Earlier this year, 54,000 head of cattle were heading towards Bamingui-Bangoran National Park. This presented several issues that were causing serious anxiety:

• There was no agreement between herders, farmers and the rangers of the Park as to what to do.

• There was a history of park rangers shooting cattle that entered the park, leading to reprisal attacks on local villagers by herders.

Concordis helped to mediate between the Wildlife Conservation Service and herders to protect both 54,000 head of cattle and the biodiversity of the National Park.

This avoided both significant conflict and massive environmental destruction. The agreement has laid strong foundations for Concordis to build a stronger relationship with the Wildlife Conservation Service and between them, the herders and the farmers.

It's critical that we continue to work to protect Bamingui-Bangoran National Park.

Unrestrained use of the Park's resources will not only have devastating impact on the fragile ecology, flora and fauna of the National Park, but also for people's livelihoods. They won't be able to use the land to farm and grow food, or to move their cattle. Climate change means that Lake Chad is shrinking. 80% of the water that goes into Lake Chad comes from rivers that flow through Bamingui-Bangoran. If solutions aren't found over fair management of this water, there is a risk that more people will be driven to join conflict, not just in CAR, but also in the surrounding region. It's vital people continue to work together to find solutions to the effects of climate change.