Participatory biological inventory in 4 community forests in Walikale, North Kivu

The CREF Network is an important platform of 30 associations active in North Kivu in the environmental sector, in the east of the DRC. The project intervenes in a forest block of 90,000 ha of primary forest rich in primates, (in particular lowland gorillas), contiguous to the Kahuzi Biega National Park, in its northern limit. It will be implemented by FODI, Forêts pour le Développement Intégral, a member organization of the network. This forest block is threatened by illegal logging and poaching, while the Kahuzi Biega National Park, UNESCO World Heritage, is itself classified as endangered.

Local communities and indigenous Pygmy peoples have started to establish multi-use forest concessions for the sustainable management of their forests and for their socio-economic development. The terms of allocation of concessions to local communities will be defined in a decree which is in the process of being signed with the Prime Minister of the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Pending this signature, the CREF Network, through FODI (the social interface of the CREF Network) intends to support the Bakano communities, to create four Forest Concessions of the Local Communities (CFCL) and manage them by developing their management plans. . The forests located in four localities (Bafuna, Basengele, Bananzigha and Basinamasi) of the Bakano community made up of 39 villages (91,400 inhabitants) will be covered.

The general objective of the project is to improve the protection of the biodiversity of the forest concessions of the local Bakano communities. More specifically, this project will aim at strengthening the beneficiaries in terms of knowledge of wildlife and plant resources, establishing the bases for participatory micro-zoning of the living and productive space of communities and preparing these communities for negotiation. of the carbon market thanks to standing forests protected under REDD +.