Community conservation in Congo receives global recognition as a Key Biodiversity Area

In addition to protecting endangered mountain gorillas in Rwanda, the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund has an increasingly successful and expanding program to protect critically endangered Grauer’s gorillas in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, in an area of important primary forest that had previously not received any formal protection. Grauer’s gorillas are considered the [
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In addition to protecting endangered mountain gorillas in Rwanda, the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund has an increasingly successful and expanding program to protect critically endangered Grauer’s gorillas in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, in an area of important primary forest that had previously not received any formal protection. Grauer’s gorillas are considered the most at-risk of all the great apes, with a 60% decline in the last few decades.

Critically endangered Grauer’s gorillas live in some of the world’s most-important forests.

After 12 years of study and survey work in the region, in 2012 the Fossey Fund began a collaboration with local landowners and communities in an area of forest between Maiko and Kahuzi Biega national parks. This area, called the “Nkuba Conservation Area” (NCA) now includes approximately 2,400 square kilometers and is protecting an estimated 2,000-3,000 Grauer’s gorillas and endangered eastern chimpanzees, as well as at least seven other globally threatened large mammal species. It’s home to a host of biodiversity and is also important to the world’s air and climate, as its forests sequester an estimated quarter billion tons of carbon.

In recognition of these achievements and the importance of this area, the NCA has recently been designated as a Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Urbain Ngobobo - Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund Leadership

"This designation is the result of a rigorous assessment of the species in the area as well as the overall ecosystem. It acknowledges that the area meets important detailed criteria and contributes significantly to global biodiversity." - Urbain Ngobobo, the Fossey Fund’s director in DR Congo.

KBA’s were developed to help identify, map, monitor and conserve critical sites of global importance for the conservation community, explains Ngobobo. They include important data that can help direct conservation planning and management by governments, indigenous peoples and communities, the private sector and potential funders. Ultimately, the goal is to prevent further biodiversity loss and address new and existing threats. 

In this way, the KBAs are envisioned to be a comprehensive network of significant global biodiversity sites, with the data and documentation needed to effectively manage and safeguard them. Sites qualify as global KBAs if they meet one or more of 11 criteria in each of five categories, which include threatened or geographically restricted biodiversity, ecological integrity, biological processes and irreplaceability.  

Gorillas, chimpanzees, monkeys and more

The KBA designation for the Nkuba Conservation Area included assessments of the populations of Grauer’s gorillas, eastern chimpanzees, L’Hoest’s monkeys (also known as mountain monkeys) and Hamlyn’s monkeys (also known as owl-faced monkeys). Detailed analyses showed that the Grauer’s gorillas located in the NCA as well as chimpanzees and L’Hoest and Hamlyn’s monkeys all met the KBA criteria.

Fossey Fund staff have also documented other important species in the NCA, including leopards, pangolins, olive baboons, grey parrots and more. Our 115+ field staff in the area patrol these forests and our research shows that this protection has benefited all the biodiversity in this critical forest area.

“Key biodiversity areas can guide and contribute directly toward helping achieve the ‘30×30’ framework that the international conservation community is aiming toward,” says Dr. Tara Stoinski, Fossey Fund president and CEO/chief scientific officer. “The goal of that framework is to have effective protection and management of 30% of the world’s terrestrial, inland water and coastal marine areas by the year 2030, and we believe the NCA is playing a significant role,” she explains.

Nkuba: A conservation model

The Nkuba Conservation Area is now an increasingly notable example of success in community-based conservation. The Fossey Fund has worked with local communities to gain official legal recognition of their traditional land rights by the Congolese government, and helped to develop and adopt a land management plan to ensure long-term conservation and sustainable use of this area.

Another vital part of the conservation strategy for the NCA, as it continues to grow, is to help build resilient communities that can safeguard the gorilla habitats for the long term. This includes developing programs to reduce dependency on the forest through food security activities and projects to provide alternate sources of income. These range from agriculture projects such as kitchen gardens and support for setting up family farms, to fish farming, literacy programs and skills training.

“The NCA has become a model for how to work with communities to do conservation and sustainable development in the region,” says Ngobobo. “The Key Biodiversity Area designation emphasizes the global importance of our work here.” 

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