Gabon has hosted a US delegation on a field visit to an iboga plantation near Libreville, highlighting the country’s efforts to balance cultural heritage, environmental conservation, and potential economic partnerships around one of its most emblematic natural resources.
Gabon is seeking to position itself as a key custodian of iboga, a plant of profound cultural, spiritual, and growing international interest. In this context, the Minister of Water and Forests, Environment and Climate, in charge of Human–Wildlife Conflict, Maurice Ntossui Allogo, led an American delegation on a field visit to an iboga plantation in Bikelé, on the outskirts of Libreville.
The visit reflects Gabon’s broader strategy to promote sustainable natural resource management while engaging international partners in sectors that combine biodiversity protection, traditional knowledge, and regulated economic development.
Inside the Bikelé Iboga Plantation
The site visited covers three hectares and is organised into distinct cultivation zones dedicated to different iboga varieties. According to officials, the plantation includes:
- One hectare of Iboga Mebang, a variety widely used in traditional initiation ceremonies such as Bwiti, Ombouiri, Bilombo, and Dissumba
- One hectare of Iboga Mevoe, a notably bitter variety primarily used during ceremonial vigils
- Additional cultivated space designed to support experimental and conservation-oriented planting
The structured layout aims to demonstrate how iboga, traditionally harvested from the wild, can be cultivated under controlled conditions to reduce pressure on natural forests.
Preservation, Knowledge Protection, and Sustainability
For Gabonese authorities, the visit was an opportunity to highlight both the development potential of iboga and the risks associated with overexploitation and biopiracy. The plant, which is endemic to Central Africa and deeply embedded in Gabonese spiritual practices, has attracted growing international attention for its psychoactive properties and potential therapeutic applications.
Officials stressed that any future commercial or scientific use must be framed by:
- Environmental sustainability, to prevent depletion of wild iboga stocks
- Protection of ancestral knowledge, traditionally held by initiatory communities
- Equitable benefit-sharing, in line with international biodiversity and access-and-benefit frameworks
The delegation’s immersion in the field was intended to provide a concrete understanding of the realities of iboga cultivation, rather than an abstract policy discussion.
International Partnerships and Strategic Positioning
The presence of a US delegation signals Gabon’s interest in developing structured international partnerships around iboga, while retaining sovereign control over the resource. Rather than unregulated export or extraction, Libreville has increasingly emphasised the need for formal agreements that respect cultural heritage and deliver tangible local benefits.
This approach is consistent with Gabon’s wider environmental diplomacy, which has positioned the country as a leader in forest conservation, climate action, and sustainable use of biodiversity in Central Africa.
The Bikelé plantation visit underscores Gabon’s intention to move from informal, extractive practices towards a regulated, sustainable model for managing iboga—one that integrates conservation, cultural respect, and economic opportunity. For international partners, the message is clear: access to Gabon’s unique natural resources must be accompanied by long-term commitments to sustainability and equity.
As global interest in ethnobotanical resources continues to grow, Gabon appears determined to shape the rules of engagement, positioning itself not merely as a source of raw materials, but as a steward of knowledge, biodiversity, and cultural heritage.
