In the Congo Basin, Culture Is Becoming Part of the Conservation Economy

In Salapoumbé, southeastern Cameroon, a cultural festival is offering a window into a larger question facing the Congo Basin: how can conservation, tourism and economic development work alongside the communities whose knowledge and traditions have shaped the forest for generations?

The fifth edition of the Baka-Bantu Cultural Festival, FESTIBABA 2026, brought together more than 1,500 participants from Cameroon, the Central African Republic and the Republic of Congo from 30 July to 2 August, according to UNESCO.

Held under the theme “Tourism, Tradition and Community Integration for Cultural Promotion around Lobéké National Park,” the festival combined music, dance, traditional medicine, crafts, food and intergenerational exchange with discussions about conservation and sustainable tourism.

Culture around a transboundary forest

Salapoumbé sits close to Lobéké National Park, part of the Sangha Trinational landscape shared by Cameroon, the Central African Republic and the Republic of Congo. The wider forest area is internationally recognised for its biodiversity and forms part of the Congo Basin, one of the world’s most important tropical forest systems.

For communities living around the forest, however, the landscape is not only an environmental asset. It is also a cultural space containing knowledge about food, medicine, wildlife, spirituality and relationships with the natural environment.

FESTIBABA places that cultural dimension at the centre of the conversation. UNESCO said the 2026 edition supported the transmission of Baka and Bantu cultural heritage while encouraging community integration and sustainable tourism around Lobéké.

Indigenous knowledge and conservation

The connection between Indigenous knowledge and conservation is increasingly important across Africa. Protected areas can generate environmental and economic benefits, but conservation policies can also create tensions when communities are excluded from decisions or lose access to landscapes on which their livelihoods and traditions depend.

Community-centred approaches seek to address that tension by recognising local knowledge and creating economic incentives for conservation. Cultural tourism is one possible component, particularly where visitor experiences can support local guides, artisans, performers and small businesses while giving communities greater control over how their heritage is represented.

The festival itself does not resolve the complex questions surrounding conservation and community rights in the Congo Basin. It does, however, demonstrate a model in which cultural heritage is treated as an asset rather than as something separate from environmental policy.

A cross-border cultural space

The participation of communities from three countries also reflects the transboundary character of the Sangha landscape. Ecosystems and cultural communities do not necessarily follow national borders, making regional cooperation important for both conservation and cultural preservation.

That creates opportunities for tourism models that connect nature, culture and local enterprise across the region. But successful development depends on infrastructure, community participation, environmental safeguards and mechanisms that ensure economic benefits reach local populations.

UNESCO’s support for FESTIBABA forms part of wider efforts to protect intangible cultural heritage and strengthen its transmission between generations. At the 2026 festival, traditional practices were not presented simply as performances for visitors, but as living knowledge maintained within communities.

As governments and international partners look for ways to protect the Congo Basin while supporting development, that distinction matters. Forest conservation is ultimately connected to the people who live within and around these landscapes.

FESTIBABA’s significance therefore extends beyond four days of celebration in Cameroon. It points toward a broader possibility for Central Africa: conservation strategies in which cultural identity, local knowledge and community livelihoods are treated as part of the economic and environmental value of the forest itself.

Sources

• UNESCO: FESTIBABA 2026 and the transmission of Baka and Bantu cultural heritage
• UNESCO World Heritage Centre: Sangha Trinational