WCS-Congo > Conservation Strategies > Network of Protected Areas

Protected areas form the core of WCS-Congo’s biodiversity conservation policy, since parks and reserves are the only places where biodiversity conservation is the primary, legally mandated land use. They support a greater range of biodiversity than areas which are primarily managed to produce goods for human consumption, such as logging or mining concessions, and are the only land use areas which can provide long term, sustainable protection for wildlife.

However, establishing a national park or reserve is often not sufficient to guarantee the protection of some species, such as forest elephants, which range long distances and often travel outside the limits of any single protected area. In order to protect species such as these, we have to focus our protection efforts on the entire landscape, and not just national parks and reserves.

TOP