Mathias D'haen
Other projects
3 Apr 2018
Long-Term Conservation and Monitoring Actions of the Last Kordofan Giraffe in Garamba National Park, DRC
This project will provide a solid basis from which ongoing and direct conservation decision-making can occur for giraffe conservation and protection in Garamba National Park. By providing solid science support regarding their population dynamics, use of habitat and movements, targeted anti-poaching efforts and ongoing monitoring of the little known population can be established throughout the Park.
Research and conservation management on the Kordofan giraffe in Garamba National Park is key. With 40 animals remaining in the Park - and <2,000 in the wild, the population is highly vulnerable to local extinction. Being the only population in the DRC, it is also spatially isolated from others in neighbouring countries.
The status of Garamba National Park as World Heritage is under threat, partly because of the loss of the northern white rhino and the significant decline in the Kordofan giraffe population. To enable the Park to maintain the same international status, the Park’s giraffe need to be protected.
Therefore, it is of vital importance to improve scientific research and conservation efforts to increase the knowledge of giraffe in Garamba National Park, and importantly be proactive in their management, in particular anti-poaching using solid scientific base. This project aims to provide an environment to save the last of DRC's giraffe before they become locally extinct. It’s the projects objective to clarify the status of Kordofan giraffe in Garamba NP, understand their movement and use of habitat, and importantly to provide a detailed set of conservation management measures to protect them and their future in/outside the Park. Within the framework of a thesis research but in support of the targeted conservation management efforts of ICCN, African Parks Network and Giraffe Conservation Foundation, the project aims to answer some critical questions about the giraffe population in the Park. These questions will both directly and indirectly focus on the endangered status of the giraffe population and the real need to manage them now in the face of poaching from the Lords Resistance Army. What is critical to understand includes:
1. how many giraffe – age, sex, individual identification?
2. what is the population dynamics?’
3. where are the giraffe moving to send out anti-poaching teams?
4. what habitat types are the giraffe using?
5. is the population restricted to a specific type, or is there a preference?
6. does the habitat used by giraffe in Garamba NP change in different months/seasons?
All of this in an effort to be pro-active in anti-poaching management of the giraffe population.