The WCS Central African Republic program is dedicated to saving wildlife and enabling sustainable community development in the Northeastern Protected Area Complex, the country's largest wilderness protection area. This landscape hosts Africa's most intact and abundant wildlife assemblages, including species of global importance such as the Kordofan giraffe, lions, hippopotamuses, Giant elands, elephants, bongos, buffalos, and more iconic mammals.
The Northeastern Protected Area Complex (NPAC) extends across 11.5 million hectares. It encompasses the Bamingui-Bangoran National Park, the Manovo-Gounda St Floris National Park, also classified as a World Heritage Site, and faunal reserves and old hunting areas that function as biodiversity corridors. The NPAC is the main water source for all of northeastern CAR and a crucial contribution to the Chari basin and Lake Chad, which provides drinking water to over 30 million people across four countries.
In December 2018, WCS and the Central African Republic government subscribed to a 25-year public-private partnership agreement, whereby WCS is fully responsible for conceiving and implementing conservation solutions, park management, law enforcement, and community development models within the NPAC, following national laws and policies as well as WCS global standards. This long-term mandate aims to save the remaining wildlife population, protect wild places and natural resources that sustain the local people and their livelihoods, and help mitigate global climate change.