Senegal is the West African country in the Sahel with the most sites inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. One of them is the Niokolo Koba National Park (PNNK), a Biosphere Reserve since 1981, with a unique biodiversity and natural beauty of 1 million hectares, located in the south-east of Senegal.

The Niokolo Koba National Park houses the last specimens of emblematic species in West Africa: the lion, the leopard, the Derby eland, the chimpanzee, the bush pig, the wild dog, the elephant (on the brink of extinction in this area), and the sable antelope.

Like many sites around the world and particularly in West Africa, the Niokolo Koba National Park is facing several conservation issues of natural and anthropogenic origins, particularly linked to illegal activities, the proliferation of invasive and exotic terrestrial species, mining and even the impact of agricultural activities. These have led to its inscription on the List of World Heritage in Danger since 2007.

Via the BIOPAMA programme, the EU partnered with Panthera (an international NGO specialised in protected area and wildlife conservation), the Directorate of National Parks of Senegal and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), to establish a park-wide survey and monitoring system of most medium-sized and large mammal species in the park. This will enable the Park Authorities to measure population trends for such animals, as lions, Western giant eland and elephants hosted in the park. The project also aims at improving the cartography, the ecological monitoring methodologies and the Park Management Plan, in accordance with international best practices. This action is implemented via an integrated approach fully involving the communities living around the PNNK and offering them economic opportunities based on the sustainable use of natural resources in the buffer area around the Park.

If you want to discover more about the Niokolo Koba National Park check the following site:

https://action.biopama.org/action-projects/building-the-capacity-for-comprehensive-survey-and-monitoring-of-key-wildlife-species-and-habitat-features-in-the-niokolo-koba-national-park-senegal/