Statement from Panthera Africa Director on UNESCO’S Delisting of Senegal's Niokolo-Koba National Park as ‘World Heritage in Danger’

Media Contact: Susie Weller Sheppard, 347-446-9904, sweller@panthera.org

New York, NY - On Wednesday, July 24, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) removed Senegal’s Niokolo Koba National Park from the List of World Heritage in Danger following a seven year period of increased commitment to the conservation of the park’s regionally important wildlife and habitats. The UNESCO World Heritage in Danger List identifies cultural or natural World Heritage sites that are threatened by dangers such as environmental changes, armed conflict, natural disasters, illegal exploitation or unregulated tourism.

Panthera West and Central Africa Regional Director, Dr. Philipp Henschel, stated: 

“Panthera congratulates and applauds the government of Senegal on the removal, after 17 years, of Niokolo-Koba National Park (NKNP) from UNESCO’s List of World Heritage Sites in Danger. Representing an outstanding achievement secured against many odds, Niokolo-Koba’s endangered delisting rightly recognizes Senegal’s extraordinary commitment to safeguarding its wildlife and natural habitats that will benefit generations of Senegalese citizens and regional as well as global conservation initiatives today and long into the future.

If the current level of biodiversity protection continues, alongside expansion of the Park’s infrastructure, there is no doubt Niokolo-Koba could be nourished into the ‘Serengeti of West Africa.’

As UNESCO has recognized, Niokolo-Koba is an absolutely critical biodiversity haven home to one of the only two remaining populations of lions in West Africa, the region’s largest remaining leopard population, the Endangered giant pangolin recently discovered for the first time in 24 years, the last wild population of Western derby eland, and a stronghold for the very last surviving African wild dogs in West Africa. 

It’s also no coincidence that UNESCO cited the significant improvement of conservation over the last seven years in its reasoning for Niokolo-Koba’s removal from the List of World Heritage in Danger. The timing coincides with the onset – in 2017 – of Panthera’s long-term partnership with Senegal’s national park authority, DPN. Providing support for counter-poaching, wildlife ranger training and intensive ecological monitoring by GPS-collaring and monitoring the nation’s first lions helped lead to a more than doubling of lion numbers - from 15 to over 30 - in less than a decade. 

In fact, the nation’s first collared lion and matriarch of Niokolo-Koba - Florence - has produced three litters of lions, contributing approximately one third of the Park’s lion population.

While this delisting is certainly a win for Senegal’s biodiversity, we can in no way take our foot off the pedal of conservation. As the 2024 IUCN assessment on the state of the species indicates, lions remain highly ‘Vulnerable,’ and those of West Africa continue to hang on by a ‘Critically Endangered’ thread. Ahead of the ninth World Lion Day, Senegal’s success should serve as a motivator and a reminder of what can be accomplished when resources are consistently dedicated - year after year - to preserving our planet’s wildlife.”

About BIOPAMA 
The Biodiversity and Protected Areas Management (BIOPAMA) programme aims to improve the long-term conservation and sustainable use of natural resources in African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, in protected areas and surrounding communities.It is an initiative of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States financed by the European Union’s 11th European Development Fund (EDF), jointly implemented by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission (JRC). Building on the first five years of activities financed by the 10th EDF (2012-2017), BIOPAMA’s second phase provides tools for data and information management, services for improving the knowledge and capacity for protected area planning and decision making, and funding opportunities for specific site-based actions. www.biopama.org; ACP; EU  

This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union and the ACP Group of States through the BIOPAMA Programme. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of Panthera and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union nor of the ACP Group of States.

With the contribution of the European Union and the ACP Group of States through the BIOPAMA Programme