Enabling Landscapes: INTERHOLCO's Sustainability Report 2017

Max Planck Institut project
In 2016, role playing was tested among the hunters
who live closest to the forest, to see whether they
would put the survival of their village first, hunting
less, or if individual interest would prevail, leading to
more animals being hunted and a higher risk of fauna
depletion. At the same time, infra-red camera traps
were placed in known hunting areas, to monitor
trends in animal abundance/presence. It was shown
that role playing contributes to sustainable wildlife
management.
Parrot project
Dealing with poaching in the
forest concession has led
IFO to rescue hundreds of
tropical parrots. As part of
the PROGEPP project,
confiscated parrots, a much
sought-after source of
revenue on illegal markets,
are transferred to quarantine
facilities built by IFO. WCS
veterinarians analyse blood
samples and treat diseases.
In 2014 alone the number of
successfully treated parrots
released in the wild
exceeded 200.
WCS report
In 2007, WCS made an on-the-ground survey to
assess large mammal presence and distribution in
the region in which we operate. The results revealed
large gorilla abundance and an important
population of forest elephants. A new inventory,
carried out between March and September 2014,
indicated that there was no significant difference
between 2007 and 2014. During the same time,
gorilla nests have declined in the neighbouring
Ntokou-Pikounda National Park.
‘Chainsaw to the rescue’, a film by Thomas Weidenbach
The IFO forest concession
and neighbouring Odzala-
Kokoua National Park seem
to have the largest
concentration of lowland
gorillas. In 2011, film director
and former NGO activist
Thomas Weidenbach set out
on a journey to the North of
the Republic of Congo, where
he filmed how IFO integrated
environmental conservation
and safeguards, socioeconomic
stability and social
well-being and economic
viability and sustainability.
60 SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2017 INTERHOLCO