Country/Region: Chad
Partner: African Parks Network
The Ennedi Natural and Cultural Reserve (ENCR) in the northeast of Chad is a sandstone masterpiece in the Sahara Desert, covering 50’000 km2 of rocky plateaus, herbaceous steppes, savannahs, ephemeral rivers and sand dunes. Its cliffs, canyons and natural archways have been sculpted by the Sahara over millennia. Despite the hostile nature of its environment, the biodiversity that occurs within this vast desert landscape is remarkable. Furthermore, the Ennedi Massif provides clean water, food and shelter to more than 30’000 semi-nomadic people who rely mostly on a pastoralist lifestyle for their survival. In 2016, the Ennedi Massif was placed on the UNESCO list of mixed – cultural and natural – sites of the World Heritage of Humanity.
Notwithstanding its beauty, the reserve is under severe threat, primarily from poaching and unsustainable farming practices. With this project, our partner, African Parks will continue to address the largely ignored and catastrophic wave of extinction threatening the large bird and mammal fauna in the Sahara and its bordering Sahelian grasslands. Through their activities in this and other parks in the region they aim at restoring a functional Sahelo-Saharan ecosystem.
Since 2021, Fondation Segré has supported this project, renewing its commitment in 2024 to further support African Parks in conserving the Sahelo-Saharan heritage and its archaeological significance. This funding addresses the reserve’s most pressing threats by implementing a comprehensive ecomonitoring strategy for tracking key species and habitats, supporting ongoing reintroductions of threatened species, establishing an Information Analysis department, and strengthening the Law Enforcement department’s capabilities. These actions are crucial to protecting the region’s cultural traditions and ensuring the survival of essential species.
