Abstract
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) ranks fifth in the world in terms of biodiversity (fauna and flora) and first for mammal diversity in Africa. There are numerous endemic species including bolobos (Pan paniscus). Bolobos are endangered, threatened mainly by deforestation, poaching and diseases, and the current population is estimated from 15,000 to 50,000 individuals. Nowadays, one national park (Salonga National Park) and six reserves exist for wild bolobo conservation, representing about 73,000 km2 of protected areas over an estimated distribution area of 565,000 km2. In the Bolobo Territory, an original local project of bolobo conservation was initiated in 2001 by the Congolese NGO Mbou-Mon-Tour (MMT). From 2008 to 2013, we studied bolobo-habitat-human interactions in this forest-savanna mosaic habitat, totalizing 12 months of survey over six periods. Besides eco-ethological studies, an ethnoecological approach was developed in order to better understand how the MMT project emerged and how it has evolved. We performed semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and informal discussions with local people. We also used grey literature associated to the region. MMT use the bolobo conservation as a means to reach local development goals, which is the opposite of what is frequent in the “community-based conservation” project managed by environmental NGOs. The location of the community forests and the rules established for regulating activities in these forests were decided by the villagers under the organization of traditional chiefs according to their knowledge on bolobo ecology and range, and the disturbance they perceived of the traditional activities in the forest. Such a process is a novel and promising approach for wildlife conservation that maintains the place of local people and traditional authorities in the decision-making process and the governance.
Highlights
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has an important role in the conservation of the environment with a large wildlife biodiversity and habitat types, ranking fifth in the world in terms of biodiversity, first in Africa for mammal diversity, and with numerous endemic species [1,2], including bonobos (Pan paniscus), the last ape species known to science
A few cases of community-based conservation are well-documented in the DRC, whereas the process is critical for a better understanding of the evolution of conservation dynamics
We describe the emergence, history and evolution of this project in order to understand the role of local people in the decision-making process and the management of the area, and to assess if this initiative is a replication of an existing model or an original process of community-based conservation in the DRC, which is interesting when reconsidering conservation blueprints
Summary
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has an important role in the conservation of the environment with a large wildlife biodiversity and habitat types, ranking fifth in the world in terms of biodiversity (fauna and flora), first in Africa for mammal diversity, and with numerous endemic species [1,2], including bonobos (Pan paniscus), the last ape species known to science. Little information is available to understand the mechanisms at the origin of these bonobo conservation projects and the role of local people in the decision-making and management of these protected areas.
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