Much of Gabon remains wild and remote. With more than four-fifths of the nation’s population living in urban areas, 88 percent of the country is covered with trees, home to critically endangered forest elephants. Gabon’s inland and coastal forests are so vast, they sequester 100 million tons of CO2 each year, more than the amount produced by 30 million cars, helping the world stave off climate change through the natural process of photosynthesis.

As intact ecosystems and species diversity rapidly diminish around the world, the stakes are high for conserving extensive habitats like what remain in Gabon. But long-term, durable, and effective protection can be expensive and extremely complex.

“It is very crucial for the world to acknowledge the importance of biodiversity,” says Stanislas Stephen Mouba, director general for environmental protection in the Ministry of Environment of Gabon. It is important for both the economy and for people, he says.

Much of Gabon’s economic growth has come from the export of natural resources like oil and manganese. With approximately 800,000 young Gabonese on track to enter the workforce in the next decade, the government must create new jobs and find a way to do this in balance with its ambitious environmental goals.

“We are convinced that investment in biodiversity conservation and natural capital is critical for human wellbeing,” Lee White, Gabon’s minister of water, forests, the sea and environment, told attendees at a high-level meeting on global biodiversity protection hosted by Colombia in 2021.

For example, a switch to sustainable forestry and a ban on the export of whole-log timber was a way to protect forests and create jobs. “Traditionally, we exported logs from Gabon to the rest of the world,” says White. “When you export a log, you are retaining about eight percent of the value of the wood, and so you’re gifting over 90 percent of the value added to the country that imports your log and transforms it into furniture or parquet or [other items].” Producing these finished wood products locally will keep profits in Gabon.

Payment for carbon dioxide captured by healthy forests is also bringing in funds. Last year, Gabon received the first installment of US$150 million from Norway, through the Central African Forest Initiative, in exchange for demonstrated progress in forest protection and emissions reductions. The hope is this will lead to future payment structures that compensate Gabon for its forests’ contribution to mitigating global climate change.

Gabon is part of the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People and is committed to protecting and conserving 30 percent of the world’s land and ocean by 2030 (often referred to as 30×30). Gabon, however, is also one of several countries pushing for an explicit reference to freshwater protection. For a nation whose culture and landscape are shaped by its rivers, Gabon is expanding its commitment also to protect and conserve 30% of its inland waters. Therefore, protecting and conserving 30:30:30 (terrestrial, inland waters, and marine) has special significance.

“Over the last three decades, Gabon has been gradually building the laws and institutions that we need to preserve forests and ecosystems,” says White.

Gabon announced it’s the creation of 13 national parks in 2002 and established its National Parks Agency in 2007. It now has 13 national parks, a Presidential Reserve, faunal reserve and arboretum, several hunting domains and cultural sites, two World Heritage sites, nine Ramsar Wetlands of International Importance, which cover a total of about 22 percent of the country. Offshore, Gabon has established 20 marine protected areas across 20,060 square miles (51,955 sq km), which represent about 26 percent of its ocean territory.

Managing these areas remains a challenge, however, due to variable protection designations and limited funds. The isolation of Gabon’s natural habitats means they are harder to access, but it also makes them harder to steward. Marine protected areas are distinctly difficult to patrol, and they are accessible to the fishing boats drawn from around the region to Gabon’s bountiful offshore ecosystems.

To help meet its ambitious protection and conservation goals, Gabon is partnering with organizations, like The Nature Conservancy (TNC), who have the expertise to advise on science-based conservation and land- and sea- use plans and the creation of transformational, lasting protection initiatives.

“Our deep experience in protected area creation and implementation,” says White, “teaches us that measuring, monitoring and protection efforts in data-poor, biodiverse countries like Gabon will require a disproportionate burden on resources—financial, technical, human and other.” Motivating the right expertise and support will be essential to success.

The national commitment of 30:30:30 will require partnership and funding on a level not seen in traditional conservation efforts. TNC is now doing the groundwork for the possible use of a series of powerful tools to facilitate durable, long-term protection. “We’re hoping to be a catalyst,” says Marie-Claire Paiz, TNC’s Gabon country director, “bringing science, expertise, partnerships and financial resources to create a new way of doing conservation, so that what we’re doing today will really remain, and we’ll see the benefits in another 10, 30, 50 years from now.”

Read the full article at nature.org/GabonAction.