Continued engagement with local communities is essential for effective conservation across Africa. We recognise that in the past, our systems and safeguards were sometimes not sufficiently robust to prevent harm or protect the rights of people living in and around the protected areas we manage. This year, we reaffirm our commitment to human rights as outlined in the AP Statement of Human Rights Principles. We are also turning this commitment into action through an integrated management plan called Project Bomoko (Bomoko is a Congolese Lingala word meaning ‘together’ or ‘unity’).
Project Bomoko is our integrated management plan, which aims to further embed a human rights-based approach to conservation across African Parks and to drive compliance with international safeguards standards. This comprehensive framework is designed to assess, prevent, and mitigate negative human rights impacts that may result from AP operations. This multi-year initiative operates at both the institutional and park levels, offering a range of actions to address human rights impacts, from risk assessments to grievance redress. Project Bomoko builds on the progress made in recent years and aims to consolidate and sustain ongoing improvements across all AP operations.
