Conservation Justice’s mission is to protect wildlife and forests in Gabon while actively involving local communities.
Conservation Justice first launched a project to protect elephants and other threatened species in Gabon against poaching and wildlife trafficking, by increasing law enforcement and deterring poachers and traffickers.
A second area of work focuses on combating illegal logging, as these two types of environmental crime are interconnected.
Community involvement is crucial.
In terms of illegal logging, Conservation Justice strengthens community rights by supporting them in social forestry. This includes assistance in managing Community Forests and monitoring the implementation of Contractual Specifications. This mechanism enables communities to benefit from Local Development Funds financed by logging companies. Conservation Justice’s legal teams assist communities to ensure they effectively access these funds and that local development projects are implemented.
Gabonese communities are also heavily affected by wildlife damage to their agricultural plots. In particular, the elephant population is estimated at 95,000 individuals in Gabon, and human–elephant conflicts are frequent. Conservation Justice actively supports communities in installing electric fences to protect their crops. Technical monitoring and assistance are also provided in partnership with Space for Giants.
Finally, Conservation Justice develops environmental education activities in schools. Each year, more than 10,000 children are sensitized to the importance of wildlife and forests.
To achieve this mission, Conservation Justice pursues the following objectives:
- Identify wildlife traffickers and illegal loggers on a large scale, who negatively impact local communities;
- Support the arrest of wildlife traffickers and illegal loggers;
- Support prosecutions and ensure the enforcement of court rulings;
- Raise public awareness on effective law enforcement and the risks involved;
- Support local communities in addressing illegal logging and human–elephant conflict, and develop an environmental education program in schools.
The results of these activities include frequent arrests and convictions for wildlife and forest crime, strengthened national capacity to enforce the law, greater public awareness of environmental crime, and stronger community rights in relation to illegal logging and human–wildlife conflict.
Finally, Conservation Justice is developing three wildlife brigade projects in partnership with local authorities and certified logging companies. These involve monitoring vast territories against poaching, as well as conducting awareness-raising activities and mitigating human–wildlife conflict.