Prince Emmanuel de Mérode (born May 5, 1970) is the Director of Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo(DRC).

Background:

Mérode was born at Carthage, the second son of Charles Guillaume, Prince of Mérode, and of his wife Princess Hedwige de Ligne (sister of Charles-Antoine, Prince de Ligne de La Trémoïlle). His parents belong to two of Belgium's historically most ancient and influential families. Emmanuel de Mérode does not use his hereditary title in professional contexts, however he is legally a prince in Belgium's nobility, the title having been conferred upon the family in 1929.

Career:

Anthropologist, conservationist, pilot, he worked to control the bushmeat trade and protect endangered wildlife in Central and Eastern Africa. His main focus has been support for African wildlife rangers in remote and difficult national parks and reserves. His work was primarily in the parks of eastern DRC, working to sustain the national parks through the DRC's 10-year civil war. Author of fourteen scientific papers and co-editor of the book Virunga: The Survival of Africa's First National Park.

On August 1st 2008, he was appointed by Congolese Government as Director for Virunga National Park. After swearing allegiance to the Congolese flag, he became the only foreign national to exercise judicial powers in the war torn central African nation. He now lives at the park headquarters in Rumangabo, bordering the park's mountain gorilla sector. The park's 680 rangers fall under his command and much of his work is focused on protecting the park's exceptional wildlife, that include a critically important population of Mountain Gorillas, elephants, okapis and chimpanzees. His first breakthrough was to broker an agreement between the Congolese Government and Rebel Leader Laurent Nkunda to spare the Mountain Gorilla Sector of the Park from the rages of the ongoing civil war and to enable government rangers to redeploy in rebel territory.

Given the chronic absence of adequate funding for the park, he has worked on building support through the Internet, specifically through an innovative social networking website www.gorilla.cd. This has helped augment the vital funding the park receives from the European Commission. His work also includes the promotion of sustainable energy for poor households, as an alternative to forest destruction for charcoal, through the development of combustible biomass briquettes, a new industry that is projected to create 30,000 jobs in post-conflict areas of eastern DRC.

At his swearing in ceremony, Mérode remarked, "The intensity of the conflict in and around the park makes this a daunting challenge, but it is a great privilege to be working alongside such a dedicated and courageous team of rangers. I have real confidence in our ability to secure a future for the park to ensure that it makes a positive contribution to the lives of the people of North Kivu,"

Mérode married Louise Leakey in 2003, a paleontologist from Kenya. They have two daughters:

   * Seiya (born 2004)

   * Alexia (born 2006)