Rwanda is no longer one of the 12 African countries without a World Heritage Site from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). Nyungwe National Park, a tropical forest covering almost 102,000 hectares in the south-west of the East African country, is now on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. The decision was taken on Tuesday 19 September 2023, at a session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee held in Riyadh, the Saudi capital.
Nyungwe National Park is one of the most important bird conservation sites in Africa. It is home to 12 species of mammal and seven species of bird that are globally threatened, with 317 species of bird recorded. The park also contains the most important natural habitats for a number of species found nowhere else in the world, including the eastern chimpanzee (Pan troglodyte schweinfurthii), the globally threatened golden monkey (Cercopithecus mitis ssp. kandti) and the critically endangered hill horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus hillorum).
Odzala-Kokoua National Park
This is a double coup for the Congo Basin. The world’s second largest rainforest massif saw two of its sites listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites on the same day. The Odzala-Kokoua national park, which covers 13,546 km² in the north-west of the Republic of Congo, was also listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site on 19 September 2023.
“This reaffirms Odzala’s position as a biological hotspot and one of the most species-rich areas in the world. It is home to several types of ecosystems (Congolese forest, Lower Guinea forest and savannah). Odzala is one of the most important strongholds for forest elephants in Central Africa and is home to the greatest diversity of primates in the region, notably the western lowland gorilla and the chimpanzee”, describes African Parks Network.
The nature conservation non-governmental organisation (NGO), based in Johannesburg, South Africa, is responsible for managing the two new UNESCO World Heritage sites. This is thanks to long-term conservation contracts, lasting 20 years, signed with the Rwandan and Congolese governments.
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Thanks to their new status, Nyungwe and Odzala-Kokoua will attract more funding for conservation and research efforts. “The first advantage is that the site benefits from immediate international recognition, which is an asset for sites that are already protected. This stimulates tourism. It demonstrates social responsibility. The site can benefit from Unesco’s network and partners. What’s more, limited funding is associated with World Heritage status,” explains Charles Karangwa, the Regional Technical Coordinator for Forest Landscapes and Livelihoods at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) for Eastern and Southern Africa.
Boris Ngounou