Total Gabon joins the fight against poaching

Energy producer Total Gabon has joined Gabonese anti-poaching programme Prolab to help protect the country's wildlife

(Gabonreview)

Last week Total Gabon officially joined Prolab (Programme de Lutte Anti- braconnage et de Gestion de la Faune), a Gabonese anti-poaching programme headed by the WWF and the Compagnie des bois du Gabon (CBG).

Established in 2008 and renewed last year, Prolab is a public-private partnership that aims to fight poaching in the 600,00 hectares of Gabonese forest managed by the CBG. It operates mostly in Loango and Moukalaba-Doudou national parks.

Total Gabon, which operates across the country in a number of areas rich in biodiversity, sees the partnership as the logical consequence of its environmental policy. "We are aware that our presence in the heart of the forest can have a negative impact and facilitate poaching. Firstly, by making the fauna accustomed to human presence and secondly, by giving poachers easy access to our sites by road, "said Henri Ndong-Max-Nzue, CEO of Total Gabon. "Biodiversity is a treasure that we must preserve…and I am very sensitive to the protection of wildlife in my country," he said.

Guillaume Fenart, CEO of CBG, said that the program will be an opportunity to encourage loggers to "change their mentality". "The CBG is key in national parks, and WWF has understood this. I knocked on every door and some companies have responded, not out of economic interest but because employees of the CBG and those of Total Gabon are guards of our wildlife."

This partnership with Total Gabon will provide financial support for Prolab to run conservation activities alongside the WWF, and help protect the country’s wildlife.