During a workshop in Monkoto and accompanied by two ICCN evaluators and facilitators, the Park team completed the IMET 2018 evaluation of the management of the Salonga National Park. The final report was delivered in January 2019. The results for the 2018 evaluation are positive: Overall the management efficiency index has risen from 40.9% in 2016, to 56% in 2017 to 61% in 2018. Significant progress has been recorded on procedures and planning. Also the more results were achieved.

The Integrated Management Effectiveness Tool (IMET) is widely used in protected areas in Africa and elsewhere in the world. IMET assesses decision-making for in protected areas and supports continous improvements. It helps to measure the evolution of different aspects of protected area management over time. Used since 2016 in Salonga National Park, it allows to understand the effects of the co-management and the level of achievement of conservation activities. The evaluators’ recommendations are taken into account in 2019 by the park management to further improve efficiency. The recommendations include:

• continue and further strengthen the exchange between park management and and stakeholders to reduce constraints arising from the political environment;
• continue the implementation of the surveillance strategy to mitigate threats;
• continue with efforts to create an ecological continuum in the corridor between the Northern and the Southern block of the park in order to garantee ecological connectivity and gene flow between the two blocks.