We believe that strong, resilient communities are key to conserving local biodiversity.
Our Community Agriculture Project
Our three partner communities (Assewe, Kongo and Onbimba) are remote communities with limited access to transportation. They rely mostly on traditional agriculture, fishing and hunting for income. Because 40-50% of foods currently purchased for the gorillas by the project are from Cameroon (and very costly!), local access to these foods would be highly beneficial to both the project and these communities. Our goal is therefore to support these communities with the development of a sustainable community-managed agricultural project as incentive to reduce reliance on hunting while ensuring a regular source of income.
Our Community Ecotourism Partnership
Surrounded by dense tropical forest with abundant wildlife, the Fernan-Vaz lagoon offers a beautiful quasi-untouched natural setting also rich in Gabonese culture, for example Bwiti dances (see photo). The reality is that communities living within this forest, each with a unique story filled with daily livelihood challenges, never encounter tourists nor benefit much from tourism dollars. Our long-term objective is to support the development of a self-sustainable community-managed ecotourism partnership by promoting visitor access to cultural and nature-based experiences offered exclusively by our partner communities.
Our Summer Job Initiative
Many young students of the Fernan-Vaz don’t have access to education because of their family’s restricted income. Our third long-term goal is to provide full-time summer jobs to local students who struggle financially so that they can save for their next academic year.