BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY 



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The WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY 



3 9999 05903 751 3 



The Wildlife Conservation Society ( WCS ) has pursued the dual 

 objective of better understanding and protecting wildlife and 

 wilderness resources since it was established, as the New York 

 Zoological Society, in 1898. Over the past century, WCS scientists 

 have greatly expanded our knowledge of key species and ecosystems 

 through pioneering, long-term field studies; effectively promoted 

 the cause of conservation through their direct role in the 

 establishment of over 70 national parks and reserves; trained 

 innumerable conservationists and wildlife managers in developing 

 countries; helped to nurture the institutions in which the latter 

 must work; and contributed key ideas to the on-going debate over 

 tropical resource management and conservation. 



WCS has been active in Africa since the 1920s and began working in 

 African rain forests in 1959. Over the past twenty years, its 

 collective experience in more than twenty African countries has 

 established WCS as a primary source of scientific and conservation 

 expertise in both spectacular savannas and the critically important 

 rain forest biome. 



WCS ' s current program in Africa is characterized by broad 

 geographical and ecological coverage across most of the sub-saharan 

 region. Its projects extend from the coastal mangroves of West 

 Africa to Kenya's coral reefs; from the Ethiopian highlands to the 

 Jeserts of Namibia. In between, WCS field staff have accumulated 

 unmatched expertise in the rich and varied forests of the 

 continental interior: Uganda, Rwanda, Zaire, Gabon, Equatorial 

 Guinea, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, 

 Congo and Nigeria; and in the mammal-rich grasslands of east and 

 southern Africa: Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe. 



Backing up the field program, WCS ' s New York staff have extensive 

 experience in African forest ecology and conservation, and played 

 a key role in elaborating USAID's focus on the Afromontane forest 

 zone as a priority area for biodiversity conservation. They have 

 also designed and administered numerous projects integrating 

 conservation and development interests in cooperation with USAID 

 and other international agencies over the past several years. 



