The State of Protected Areas 2020 is a publication produced as part of the Central African Forest Observatory (OFAC). It is a second edition of The State of Protected Areas in Central Africa: Challenges and Perspectives takes a close look at protected areas in COMIFAC member countries. These areas are one of the most important networks in the world for the protection of biodiversity and the fight against climate change. The book contributes to sounding the alarm about the risks and dangers that the planet is running but also deals with numerous initiatives that are essential for the harmonious development of humans in their environment. Central Africa is a land of diversity: diversity of climates, diversity of soils, diversity of landscapes, diversity of ecosystems, diversity of fauna and flora. However, these assets are experiencing increasing degradation of ecosystems due to ever greater anthropogenic pressure influenced, in particular, by population growth and demand from international markets. Natural ecosystems are subject to poaching, to the expansion of transhumant livestock, to the expansion of mining permits, industrial agriculture and family farming, to the exploitation of wood (lumber, wood energy), to land conflicts... In this constantly changing context, where international and local issues are closely intertwined, protected areas are one of the most effective management tools to curb degradation... In this constantly changing context, where international and local issues are closely intertwined, protected areas are one of the most effective management tools to curb degradation. of biodiversity but also to reduce the impact of global changes on this and promote the adaptation of ecosystems and human communities to these changes. Some countries have already understood this by developing land use plans that include national networks of protected areas sufficient to play this triple ecological, social and economic role that constitutes the tripod of sustainable development.