The Conkouati-Douli National Park is a UNESCO recognised coastal national park in the Republic of the Congo. Created by Presidential Decree No. 99-136 on 14 August 1999, it covers an area of 504,950 ha and is located in the Kouilou Department, straddling the districts of Nzambi-Madingo and Kayes in the extreme northwest of the department. It is located near the villages of Cotovindou and Louléma along the border between Congo and Gabon, at the point of intersection with the National Route 5. Conkouati-Douli National Park has is managed by the Ministry of forest Economy and Durable Development (MEFDD) in partnership with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). The responsibilities of both partners are outline in an agreement protocol. In 2014, the park coordination is assured by a conservator/ coordinatior of MEFDD and a Principal Technical Advisor of WCS. They are assisted by an assictant conservator (MEFDD) and an administrator/ accountant (WCS). The park counts 70 permanent employees of whom 95% are recruited locally. During the annual marine turtle nesting season between October and March every year, another 30 people are recruited locally to monitor the beaches. Activities include community outreach, biological research and tourism development. The park surveillance team counts 36 guards in early 2014. The park is divided into three zones: An integrally protected zone that is only legally accessible for park staff, guided paying tourists and researchers with valid permits; an ecodevelopment zone with all legal human habitations in which resident people are allowed to use natural resources for subsitence and in a sustainable way and in which industrial exploitation is allowed with the agreement of the appropriate government institutions; the 5 km bufferzone around the park that in which efforts of environmental education and sensitization and socio-economic activities are done. In 2014, some 7000 people live in and around the park: 3500 people spread in 14 villages along the coastal road and 3500 people spread in 14 villages along the forest road. The coast people are essentially of Vili origin, an ethnic group of fishers and traders that settled there since the 13th century. The villages along the forest road contain a mix of over 30 different ethnical groups who came with the industrial forestry sector and settled less than 100 years ago.
