Nki National Park

Nki National Park
IUCN category II (national park)
Location in Cameroon
Location	Cameroon
Coordinates	2°25′0″N 14°25′0″E / 2.41667°N 14.41667°E / 2.41667; 14.41667Coordinates: 2°25′0″N 14°25′0″E / 2.41667°N 14.41667°E / 2.41667; 14.41667
Area	3,093 km2 (1,194 sq mi)
Established	17 October 2005
Governing body	World Wildlife Fund

Nki National Park is a national park in southeastern Cameroon, located in its East Province. The closest towns to Nki are Yokadouma, Moloundou and Lomie, beyond which are rural lands. Due to its remoteness, Nki has been described as "the last true wilderness." It has a large and varied ecosystem, and it is home to over 265 species of birds, and the forests of Cameroon contain some of the highest population density of forest elephants of any nation with an elephant density of roughly 2.5 per square kilometer for Nki and neighboring Boumba Bek National Park combined. These animals are victims of poaching, which has been a major problem since an economic depression in the 1980s. The indigenous people follow in the footsteps of the poachers, attracted by the financial opportunities. The removal of logging industries from the park, on the other hand, has been a success; it is no longer considered a major threat to Nki's wilderness.

The World Wildlife Fund has been in the process of conserving the park since the 1980s, including ridding the area of the logging business. This movement, however, has been met with some criticism, especially by members of the remote village of Ndongo, Cameroon. Before WWF arrived, Ndongo was a bustling logging town of 300 residents with fairly good roads and plentiful working opportunities. Once the organization established itself, it pressured the logging companies to operate in a more environmentally friendly manner. The logging companies pulled out of the town in 1988, leaving broken machinery and severely damaging Ndongo's economy. According to Leonard Usongo, manager of WWF projects in southeast Cameroon, "we cannot convince a community of the need to protect forests if we don’t acknowledge their problems or their poverty."

Today, logging is no longer a major problem, as "it would require a lot of investment to develop necessary infrastructure, such as roads, for [its] operations, especially in the southern portion of Nki." According to the WWF's scientific advisor in the region, Paul Robinson Ngnegueu, "poaching is the biggest threat to ... Nki." It is a result of the late 1980s economic depression in Cameroon. The indigenous people followed the poachers, attracted by the financial opportunities. They would sell their product through "intermediaries" for money and more hunting supplies.