Congo Basin Stories

Recovering species is essential for effective wildlife conservation and critical to the work WWF does around the world. Here are just a few of our favorite, recent recovery stories.

Celebrating 5 of our favorite wildlife species living in forest habitats around the world.

The first-ever twins born to habituated gorillas in the Dzanga-Sangha Protected Area are now four years old.  Gorilla twins are extremely rare, but the survival of Inguka and Inganda brings hope that it is possible for other gorilla twins to survive in the future.

In the heart of the Central African Republic, Dzanga-Sangha stands as a model for stability and peace—and a safe place for elephants and gorillas to roam.

Twenty years ago, a gorilla habitation program provided the Ba’Aka living near the Dzanga Sanga Park with a new opportunity. And by 2020, Dzanga-Sangha employed more than 50 Ba’Aka as gorilla trackers.

A recent survey revealed the largest number of mountain gorillas ever recorded in a large swathe of protected forest in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. WWF and partners counted 459 individuals, up from an estimated 400 in 2011, in the 83,840-acre Bwindi-Sarambwe ecosystem.

In 2008, WWF began working with groups in the Goma area to make and sell fuel-efficient cookstoves. Goma Stove, started with a loan from WWF, is now financially independent—and business is booming.

During 2015 and 2016, survey teams combed the Virunga Massif’s dense, mountainous forests in two sweeps in search of gorillas. What they found was good: 604 gorillas—up from just 480 in 2010.

I was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), near Kahuzi-Biega National Park.

Inganda and Inguka are the first twins born to habituated western gorillas in the Dzanga-Sangha Protected Areas complex in the Central African Republic. Their second birthday is a reminder of the important work of the Primate Habituation Program.

Deep within Africa’s second-largest country, Salonga is a core part of one of Earth’s greatest and last tropical forests, still virtually untouched by modern-day resource extraction and development.

The future of bonobos in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is beginning to look promising. WWF is increasing surveillance of them and creating a management plan that benefits people and wildlife.

WWF is working to empower women by teaching them sustainable farming techniques, building their leadership and entrepreneurial skills, and ensuring their representation in decision-making bodies.

Associations, some formed mainly of women, in the Democratic Republic of Congo are building new, improved cookstoves by hand to help the environment—and themselves.

The FSC label ensures that the products you buy are from forests managed responsibly. And it means a future for both wildlife and people.

As the second largest tropical forest park in the world, Salonga is a global treasure. It is home for bonobos and one of the last remaining habitats for the forest elephant. Now, a newly signed agreement brings together the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation (ICCN) and WWF to co-manage the protected area.

In a significant blow to the illegal ivory trade in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), authorities dismantled a major elephant ivory trafficking syndicate thanks to a law enforcement supported by WWF and partners.

Which traits of mountain gorillas might allow them to tolerate or respond to rapidly changing climate conditions, and how can WWF help?

Gorillas, the largest living primates, make their homes in central Africa. Poaching, disease and habitat destruction remain threats for gorillas, and WWF is working to designate new protected areas where populations can thrive.