The Luki and Yangambi Biosphere Reserves: laboratories for climate change research and sustainable development

Abstract

The UNESCO Biosphere reserves of Yangambi (235 000 ha) and Luki (33 000 ha) are both situated within the semi-deciduous moist forests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. These forests are part of the second largest tropical rainforest belt in the world and signify still a persistent carbon sink, rich in biodiversity and an essential provider of ecosystem services, including natural resources for economic development. Luki and Yangambi offer, thanks to the concept of Biosphere Reserve, an appealing opportunity to develop activities of research, training and education and serve, as such, as potential models for the reconciliation of nature conservation, economy and welfare. Both Yangambi and Luki have a particularly rich history of research. They can be considered as the cradle for investigations in Central-African botany, forest ecology, tree physiology, climatology, tropical agronomy and sylviculture. The archives, databases and scientific reference collections (curated both locally and in natural history collections in Belgium) related to these reserves are a treasure trove for actual research needs in the domains of global change (evaluations of carbon fluxes) and forest resilience. Some experimental plots are still present after their establishment, 70 years ago, and offer unique research material, in a region where there is a dire need for long term observations of vegetation dynamics and environmental fluctuations. We give an overview of ongoing research projects relevant to the topics of carbon fluxes and forest resilience, all including wood analysis in a context of vegetation history, tree physiology and forest ecology. We show how this is relevant for designing biodiversity management and we demonstrate how the MAB reserves of Luki and Yangambi are key research sites to document the debates on global changes and resilience of rainforests.