Exploring the Green Heart of Africa
The Green Heart of Africa initiative
A vision for sustainable and transformative research for biodiversity, climate and people in the Congo Basin.
Biodiversity Insights
Unveiling the rich tapestry of life in Central Africa’s ecosystems.
Climate Impact Studies
Assessing the effects of climate change on regional biodiversity and habitats.
Sustainable Solutions
Developing strategies for conservation and sustainable resource management.
Our Mission and Vision
The Green Heart of Africa (GHoA) initiative aims to advance biodiversity conservation and sustainable development in central Africa through establishing collaborative research and training partnerships, strengthening local scientific capacity, and generating solutions that balance human and environmental needs. A central component of this initiative is the establishment of an integrated GHoA Biodiversity School and a harmonized monitoring network across the Congo Basin, which will provide vital biodiversity data through traditional monitoring methodologies as well as innovative semi-automated monitoring hubs.
GHoA is a genuine Afro-European initiative that operates according to the philosophy of the EU Team Europe approach and is geared toward addressing key Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for sub-Saharan Africa, particularly the Congo Basin, and Europe.
Meet Our International GHoA Team
PD Dr. Raffael Ernst
Head of Herpetology
Senckenberg – Leibniz Institution for Biodiversity and Earth System Research, Dresden, Germany
Dr. Maarten Van Steenberge
Head of Ichthyology
Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Belgium
François Ngera Mwangi
Centre de recherche en sciences naturelles Lwiro, Democratic Republic of Congo
Prof. Dr. Crispin Gembu
Centre de Surveillance de la Biodiversité (CSB) at Université de Kisangani, Democratic Republic of Congo
Dr. Melita Vamberger
Head of Ecological Genetics
Senckenberg – Leibniz Institution for Biodiversity and Earth System Research, Dresden, Germany
Koko Bisimwa
Frankfurt Zoological Society PNL, Kindu, Democratic Republic of Congo
Dr. habil. Thea Lautenschläger
Scientific Director of Loki-Schmidt-Garten - Botanical Garten, University Hamburg, Germany
Dr. Filip Vandelook
Director of Science at Meise Botanic Garden, Belgium
Dr. Klaas-Douwe B. Dijkstra
Dutch entomologist Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, Netherlands
Yorick van Hoef
Head of Research and Biomonitoring at Conkouati-Douli National Park, Republic of Congo
Dr. Michael Thiel
Managing director Institute of Geography and Geology, Earth Observation Research Cluster, University of Würzburg, Germany
Dr. Insa Otte
Earth Observation Research Cluster, University of Würzburg, Germany
Prof. Dr. Hjalmar S. Kühl
Head of Zoology
Senckenberg – Leibniz Institution for Biodiversity and Earth System Research, Görlitz, Germany
Dr. Marie Claire Veranso-Libalah
Head of Phanerogams, Senckenberg – Leibniz Institution for Biodiversity and Earth System Research, Frankfurt, Germany
Dr. Grace Jopaul Loubota Panzou
Université Denis Sassou-N'Guesso, Brazzaville, Republic of Congo
Benjamin Ncangu
Lecturer-Researcher, Biodiversity and Sustainable Forest Management, Université Officielle de Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo
Dr. Viola Clausnitzer
Chair of the IUCN Dragonfly Specialist Group Senckenberg – Leibniz Institution for Biodiversity and Earth System Research, Görlitz, Germany
Dr. Antoine Fouquet
Centre de Recherche sur la Biodiversité et l'Environnement, Université de Toulouse, France
Prof. Dr. Jörg Müller
Head of field station Fabrikschleichach, Chair of Conservation Biology and Forest Ecology, University of Würzburg, Germany
Innovative Research Techniques
Key Features of Our Project
GHoA Biodiversity Research School
Training the next generation of Congo Basin Biodiversity Researchers.
Biodiversity Assessment
Comprehensive surveys of flora and fauna to understand ecosystem dynamics.
Community Engagement
Collaborating with local communities to integrate traditional knowledge into scientific research.
Remote Sensing Technology
Utilizing satellite imagery to monitor ecological changes and biodiversity in Central Africa.
Climate Impact Analysis
Studying the effects of climate change on regional ecosystems and wildlife.
Data-Driven Insights
Employing advanced data analytics to interpret environmental data for actionable insights.
Sustainable Practices
Promoting sustainable land use and conservation strategies to protect natural resources.
News
An inspiring meeting organized by CEBioS at which we had the opportunity to present the vision behind the ‘The Green Heart of Africa’ initiative.
A full day of exchanges at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, bringing together key stakeholders involved in biodiversity management and conservation in Yangambi (DRC).
Are we losing the Green Gem?
GHoA researchers call for urgent protection of a unique Angolan Forest ecosystem
The Serra do Pingano Forest Ecosystem (SPFE) of northern Angola represents a critical centre of endemism where Central, Southern, and Eastern African biotas converge. Despite its high conservation value as the country’s last substantial rainforest south of the Congo River, the SPFE is undergoing severe deforestation—losing over 40% of its forest cover in two decades due to agricultural expansion, logging, and artisanal mining. Since its initial proposal for protection in 2010, extensive biodiversity data and a national park recommendation have been developed but remain largely unimplemented. As deforestation intensifies, urgent conservation measures are required to integrate the SPFE into Angola’s protected area network and secure this biogeographically unique ecosystem for future ecological and socio-economic resilience.
A bird’s-eye view on the Serra do Pingano Forest Ecosystem
GHoA on mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo
December, 2024
A team led by Senckenberg researcher Raffael Ernst has successfully concluded a trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo for the “Green Heart of Africa” initiative. 🌱🌍 The project aims to advance biodiversity conservation and sustainable development in central Africa through establishing collaborative research partnerships, strengthening local scientific capacity, and generating solutions that balance human and environmental needs in the Congo Basin.
After a number of very productive and fruitful consultations with partners and stakeholders in Kinshasa and Kindu, the team set out to conduct a first multitaxon freshwater survey in the southern part of the Lomami National Park. With no roads that would allow access by car the researchers were assisted by a hardy group of motorcyclists who managed to get equipment, staff and various life chickens safely to the starting point in the small village of Katopa. 💪 From there, the team set off on foot south towards Lakunda on the southern edge of the park, which meant slogging through the riverine forest with machetes and navigating with compass and GPS.
During the eight-day journey through a very peculiar, seasonally flooded and partially waterlogged forest-savannah mosaic, characterized by poor sandy soils and acidic blackwater systems, the team managed to make an initial inventory of previously unrepresented freshwater taxa including fish, amphibians, and reptiles. 🐍 They also found several species reported for the first time in the DRC and also identified several taxa that may be scientifically undescribed.
After returning from the field, the team held a workshop to discuss the “Green Heart of Africa” initiative, first results and regional involvement with university representatives, local institutes, indigenous representatives, and ecogards.
The “Green Heart of Africa” project and its partners can look back on a very successful and stimulating four weeks in the DRC and look forward to taking the initiative forward. A central component of the initiative is the establishment of an integrated “Green Heart of Africa” Biodiversity School and a harmonized monitoring network across the Congo Basin, which will provide vital biodiversity data through traditional monitoring methodologies as well as innovative semi-automated monitoring hubs. The next steps have already been initiated! 🙌
👉 Discover it here
Zoologische Gesellschaft Frankfurt von 1858 e.V.
Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences
Naturalis Biodiversity Center Nederland
Botanischer Garden Meise
Senckenberg joins Dresden Delegation to Brazzaville
October, 2025
Exchange with local partners
A meeting with the Minister of the Environment of the Republic of Congo is also on the agenda – among other things to support ongoing research work by the Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung and the climate partnership between Dresden and Brazzaville.
CEBioS newsletter – featuring the "Green Heart of Africa" initiative
⬇️ Check out the new CEBioS newsletter – featuring the “Green Heart of Africa” initiative, in which Senckenberg together with African and European partners is developing a European-African network for biodiversity monitoring in the Congo Basin. 🌍🌱
GHoA Team meets in the Republic of Congo
April, 2025
The “Green Heart of Africa” research initiative recently visited the Conkouati Douli Nationalpark in the Republic of Congo. Senckenberg and partners seek to establish collaborative research partnerships, strengthening local scientific capacity, and generating solutions that balance human and environmental needs in “The Green Heart of Africa”, the Congo Basin. 🌱🌍
The team, led by Senckenberg researchers Raffael Ernst and Melita Vamberger, met with the director of the Conkouati-Douli National Park, Antoine Paghera-Messager, and senior staff including the head of the conservation department, Yorick Van Hoef. The team was accompanied by Torsten Bohm, the Germany-based Head of Science and Endangered Species Conservation at Noé. Options and perspectives for future cooperation and institutional partnerships were discussed.
Conkouati-Douli National Park: where the African rainforest meets the Atlantic Ocean (🔗https://lnkd.in/euqPAeue). The park features an extraordinary diversity of habitats and biomes from an extensive mangrove belt and brackish water lagoons that are home to the African Manatee, to savannahs and rainforests roamed by chimpanzees, forest elephants and gorillas, to the largely unexplored Mayombe forest in the north. 🦍
🥰 Senckenberg seed grant and British Chelonia Group, thank you for your support.
Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences Naturalis Biodiversity Center Nederland Botanischer Garden Meise Noé Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg Hashtagconkouatidouli
Sending our first MSc Student to Conkouati-Douli National Park
May, 2025
OMB / TU Dresden Master’s student Abraham Bettens Capo has now started fieldwork for his Master’s thesis in the Conkouati-Douli National Park. The project is part of the Green Heart of Africa Initiative and receives support from the British Chelonian Group. Over the next three months, Abraham will be conducting research in the park together with his field assistant and local counterpart Divine Merlia Talani (École Nationale Supérieure d’Agronomie et de Foresterie/ Université Marien NGOUABI), the Park’s ecomonitors and his local supervisor Yorick Van Hoef.
👉 Discover it here
Senckenberg Nature Research, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Naturalis Biodiversity Center Nederland, Botanischer Garden Meise, Noé, Julius-Maximilians-Universität-Würzburg, Hashtagconkouatidouli
GHoA Team meets in the Democratic Republic of Congo
November 2024
A team from the “Green Heart of Africa” research initiative is currently visiting the Democratic Republic of Congo. Together with local partners, Senckenberg and other institutions are establishing a network aimed at gaining a deeper understanding of Africa’s “green heart” through collaborative research efforts. The goal is for the biodiversity, climate, and people of the Congo Basin – and beyond – to benefit in the long term from sustainable and transformative research. 🌱
In recent weeks, the team led by Senckenberg researcher Raffael Ernst has already met with the Country Director of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ), Martijn ter Heegde, and the German Ambassador, Ingo Herbert. At the headquarters of Lomami National Park in Kindu, the “Green Heart of Africa” team also met with Congolese conservation pioneer Radar Nishuli, the Provincial Director of the Institut Congolais de la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN), the head of the National Park, and partners from the University of Kisangani and the Zoologische Gesellschaft Frankfurt von 1858 e.V., among others.
Lomami National Park is not only a connecting corridor between the vast rainforests of the north and the savannas of the south; it also connects academic institutions between the northern and southern provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Additionally, there were fruitful discussions with the Rector of the University of Kindu (UNIKI), Déogratias Kimenya, as well as an inspiring meeting with Terese and John Hart—pioneers in research and conservation in the Congo Basin and a source of inspiration for the entire “Green Heart of Africa” team! 🙌
What Experts Say
“This project is pivotal in understanding the ecological shifts in Central Africa.”
“The integration of local knowledge with scientific research is groundbreaking.”
“A vital initiative for sustainable development and conservation efforts.”
Join Our Mission for a Greener Future
Be a part of groundbreaking research in Central Africa. Collaborate with us, support our initiatives, or stay updated with our latest findings. Together, we can make a significant impact on the environment. Join the Green Heart of Africa project today!