GLA - Composante Communaute Upemba: Prise en charge de la protection des éléphants Upemba et Chefferie Kayumba

This project is geared at providing seed funds for the conservation efforts of local communities to elephant conservation outside Upemba NP. This project is complementary to the same intervention IUCN NL funded with Virunga foundation / ICCN Upemba. We will channel these funds through the BAK. This is a suitable and reliable organization that can manage the funds -see organization scan. Upemba NP harbors the last Elephant population in whole Katanga, there are no more than 300 elephants left in Katanga and they are under severe threat of poaching and Human-Wildlife conflict. As the park’s resources are extremely limited – Upemba only has 160 rangers when at least 400 are needed to protect it, and they are outnumbered and out-resourced by the Mai Mai Bakata Katanga militia – Katembo has decided to focus first on restoring the emblematic species. His rangers have recorded 173 elephants in the vast territories surrounding the park – the very last surviving forest elephants in the whole of Katanga. Some 60 rangers, funded for six months by International Union for Conservation of Nature – Netherlands (UICN-NL) and the Swiss-based Fondation Ségre, have already managed to return 68 elephants into the park and boost the zebra population to 72. Some elepnahts move outside the park and need the protection of local communities, this small funding is a first step in restoring the trust and collaboration between ICCN and local communities and engaging local populations in the protection of this last remaining elephants.