation, community development, management and infrastructure, and revenue generation. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on African Parks’ 2020 budget and funding gap, due to loss of tourism revenue from March through December. Research and monitoring are among the initiatives that have been scaled back or deferred to 2021 to help offset a projected $5.5 million shortfall in revenue for 2020 and a funding gap of $25 million for 2020-2021.

Two parks have been identified as having strong research and monitoring programs that are essential to effective conservation and most at risk of funding deficits: Greater Zakouma Ecosystem in Chad, and Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Both parks are vast in size and include challenging habitat, keystone wildlife with strong migratory patterns or heterogeneity in habitat preferences, and threats that cannot be countered with law enforcement and community engagement alone.

Zakouma National Park (ZNP) sits within a wider ecosystem known as the Greater Zakouma Ecosystem (GZE). The GZE is characterized by its strong duality in seasons. During the dry season, wildlife congregates around the few remaining water sources, located mainly in ZNP but also in Siniaka Minia Faunal Reserve (SMFR). During the wet season, wildlife disperses widely across the ecosystem, with one of two main corridors used by elephants and other wildlife situated between ZNP and SMFR. African Parks has managed ZNP since 2010, and in 2017 they were granted management of SMFR and the corridors, allowing for a holistic management approach to the GZE. There is still relatively little known about the areas outside of ZNP, and further research is critical to effective conservation action.

Biodiversity monitoring and a major overhaul of the park’s security strategy are largely responsible for conservation success. The 66 mammal and almost 400 bird species present in the park include the endangered Kordofan giraffe and an elephant population that is finally rebounding after decades of heavy poaching. Bi-annual aerial surveys have been carried out in ZNP since 2010, documenting a 61% increase in medium to large-sized wildlife populations since 2011. In 2019, African Parks began dry/wet season aerial surveys of the wider GZE to understand seasonal distribution patterns, illegal human activity, and conservation priorities. Research has focused on elephant, giraffe, rhino, lion, and other carnivore populations and includes collaring, camera trap surveys, and vegetation surveys.

After COVID-19 related budget cuts, the park is still facing a funding gap of almost $2 million, a threat to mission-critical conservation research. JRS support for 18 months will enable African Parks to retain monitoring staff, continue aerial monitoring, and complete a wild dog survey. This will sustain the most essential projects from both a biodiversity monitoring and law enforcement perspective.

The Garamba Complex is situated in the northeast corner of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRD). African Parks manages the 5,127 km² Garamba National Park, which acts as a stable nucleus for the surrounding area and hunting zones that together span a 14,760 km² complex of savannah- forest mosaic in the transition zone between the Congo Basin and the Guinea-Sudano Savanna. The area is home to over 350 bird species, the only population of Kordofan giraffe in the DRC, and iconic large mammals such as lion, chimpanzee, hippo, vast herds of buffalo, and Uganda kob.

Poaching and seasonally encroaching nomads have severely impacted the park and only about 700 elephants and 62 Kordofan giraffe persist today, while northern white rhino have gone extinct. Elephant poaching has decreased in recent years, which is credited to a shift toward a regional management approach focused on intelligence and an increase in law enforcement efforts. Satellite tracking technology is used on elephant and giraffe populations, with a research focus on large carnivores and chimpanzees. Chimpanzee tracking and monitoring efforts involve community members and are regularly conducted within the park and surrounding reserves. Garamba National Park is also developing a biodiversity offset program in conjunction with the mining organization, Kibali Gold Mine.

Garamba is African Parks’ largest operation by far and faces a funding gap of approximately $700,000 in 2020 and $5 million in 2021, a serious threat to essential research activities. Primate research has currently been halted due to COVID-19 impacts. JRS support over 18 months will fund chimpanzee monitoring, giraffe research, and the biodiversity offset program.

Dr. Angela Gaylard received her PhD in Zoology at the University of the Witwatersrand, focusing on a new non-equilibrium paradigm for understanding and managing elephants for biodiversity. During this time she was also Operations Manager for a collaborative Mellon-funded research programme in the Kruger National Park, developed a new research facility and played a key role in the development of the field of Strategic Adaptive Management.  At SANParks, she later pioneered the role of Regional Ecologist, a position she held from 2006 – 2018.  She currently serves as the Head of Science Support at African Parks.