The Forest Collective

02/23/2026

Meet The Forest Collective (Programme Communautaire Sapeli)🌳

Catherine lives in Mossapoula village, in the Dzanga-Sangha Protected Areas of the Central African Republic, deep in the Congo Basin. Her community selected her to be one of 30 Community Relays employed by Programme Communautaire Sapeli. These Community Relays install and monitor arboreal camera traps to monitor white-bellied and black-bellied pangolins in one of the world's most biodiverse tropical rainforests.
The project is establishing the first population baseline for these elusive pangolins in the Congo landscape using an innovative approach that links incentives with science. Wildlife detections convert directly into community benefits, deliberately valued higher than poaching returns. Pangolin protection no longer competes with community prosperity. The two now advance together.

Read more of Catherine's story in our World Pangolin Day report: https://hubs.ly/Q04445W-0

02/21/2026

For all the pangolin fans out there, happy 2026. Here is a black-belled pangolin on a camera trap around 15m (49ft) up in the tree canopy. Really showing off her balance!

This arboreal camera trap was placed by one of 10 village teams we employ in the Dzanga Sangha Protected Areas (Central African Republic) as part of an incentive-based Community Camera Trapping program made possible by the Pangolin Crisis Fund.

02/20/2026

We’re incredibly grateful to the Pangolin Crisis Fund for choosing to highlight our work ahead of World Pangolin Day, alongside other inspiring community-led projects in India and Kenya. 🐜🐜

Their continued support makes it possible for us to partner with communities in Dzanga Sangha to protect three species of Afrotropical pangolins while strengthening local livelihoods.

Protecting pangolins starts with protecting the ecosystems people depend on, and long-term conservation begins by centering communities as leaders, partners, and decision-makers.

Thank you for standing with us, and for championing community partnership as the beating heart of conservation. We’re proud to be part of this global network working to secure a future for pangolins and the forests they call home. ✨

02/03/2025

Today we are celebrating PSG member Tessa Ullmann and The Forest Collective! In addition to being co-chair of our Local Communities and Cultural Engagement working group, Tessa is also co-founder and director of The Forest Collective, an NGO based in the Dzanga and Sangha protected areas in the Central African Republic.

The Forest Collective is currently partnered with a youth club program called "Amis de la Nature" (Friends of Nature), which promotes engagement in conservation among youth in local villages. Each of these village clubs has its own 'mascot' animal, including a Club Pangolin! The video below is from a member of Club Pangolin who has a message to share for World Pangolin Day.

Join us tomorrow to continue the countdown to World Pangolin Day 2025!


Video transcript: Hello everyone. My name is Mandakete Andrea. I’m in a youth club from Babongo [village]. The name of our club is Pangolin because it’s an animal that we need to protect so that they can keep existing on earth. We don’t want people to kill them. People kill them for their scales. We want to protect them for the future of our children. We ask our fathers, mothers, and families to join us and put an end to killing pangolins.

11/25/2024

VERSION FRANÇAISE

Que faut-il pour installer une caméra piège dans la canopée de la forêt tropicale ? Suivez Mezane et Jules, deux de nos relais communautaires, alors qu'ils réalisent une mission dans les Aires Protégées de Dzanga Sangha (APDS), en République Centrafricaine.

Inspirés par Lion Landscapes, nous avons récemment lancé un programme de recherche participatif avec les communautés des APDS, ou les membres des communautés locales et du peuple Autochtone Bayaka installent des cameras pièges pour étudier la faune arboricole dans la forêt entourant leurs villages. Il s'agit notamment d'espèces menacées comme les , les singes et les genettes dont la présence et l'écologie sont mal connues. Chaque vidéo de la faune rapporte des points qui se transforment en bénéfices, choisis par les communautés elles-mêmes. À ce jour, les points ont été utilisés pour réparer les forages des villages, construire de pharmacies communautaires et acheter des uniformes pour les équipes de football.

Grâce à cette approche, les communautés locales bénéficient directement de la présence d'animaux sauvages dans leurs forêts. La réaction a été fantastique, les gens offrant même maintenant des conseils à leurs relais communautaires respectifs sur les meilleurs endroits pour placer les caméras ! Nous espérons continuer à faire évoluer les perspectives des populations locales pour qu'elles perçoivent la valeur de la faune, au-delà de la chasse et de la consommation.

Merci à nos bailleurs, Pangolin Crisis Fund et Sacharuna Foundation. Et merci à Browning Trail Cameras !

Si vous souhaitez soutenir Sapeli - notre programme local en République Centrafricaine - ou simplement en savoir plus sur notre travail, veuillez consulter le site theforestcollective.org/sapeli.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sm1ZXaLNIvw

Que faut-il pour installer une caméra piège dans la canopée de la forêt tropicale ? Suivez Mezane et Jules, deux de nos relais communautaires, alors qu'ils r...

11/21/2024

What does it take to set a camera trap high in the rainforest canopy? Follow along with Mezane and Jules, two of our Community Camera Trappers, as they complete a mission in the Dzanga Sangha Protected Areas of the Central African Republic.

Inspired by Lion Landscapes, we recently launched our Community Camera Trapping program where local and Indigenous community members set camera traps to study arboreal wildlife in the forest surrounding their villages, including threatened species of , monkeys, and genets. Each video of wildlife generates points that turn into benefits, chosen by the communities themselves. To date, points have been used to repair village wells, build small pharmacies, and purchase uniforms for football/soccer teams.

Through this approach, local communities benefit directly from the presence of wildlife in their forests. The response has been fantastic, with people now even offering advice to their respective Community Camera Trappers on the best spots for setting cameras. We hope to continue shifting the perspectives of local people to see the value of wildlife, beyond hunting and consumption.

Thank you to our funders Pangolin Crisis Fund and Sacharuna Foundation for making this possible. And thank you to Browning Trail Cameras.

If you would like to support Sapeli - our local program in the Central African Republic - or simply learn more about our work, please visit theforestcollective.org/sapeli.

11/10/2024

Discover some of the wildlife that live in the rainforest canopy of the Dzanga Sangha Protected Areas - including pangolins, western lowland gorillas, curious pottos, suspicious monkeys, and a mating pair of African palm civets! We've put together the best footage from our Community Camera Trapping program in the Central African Republic - a participatory research program where local and Indigenous community members set camera traps in trees (at 10-15 m / 30-40 ft) to study the species that call the canopy home. Each video generates points that turn into benefits chosen by the village communities themselves, enabling local people to benefit directly from conservation activities and to see the value of living with wildlife. You can find out more about this innovative program here: https://www.theforestcollective.org/sapeli
Pangolin Crisis Fund
Browning Trail Cameras

05/01/2024

A new paper is out in conservation letters that highlights the importance of red colobus as indicators of tropical forest heath and their role as flagship species for
Conservation. Click the link to find the paper!

https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/conl.13014

03/13/2024

02/17/2024

Want to help Pangolins?

https://www.etsy.com/shop/ForestCollectiveShop

🌿🎨 Happy ! 🎨🌿 Let's paint a brighter future for pangolins together!

🖌️🐾 Our "Prints for Pangolins" drive is here to raise awareness and support conservation efforts in Central Africa.

🌍 With every print sold, you're not just acquiring beautiful artwork but also contributing to the vital work of Programme Communautaire Sapeli, protecting these unique creatures and their habitats. 📸

At The Forest Collective, we believe in communicating conservation through art. For World Pangolin Day, we are selling prints of some incredible artwork created by our collaborators in our “Prints for Pangolins” drive.

Each print sold during “Prints for Pangolins” will help to support the work of Programme Communautaire Sapeli (75%) as well as the creator of the work (25%). Sapeli is working with local communities in the Central African Republic on a camera-trapping program to find pangolins and other endangered animals!
Etsy link in Bio, or search Forestcollectiveshop

Joshua LinderCarolyn Jost Robinson Alli Nicole Hofner

02/17/2024

✨ Happy World Pangolin Day! ✨

Celebrate these unique scaly mammals with our special section on conservation, including the November editorial by IUCN Pangolin Specialist Group members, plus recent articles covering pangolin conservation in Kenya, Uganda, Cameroon & Nepal:

www.cambridge.org/core/journals/oryx/special-sections/pangolin-conservation

02/17/2024