Manovo-Gounda St Floris National Park

• Insecurity
• Poaching
• Mining
• Transhumance and illegal grazing
• Illegal fishing
• Illegal occupation of the property

• Illegal grazing
• Uncontrolled poaching by heavily armed groups subsequent loss of up to 80% of the Park’s wildlife and the deteriorating security situation
• Halt to tourism

Adopted, see page https://whc.unesco.org/en/decisions/1761

Adopted, see page https://whc.unesco.org/en/decisions/1761

Not yet identified

On 31 January 2018, the State Party submitted a state of conservation report, available at http://whc.org/en/list/475/documents/, providing the following information:

• The Wildlife Ecosystem Project of North-eastern part of the Central African Republic (CAR) (ECOFAUNE+), funded by the BEKOU European funds and the Central Africa Biodiversity Conservation Programme – Protecting Central Africa’s Elephants (PCBAC-SEAC), funded by the African Development Bank continues. Their objectives are to improve the governance and sustainable management of the natural resources of CAR and to preserve the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property and its periphery. Several activities, such as: the rehabilitation of infrastructures, the acquisition of equipment, the training of personnel and field activities are implemented in this framework;
• A management agreement (Public-Private Partnership) between the CAR government and the international conservation NGO Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is currently being negotiated. An administrative, technical and operational system will be implemented by the WCS that could benefit, among others, from a grant of 7 million Euros from the European Development Fund (11^th EDF). The WCS would be responsible, among others, for the management, surveillance and ecological monitoring of the property. For 2018, the priority is to train and deploy guards in the property and its surroundings and provide them with equipment to ensure its surveillance and be able to act rapidly in some areas of the property. The Ministry of Defence hopes to formalize a cooperative framework with the WCS for the successful implementation of these operations;
• An aerial census was carried out in March and April 2017, highlighting the catastrophic decline of wildlife. The elephant, the population of which was estimated at approximately 5,000 individuals at the time of inscription, appears to have totally disappeared from the property. All populations of large species of mammal appear once again greatly declined in comparison to the data collected in 2005 and 2010. The Derby eland and the buffalo have been observed in some limited areas, but are totally absent in the vast plains where, historically, they were abundant. The presence of a small population of the Kordofan giraffe, sub-species in danger of extinction, was confirmed. Otherwise, different illegal activities have been observed, notably the presence of cattle and transhumance, poachers’ camps, moto trails and artisanal mining quarries;
• This census enabled the gathering of information, which will enable to: establish zoning and determine the priority conservation zones as well as measures to combat threats. The priorities are: reduce transhumance and pastoralism , open roads and trails to access the property, relocate outside the Park the illegal habitations identified in the extreme north, and close down the illegal diamond mines located on the periphery of the property;
• A strategy for threat management is being prepared in the framework of the Transborder Tripartite Anti-Poaching Agreement signed between the CAR, Cameroon and Chad. It will enable harmonization at the regional level of the measures to be undertaken to contain poaching and transhumance and reestablish security in the area. The CAR envisages the creation of a transboundary complex of protected areas, that would include the north-eastern sites of the country and Chad’s Zakouma National Park.

Further, the World Heritage Centre was informed, last April, of the rehabilitation project for the National Road 8 that crosses the Manovo-Gounda Saint-Floris Park. The Centre wrote to the State Party on 9 April 2018 to request the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) of this project. The World Bank, one of the donors with the French Development Agency (AFD), transmitted to UNESCO on 19 April, the documents relating to the project, including the “Environmental and Social Safeguard Action Plan” and the “Terms of Reference for the Environmental and Social Impact Studies”.

The results of the census again confirm the critical situation of this property: the decimation of large wildlife continues endlessly and has resulted in the disappearance of the elephant in the property. The pressure of poaching, notably by national and foreign armed groups, remains strong, to which is added the presence of large transhumant groups and their cattle in search of pasturage as well as artisanal mining exploitation. The progressive degradation of wildlife has compromised since several years the OUV of the property.

The mobilization by the State Party, through the different ECOFAUNE+ and PCBAC-SEAC projects, to improve the state of conservation of the property is warmly welcomed. The efforts of the CAR and its partners concentrate on the major threats, notably transborder transhumance; artisanal mining exploitation and insecurity. These threats remain worrying, taking into account the insecurity context that prevails in the region and which can limit the extent of interventions in the field of conservation. The signature of a Transborder Tripartite Anti-Poaching Agreement signed between the CAR, Cameroon and Chad, and the establishment of a strategy for threat management are commendable achievements. It is therefore recommended that the Committee notes with concern the serious threats weighing on the OUV of the property and congratulates the three States Parties of the CAR, Cameroon and Chad for the establishment of a transboundary anti-poaching strategy. It is also recommended that the Committee request the State Party, in concertation with the neighboring States, to undertake all necessary measures to combat transboundary transhumance and poaching and to obtain the technical and financial means to achieve this.

The negotiations for the establishment of a partnership between CAR and the WCS for the management of the property are also favorably welcomed. It is recommended that the Committee encourage the State Party to continue its cooperation with WCS through the implementation of management and surveillance activities to enable the ecological restoration process of the property to begin, and that it launches an appeal to donors to support this initiative and avoid the probable and imminent loss of the OUV of the property.

The rehabilitation project of National Road 8 that crosses the Park also raises concern, given that this road risks facilitating access to the property and reinforces illicit exploitation of its natural resources. The documents received concerning the ESIA have been transmitted to the IUCN for evaluation. It is noted with utmost concern that neither the Environmental and Social Safeguard Action Plan, nor the Terms of Reference for the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) make any reference to Manovo-Gounda St Floris National Park and its status as a World Heritage property. The evaluation of the impacts of the project on the OUV of the property, already greatly degraded, must obligatorily be part of the ESIE. In May 2018, the State Party invited a joint World Heritage Centre/IUCN mission requested by the Committee in its Decision 38 COM 7A.34. For security reasons, the mission did not take place and was rescheduled for autumn 2018, security conditions permitting. It is recommended that the joint mission evaluates the state of conservation of the property and determines whether there remain perspectives for regeneration of the characteristics of the property justifying its OUV. Finally, it is recommended that the Committee maintain the property on the List of World Heritage in Danger and continue to apply the Reinforced Monitoring Mechanism.