| JGI launched a community-centered conservation
program in the Democratic Republic of Congo ( DRC) in
2004. This was the result of a historic partnership
between the organizations founded by two of the world's
leading primatologists — Jane Goodall and late
Dian Fossey.
In their separate spheres working on behalf of great
apes, the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International (DFGFI)
and the Jane Goodall Institute had developed the same
conservation philosophy: Effective conservation must
begin with the needs and priorities of local communities.
With that shared approach, the two organizations joined
forces to protect great apes and support local communities
in an area of eastern DRC that has significant chimpanzee
and eastern lowland gorilla populations.
JGI is working with DFGFI in a 7.4 million-acre conservation corridor stretching from Maiko National Park and the Tayna Gorilla Reserve to Kahuzi-Biega National Park. The corridor is home to an estimated 5,000 eastern lowland gorillas and 15,000 chimpanzees. Despite its high ecological and biodiversity value, this region is experiencing a severe conservation crisis due to agricultural/pastoral expansion, high levels of subsistence hunting, bushmeat extraction, exotic animal trade, extensive gold, coltan and other mining, as well as socio-economic depression resulting from more than a decade of civil war.
The Fossey Fund has been working with a community-based
NGO — the Union of Associations for Gorilla Conservation
and Community Development in eastern DRC (UGADEC), to
establish interlinked community forests and wildlife
reserves forming the corridor between the two parks.
UGADEC member organizations manage the community reserves
and work with the local and national governments on
natural resource management.
JGI's contribution is to organize and help implement
community-centered conservation initiatives modeled
after TACARE
(Lake Tanganyika Catchment Reforestation and Education
Project), a holistic and participatory program supporting
locally managed education, socio-economic development
and sustainable natural resource management in western
Tanzania. The DRC program will improve health care,
provide family planning training and methods, and support
local people in the development of sustainable and more
efficient agricultural and livestock practices. The
program also focuses on improving local governance,
empowering communities, and the application of information
technology to support sustainable practices.
The overarching philosophy of the program is that conservation can become the responsibility of local people and that protection of biodiversity must be integrated with community development.
Current Activities:
Economic Development / Agriculture
- Construction of a hydroelectric plant
- Research and construction of cow sheds, chicken pens, and fish ponds
The introduction of cow sheds helps demonstrate alternatives
to converting forest into pasture, which is the common
practice in the project area. It also reduces the damage
grazing cattle can do to crops, reduces cows' exposure
to pests such as ticks, helps farmers maximize the use
of available land and provides manure for farming.
The chicken and fish-farming demonstration units show local farmers alternatives to bushmeat, which is currently the major source of animal protein. This is intended to reduce pressure on wildlife and the forest.
- Training and provision of improved seeds
Field staff and partners have established seed multiplication plots in the Lubero and Walikale territories to provide a steady source of improved food crop seeds to farmers.
- Initiation of a beekeeping project including training
in beekeeping techniques
Health
- Training of 25 health care providers in reproductive health
- Training of 108 Community Based Distribution Agents (CBDA) in family planning to reinforce and expand access to family planning services at the community level
- Provision of family planning methods to health care providers and CBDAs
- Monitoring the use and adoption of family planning and reproductive health products by the local people in eight health centers
- Family planning data collection to evaluate impact of JGI’s intervention in targeted area
|
