African Parks 161 Strategy

Working within a continent-scale conservation vision focused on long-term ecosystem resilience.

The African Parks 161 Strategy identifies and supports large, ecologically significant landscapes across Africa that are essential for biodiversity, climate stability and water security. These areas form a connected network of high-value ecosystems where conservation impact can be sustained over generations.

https://www.africanparks.org/our-work/incubation-programme

Upemba National Park is recognised as one of these critical landscapes. Its rivers, wetlands and savannas influence ecological systems far beyond its boundaries and contribute to the stability of the wider Congo Basin.

The strategy emphasises that large ecosystems must function as complete systems rather than isolated conservation zones. Protecting landscapes at scale allows wildlife to move, ecosystems to regenerate and natural processes to stabilise.

For Upemba, this means restoring ecological integrity while strengthening long-term management capacity. The goal is not short-term recovery, but durable ecological resilience.

Through alignment with this broader strategy, conservation work in Upemba contributes to a shared continental vision: securing Africa’s most important natural systems for future generations.

“We are delighted to welcome Forgotten Parks Foundation into our Incubation Programme. The organisation’s goals are closely aligned with what we at African Parks hope to achieve in protected spaces across Africa and the team shares our passion for protecting and rehabilitating wildlife and habitat back to healthy ecosystems. With every new partner that joins our incubation programme, we come closer to realising our shared vision of representing a geographic spread of protected areas and different ecoregions,” says Pierre-Armand Roulet, Incubation Programme Manager at African Parks.

“For Forgotten Parks Foundation, this Incubation Programme offers a great opportunity to receive guidance from a conservation organisation that has led the way in promoting the conservation model of delegated management. We believe that this mentorship and guidance will help us tremendously in securing a positive future for Upemba National Park as a thriving protected area that benefits both the animals in it and the communities living on its borders. We look forward to a long and beneficial engagement with the team at African Parks,” says Luc Gerard Nyafe, Chairman of Forgotten Parks DRC.