OELO — Community Conservation of Gabon's Bas Ogooué Wetlands

OELO was founded in 2010 by residents of the Lake Oguemoué community in Gabon's Bas Ogooué, a 1,370,000-hectare Ramsar wetland of flooded forest, savanna and lakes that shelters forest elephants, gorillas, manatees and slender-snouted crocodiles. The NGO's Tsam Tsam ecotourism site funds a fisheries management plan with no-take zones that has brought back large migratory fish, a bushmeat-market monitoring and awareness programme, and environmental education reaching schools across the region. As a Tusk Trust conservation partner since 2022, OELO now helps manage around 50,000 hectares of community habitat, employs 16 local residents directly, and its programmes benefit roughly 1,000 people in surrounding lake communities.