DRC

Following years of social turmoil and civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, people living along the banks of the Congo and Maringa Rivers had few economic opportunities. When African Wildlife Foundation began working in the Lomako landscape in 2003, the organization prioritized local livelihood improvement via sustainable agriculture production as a critical necessity for conservation.

There is greater biodiversity in Africa’s Albertine Rift region where Virunga National Park is located than in any other ecosystem in Africa. This richly diverse array of habitats is home to critical populations of the world’s last remaining mountain gorillas.

Extremely remote, Maringa-Lopori-Wamba is one of the least-developed regions in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is a vast landscape measuring 74,000 sq. km—covered in rainforest, swamps, and rivers—with no roads and where the population faces extreme poverty. Spreading the message of conservation is not easy.

The local communities of the Maringa-Lopori-Wamba (MLW) landscape in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) largely depend on the forest for their survival including agriculture, cultural value, and other non-timber forest products. However, the rights of these forest-dependent people to use the resources remain limited with little access to the exploitation of the forest, often hampered by complex regulations, thereby limiting the ability to benefit from the forestry operations.

The animal world has been my passion since childhood. Conservation of nature, specifically the protection of species, has since become my career. For five years, I worked in the Lomako–Yokokala Faunal Reserve in western Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Last week brought good news for elephants and other species threatened by illegal wildlife trafficking, as a collaborative effort between the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC’s) national police, the Lusaka Agreement Task Force (LATF) and INTERPOL apprehended four members of an alleged ivory cartel.

If wealth were measured in biodiversity, the forests of the Congo Basin would be rich indeed. Wildlife from the endangered bonobo to the Congo peacock can be found in this ecosystem, not to mention more than 600 species of trees (and that’s just the tree species that are known).

The Bili-Uele Protected Area Complex is the largest complex of protected areas in northern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Bordering the Central African Republic, it harbours important populations of elephant and chimpanzee, plus a full range of forest and savanna biodiversity.

In some parts of the world, you can visit a planetarium and go on an amazing immersive journey into the wonders of the night sky. In other parts of the world, you can visit a natural wildlife reserve and go on an incredible expedition into the marvels of its fauna and flora. 

You might know that Iyondji Community Bonobo Reserve had 24 new eco-guards trained last October as part of AWF’s support to the reserve’s management structure. However, you probably know less about Pacha Lotango, the young female eco-guard who graduated top of that class.