The Sangha River Network

The Network - About SRN (English)

The Sangha River Network (SRN) is a professional organization for collaboration among natural, social, and policy scientists from academic and conservation institutions in Africa, Europe, and the United States. The SRN, based both at Yale University and at the ORSTOM-IRD forest studies program at University of Orléans in France, seeks to redefine otherwise distinct communities of information circulation, catalyzing dialogue among actors who would otherwise not engage one another directly. Such discussion may then shape strategies for information management, and for evaluation of policy and practice regarding the Sangha River watershed where the borders of Cameroon, Central African Republic and Congo (Brazzaville) meet. Through the edited volume, "Resource Use in the Trinational Sangha River Region of Equatorial Africa: Histories, Knowledge Forms, and Institutions" (Eves, Hardin and Rupp, 1998, Yale F&ES Bulletin Series, Number 102), a bilingual website, and a fundraising effort to support scholarly exchange and field research, the SRN works to:

• Make natural and social science research readily accessible to policy makers, environmental managers and industry, coordinating scientific information for use in a transboundary conservation initiative that involves multiple countries and international entities;
• Translate scientific and technical information into different languages for use by both French and English speaking actors and institutions;
• Utilize a trinational conservation zone as a set of connected field sites for capacity-building and communication among international researchers;
• Describe and analyze the relevance of the complex concept "region" for the study and management of tropical forest ecosystems in equatorial Africa, developing innovative theoretical and methodological approaches.

Long-term network goals include a permanent collection of maps, primary sources, technical reports, and scholarly publications about the Sangha region; a program of interdisciplinary study for natural, social, and policy science scholars (emphasizing opportunities for Africans); and a model for community- and capacity-building among international, national, and local researchers.

Material and institutional support for this network has been secured through the Regional Council of Central France, the Washington D.C.-based Central African Regional Program for the Environment, and Yale University. The SRN’s incorporation at Yale into the Center for International and Area Studies "Rethinking Environment and Development" group of the Ford Foundation initiative for revitalizing area studies has provided a framework for elaboration of linkages to these other Yale-affiliated research institutes in (or working on) French-speaking Africa:

• Center for Development of Social Science Research in Africa, Senegal

• Center for Local Knowledge, Mali

• Institute for Mathematics and Physical Sciences, Benin

• Institute for Development Studies, Sussex, Great Britain

About SRN (Francais) • Strategic Plan  • Plan Stratégique 
Yale Faculty Advisory Committee • SRN Directors and Student Coordinators • Academics, Research and Development
International Steering Committee • SRN Contact and Information List • Partners • Institutions and Initiatives

Network • News • Conferences/Workshops • Resources • Contact Information

Sangha River Network • Yale University • Council on African Studies
Luce Hall •  34 Hillhouse Avenue
P.O. Box 208206 • New Haven, CT 06520-8206 USA
Tel: (203) 436-4348 • Fax: (203) 432-5963 • Email: sangha@yale.edu