Community-Based Great Ape Habitat Restoration in Congo

A key environmental policy objective of the Congolese government is the expansion of protected areas to cover 17% of the national territory by 2020 (up from 11%). This objective is impended by the government's reliance on the... [ view full abstract ]

A key environmental policy objective of the Congolese government is the expansion of protected areas to cover 17% of the national territory by 2020 (up from 11%). This objective is impended by the government's reliance on the sole traditional protected area management models, which have historically resulted in conflicts between protected areas managers, surrounding local communities and indigenous peoples in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The passage of the "Community Forestry Law" in August 2014 by the Congolese government provides these local populations with the right of governance and management of their traditional lands for conservation goals. Strong Roots (a conservation and sustainable development organization) is working with seven communities to restore great ape habitat by developing an ecological corridor to link the Kahuzi-Biega National Park and the Itombwe Nature Reserve in eastern DRC. This landscape restoration project focuses on bolstering great ape habitat connectivity, improving livelihoods, and implementing climate change resilience and adaptation strategies. The project is bringing an area of 3,000 sq Km of forest strikethrough to preserve habitat and conserve the endemic and critically endangered Grauer's gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri), which has dramatically declined from an estimated 17,000 individuals to less than 4,000 animals, in the last 20 years in DRC. Key activities involve participatory mapping (and habitat connectivity), forest governance, crop production, food security, environmental education, health settings, carbon measurement and assessing great ape distribution and abundance.