CORENA – Conservatoire de la Réserve Naturelle Communautaire du Boundou

Conservation and sustainable management of natural resources:

• protecting wildlife, habitats and key biodiversity areas
• combating poaching, bushfires and unsustainable exploitation
• ecological monitoring and restoration of degraded ecosystems

Community governance and sustainable local development:

• participatory reserve management and capacity building for local stakeholders
• community awareness and environmental education
• promoting sustainable economic activities compatible with conservation

The Boundou Community Reserve was established in 2009, following the conversion of a leased hunting concession into a protected area by Mr Baba Sada Sow, the concession holder, together with the 4 rural communities that make up the area (Koussan, Dougue, Sinthiou-Fissa and Toumboura). The project arose from a partnership with the Isere department (France), the NGO Tetraktys, and the Regional Water and Forestry Inspectorate (IREF) to establish a first conservation plan – a community initiative aimed at participatory local management combining resilience to global change with sustainable improvement of living conditions.