{"id":1680,"date":"2022-03-29T16:42:13","date_gmt":"2022-03-29T15:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lekedi-biodiversite.org\/the-lekedi-biodiversity-foundation\/histoire\/"},"modified":"2025-12-22T12:00:27","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T11:00:27","slug":"history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/lekedi-biodiversite.org\/en\/the-lekedi-biodiversity-foundation\/history\/","title":{"rendered":"History"},"content":{"rendered":"

The L\u00e9k\u00e9di Biodiversity Foundation and its Park are located near the town of Bakoumba, a small town in the Haut-Ogoou\u00e9 province, in the southeast of the Republic of Gabon.<\/p>\n

Bakoumba and the L\u00e9k\u00e9di Park share a long common history, marked by a transition of local activities from manganese transportation to environmental and tourism-related activities.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

\"\"Before the L\u00e9k\u00e9di Park, an industrial cable!<\/h2>\n

Since the 1960s, the Compagnie Mini\u00e8re de l\u2019Ogoou\u00e9<\/a> (COMILOG) has been operating the manganese mine in Bangomb\u00e9, located in Moanda.<\/p>\n

Until November 1991, the ore was transported from Moanda to Congo via a 76 km monocable aerial tramway<\/strong>, the longest in the world. It passed through a dense forest to reach M\u2019binda, its arrival point in Congo, before being transported by rail to the port of Pointe-Noire and transferred onto bulk carriers delivering the manganese to clients across the globe.<\/p>\n

Bakoumba is located halfway between Moanda and M\u2019binda. This small town of 2,500 inhabitants hosted a COMILOG community. Its personnel were responsible for maintaining the aerial tramway. Bakoumba\u2019s intermediate position allowed maintenance teams to quickly intervene in the northern or southern sectors.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

The Birth of the Park<\/h2>\n

In 1986, the commissioning of the Transgabonais<\/strong> railway provided Comilog with direct access to the sea via Owendo, making it unnecessary to transport ore to Pointe-Noire. Since the cableway was no longer needed, the economic and social activity ensured by Comilog’s presence could disappear.<\/p>\n

Aware of the dilemma posed by the cessation of its activities in Bakoumba, Comilog undertook to propose a reconversion of part of the existing workforce and facilities by creating a wildlife park, one of whose purposes was livestock farming and fish farming. This was a way to maintain local activity, ensure the sustainability of the social fabric, and promote methods aimed at improving the area’s food self-sufficiency.<\/p>\n

This is how the L\u00e9k\u00e9di Park<\/a> was born, covering 14,000 hectares today, built thanks to Eramet Comilog funds.<\/p>\n

In 2021, the L\u00e9k\u00e9di Biodiversity Foundation was created to structure and sustain the long-standing actions in favor of scientific research and biodiversity conservation. The L\u00e9k\u00e9di Biodiversity Foundation’s mission is to support research and innovation programs, strengthen biodiversity conservation, and promote awareness and training. It relies on a network of academic, institutional, and associative partners while developing its own initiatives.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":1656,"menu_order":4,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1680","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nHistory - Fondation L\u00e9k\u00e9di Biodiversit\u00e9<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Located in Bakoumba, Gabon, the L\u00e9k\u00e9di Biodiversity Foundation was born from the conversion of a former Comilog industrial site into a park.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/lekedi-biodiversite.org\/en\/the-lekedi-biodiversity-foundation\/history\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"History - 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