Western Lowland Gorilla (c) Mathias Dheling
The Sangha Tri-National Trust Fund received in December 2019, a €10 million endowment to its investment capital from The German Development Cooperation via its development bank, KFW.
Following this new endowment, the Trust Fund saw its previous capital of €51 million increase to €62 million at the beginning of 2020 (a 21% increase in its current fundraising goal). A very good news for the Sangha Tri-national (TNS), which faces growing conservation issues, threatening the existence of its flagship species (Elephants, Bongos, chimpanzees, pangolins, etc.).
The funds received have been reinvested in the international financial markets with the assistance of an internationally renowned portfolio manager and investment advisor. The expected annual income is around 4% of the capital, of which 3% is used to finance the operating needs of the three TNS parks and cross-border co-operation activities.
FTNS’s annual financial support is approximately €3 million (more than €2.9 billion in 2019) and comes from endowment and depreciation funds. These represent only about half of the overall budgets of the three parks, which are facing several growing threats such as poaching, gradual demographic pressure, the need to develop tourism infrastructure, etc.
FTNS’s objective is to increase its capital to €100m in order to generate annual revenues that can cover the bulk of the operating needs of the three parks, resources that are essential for the protection of the TNS, one of the priority ecoregions in the Congo Basin.