Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Killings and repression of defenders · Republic of Congo · 2010–2025

African Parks Odzala-Kokoua abuses (Republic of Congo)

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
What the record lacks: 5 none on record · 1 insufficient · 1 not measured · 1 disputed See the gaps

African Parks, which has managed Odzala-Kokoua National Park since 2010, said in May 2025 that human rights abuses occurred in some incidents after an investigation of 21 incidents. It did not publish the report.

21Incidents investigated in the park, 2010–2024
Incidents covered by the Omnia Strategy investigation: physical and sexual violence including rape, torture, "unlawful killing" and arbitrary detention. The report has not been published.

Status As of September 2026: African Parks has acknowledged abuses in some incidents (May 2025) and has not published the Omnia Strategy report; no prosecutions or penalties are on record.

What?
After allegations raised in 2023, African Parks commissioned an investigation of 21 incidents in Odzala-Kokoua National Park (2010–2024). In May 2025 it acknowledged that human rights abuses occurred in some incidents and did not publish the report. Mongabay
Where?
Odzala-Kokoua National Park, Republic of Congo; about 54 villages around the park. University of Arizona, indigenous peoples and protected areas database
When?
Incidents covered 2010 to 2024; Survival's warning June 2023; press reports January 2024; acknowledgement May 2025. Mongabay
Who?
Gained
Lost
  • A Baka woman — Court-ordered compensation of £1,300 reported unpaid Mongabay
Harmed
  • Baka people — Reported to have been beaten, raped and tortured; 21 incidents investigated Mongabay
Why?
The sources reviewed do not state the causes; African Parks cited "several failures of our systems and processes". Mongabay
How?
Allegations went from Survival International to African Parks, then to the press; African Parks engaged Omnia Strategy; it published a response but not the report. Mongabay
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

African Parks has managed Odzala-Kokoua National Park in the Republic of Congo since 2010 under a 25-year agreement, through the Odzala-Kokoua-Lossi Foundation. About 10,000 people live in 54 villages around the park, among them the Baka and Kola peoples. Its funders include the EU (€6 million for 2018–2023, 46% of the park budget in 2020), the Legacy Landscapes Fund (US$1 million a year for at least 15 years), the Rob Walton Foundation (a US$4.6 million results-based grant measured in "Verifiable Nature Units"), the US Fish and Wildlife Service (2024) and Stichting Natura Africae.

Survival International wrote to African Parks in June 2023. In January 2024 the Mail on Sunday and Tagesschau reported beatings, rape and torture of Baka people, including one waterboarding case. African Parks engaged Omnia Strategy, a London law firm, in December 2023. The investigation lasted 16 months, covered 2010 to 2024, and heard about 180 stakeholders over four field trips. Its team included barristers from Doughty Street Chambers and was overseen by Cherie Blair. It investigated 21 incidents: physical and sexual violence including rape, torture, "unlawful killing" and arbitrary detention.

In May 2025 African Parks said that "in some incidents, human rights abuses have occurred, and we deeply regret the pain and suffering", citing "several failures of our systems and processes". It announced an independent oversight panel and promised action against responsible staff. It did not publish the full report. According to Survival International, the report was not given to funders including the EU. No prosecutions have been reported.

Reported allegations include that, in July 2019, three men from Ignoli village were held for two days without food or water and tortured at the Lango base, and, as Mongabay reported, that a Baka woman had not received £1,300 in compensation ordered by a court.

In September 2023 the World Heritage Committee unanimously inscribed the Forest Massif of Odzala-Kokoua (11,794 km², decision 45 COM 8B.1). IUCN had recommended deferral in 2022 because of gold-exploration permits inside the park; the Congolese authorities reported that the permits were cancelled. The inscription came three months after Survival's written warning to African Parks.

  1. 2010African Parks begins managing Odzala-Kokoua under a 25-year agreement
  2. 2019July: alleged detention and torture of three men from Ignoli village at the Lango base
  3. 2021Rob and Melani Walton Foundation gives US$100m to African Parks (US$75m to the endowment)
  4. 2022IUCN recommends deferral of the World Heritage listing over gold-exploration permits
  5. 2023June: Survival International writes to African Parks; September: park inscribed on the World Heritage List; December: Omnia Strategy engaged
  6. 2024January: Mail on Sunday and Tagesschau report abuses against Baka people; US Fish and Wildlife Service funding
  7. 2025May: African Parks acknowledges abuses in some incidents; Omnia report withheld; oversight panel announced

What was said

Claims, in the words of those who made them.

“in some incidents, human rights abuses have occurred, and we deeply regret the pain and suffering”

African Parks, response to the Omnia Strategy investigation · May 2025 · Mongabay

“several failures of our systems and processes”

African Parks, response to the Omnia Strategy investigation · May 2025 · Mongabay

Where accounts differ

Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.

Did abuses by park staff occur, and what did the investigation find?
Communities and civil society
Survival International

Wrote to African Parks in June 2023 with the allegations.

Mongabay
Press and investigations
Mail on Sunday and Tagesschau

Reported in January 2024 beatings, rape and torture of Baka people, including one waterboarding case.

Mongabay
Communities and civil society
Survival International

The Omnia report was not given to funders including the EU.

Company or project
African Parks

"in some incidents, human rights abuses have occurred, and we deeply regret the pain and suffering"; did not publish the full report.

Mongabay
Company or project
Omnia Strategy

Investigated 21 incidents over 16 months and about 180 stakeholders; its public statement does not address the findings.

Omnia Strategy (published on the African Parks website)

How it looked

What was shown, beside what was recorded.

Shown

  • Delegated management of national parks presented as a public-private partnership.
    African Parks and its donors
  • A study of 127 partnerships in sub-Saharan Africa (PNAS, 2024) found average deforestation 55% lower in areas managed this way, and up to 66% lower in the most pressured areas; a second PNAS study (2024) of parks taken over by African Parks found less elephant poaching and more tourism.
    PNAS studies, cited as evidence for the model

Recorded

  • Omnia Strategy investigated 21 incidents covering 2010 to 2024, heard about 180 stakeholders, and its public statement does not address the findings.
    Omnia Strategy (published on the African Parks website)
  • African Parks acknowledged in May 2025 that human rights abuses occurred in some incidents and withheld the full report.
    Mongabay
  • No prosecutions reported; no compensation scheme or insurance documented; one woman's court-ordered £1,300 compensation reported unpaid.
    Mongabay
  • The Rob and Melani Walton Foundation gave US$100m to African Parks in 2021; US$75m went to the permanent endowment and part was set aside for a Legacy Landscapes Fund match for Odzala-Kokoua and Iona.
    Mongabay
  • The PNAS study of African Parks also found that, in conflict zones, armed groups were more likely to target civilians; the effect on local economic development was inconclusive.

Who gained

Money that reached nature, beside money that stayed elsewhere.

Reached nature or the ground

Not published
No figure published.

Gained elsewhere

Not totalled
Currency: EUR · Window: 2018–2023. All figures cover the same period. * Estimate built from cited figures.

Responses on record

  • African Parks (May 2025): "in some incidents, human rights abuses have occurred, and we deeply regret the pain and suffering"; cited "several failures of our systems and processes"; announced an independent oversight panel; did not publish the full report. · Mongabay
  • Omnia Strategy (May 2025): Published a public statement describing the scope of its investigation: 16 months, 2010 to 2024, about 180 stakeholders, 21 incidents. The statement does not address the findings. · Omnia Strategy (published on the African Parks website)
  • Government of the Republic of Congo (2023): Reported to the World Heritage Committee that gold-exploration permits inside the park had been cancelled. · Natural World Heritage Sites (summary site)

In court and with insurers

Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

Lawsuits and rulings

  1. Claimant won£1.3bn court-ordered compensation, reported unpaid
    Court-ordered compensation to a Baka woman (reported unpaid)
    Court (not identified in the sources reviewed) · Civil · A Baka woman → Not stated in the sources reviewed

    Mongabay reported that a Baka woman had not received the £1,300 in compensation ordered by a court. Mongabay

Insurers

No insurer decision on record.

What nature saw

Outcomes measured on the ground, and nature's note.

Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.

Deforestation in delegated-management areas
55% lower on average
PNAS 2024, 127 partnerships in sub-Saharan Africa; not specific to Odzala-Kokoua
Elephant poaching in African Parks parks
Reduced
PNAS 2024; park-level results for Odzala-Kokoua not given in the sources reviewed
Gold-exploration permits inside the park
Cancelled, per Congo
IUCN recommended deferral in 2022; the Committee inscribed the site in September 2023 after Congo reported cancelling the permits

What we don't know

Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
Key earnings undisclosed

Nature

  • Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.

Accounts

  • Disputed Did abuses by park staff occur, and what did the investigation find?

Record

  • None on record The Omnia Strategy report has not been published: which allegations were upheld, who was dismissed and whether compensation was paid is not known.
  • None on record No penalty or compensation amount is on record, and no prosecutions have been reported.
  • None on record No compensation scheme or insurance cover for the reported abuses is documented in the sources reviewed.
  • None on record The researchers in the PNAS study noted that whether the gains benefit the surrounding population has not yet been studied.
  • Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: that the report was not given to funders including the EU (Survival International's account).
  • None on record The Omnia Strategy public statement does not address the findings.

Did the harm stop?

The sources reviewed do not record whether the reported abuses have stopped. African Parks announced an independent oversight panel in May 2025.

Who paid?

The sources reviewed record no compensation scheme and no penalty. One woman's court-ordered £1,300 compensation is reported unpaid. The organisation continues to manage the park.

Sources

Voices on record: ✓ Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society✓ Researchers✓ Standard-setters and registries

Company or project

  1. Omnia Strategy public statement, May 2025
    Omnia Strategy (published on the African Parks website) · 2025-05

Press and investigations

Researchers

  1. Odzala-Kokoua National Park
    University of Arizona, indigenous peoples and protected areas database ·

Standard-setters and registries

  1. Forest Massif of Odzala-Kokoua (World Heritage summary)
    Natural World Heritage Sites (summary site) · 2023-09

Connected cases

Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
Terms used on this page

Institutions

IUCN Red List
The International Union for Conservation of Nature and its global list assessing species' risk of extinction.
OECD complaint
A complaint filed with a government's National Contact Point under the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises; the process is mediation, not a court.

Carbon and conservation finance

Endowment
A fund invested to produce long-term income, from which spending is drawn.
Similar cases
Killings and repression of defenders · Protected area / relocation · DR Congo · 2002–2020
Salonga National Park ranger abuses (DR Congo)
Same type: Killings and repression of defenders, Protected area / relocationSame regionHarm to nature not measured
Killings and repression of defenders · Protected area / relocation · Brazil · 2005–2019
Dorothy Stang killing
Same type: Killings and repression of defenders, Protected area / relocationCourt: won by claimantHarm to nature not measured
Killings and repression of defenders · Protected area / relocation · Brazil · 2011
José Cláudio and Maria murder
Same type: Killings and repression of defenders, Protected area / relocationCourt: won by claimantHarm to nature not measured
Killings and repression of defenders · Protected area / relocation · Brazil · 2019
Paulo Paulino Guajajara killing (Brazil)
Same type: Killings and repression of defenders, Protected area / relocationHarm to nature not measured