African Parks Responds to the Inaccurate Article Published on Jeune Afrique

African Parks has noted the factually inaccurate and misleading article published on jeuneafrique.com on Tuesday, 15 November 2022 titled: “Côte d’Ivoire : première mission pour les rangers d’African Parks” translated “Ivory Coast: first mission for African Parks rangers.”

This article falsely reports that African Parks has commenced management of one or more of the parks in the Ivory Coast, as well as that African Parks has deployed a first group of rangers in the Ivory Coast on Friday, 11 November 2022. This is untrue.

It is unfortunate that neither the journalist, nor Jeune Afrique, contacted African Parks to verify this information before publishing the piece.

African Parks can confirm that the Government of Ivory Coast has engaged with the Beninese Government and African Parks, regarding conservation in west Africa, with several exchange visits having taken place in 2021, to explore and align on strategies for conserving key west African ecosystems. Preliminary discussions are ongoing between African Parks and the Ivory Coast Government, around African Parks potentially supporting with protected area management in one or more of their parks. African Parks and the Government of Ivory Coast have, however, not concluded any management agreement to date, nor has it deployed any personnel to the Ivory Coast.

African Parks is committed to continuing discussions with Ivory Coast, and commends the Government for exploring such opportunities to support with the conservation of their globally important protected areas.

For any questions, please reach out to [email protected].