A Map for Conservation Success

From many angles, the Congo Heartland appears like an endless dense tropical forest. But, an aerial view reveals a different picture. Thanks to mapping technology from NASA, the University of Maryland and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), AWF can monitor changes to the landscape and gain a greater understanding of the human impact on this forest zone that is home to a wealth of African wildlife, including the endangered bonobo.

The dense Congo forest zone is home to thousands of wildlife species, including forest elephants and the bonobo, a great ape that shares 98.4% of human genetic code. Historically, the rich soils of the river banks have provided fertile ground for crops including coffee, rubber, and palm oil. And, the rivers host more than 400 species of fish.

Years of civil war wreaked havoc on this landscape. Crop fields were abandoned. Farmers fled deeper into the forest in search of food, causing much destruction in their path. Bonobos and other wildlife were killed to provide a much-needed meal. And, trees were cut down, making the forest more penetrable, leaving the wildlife more vulnerable to human impact.

AWF, South Dakota State University, the University of Maryland, and other partner organizations under the framework of USAID’s Central African Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE) compiled data and produced the first of a series of poster maps that graphically depicted a decade of change in the landscapes of the Congo Basin.

The first map – a map of AWF’s Congo Heartland – used Geographic Information System (GIS) technology and satellite images to show what forest areas have been disturbed since the 1990s due in part to road networks that facilitate access to new areas for logging, slash-and-burn agriculture, and hunting camps.

Combined with field surveys, observations, and analyses, such maps contribute to a better understanding of spatial distribution of human activities and their related impacts on forests and wildlife habitat. Conservationists use this information to better target scarce resources on appropriate initiatives.

With the production of these maps, conservation organizations and researchers, including AWF, gain a much clearer picture of the landscapes they are working to protect. These maps help identify key threats to conservation measures and, therefore, lead to the generation of effective and sustainable development plans that will both improve the lives of people, and protect the wildlife.