Community Management in the Itombwe Natural Reserve

The goal of the project is to help promote sustainable management of natural resources in the Itombwe Massif based on conservation methods incorporating the rights, traditional practices and development of local and indigenous communities.

The activities implemented will:

• Promote the use of participatory approaches to identify the rights of the local communities and indigenous peoples, to define limits and mark out the areas of the protected zone, as well as to develop and implement a management plan for the area, in addition to income-generating micro-projects.

• To promote the application and respect for the principle of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) within the scope of setting up and managing a protected area.

• To develop the first example in the Democratic Republic of Congo of a new conservation approach based on the rights of local communities and indigenous peoples, which also ensures synergy between the conservation of biodiversity and the traditional practices of the communities dependent on the forest.

• To strengthen the capacities of the communities managing this protected area and to engage in income-generating activities in accordance with the preservation of the environment.

Supporting this project will help combat deforestation by developing the rights of the indigenous people, since the Foundation always places humans at the heart of its environmental projects.