An intercomparison of seven gridded rainfall products incorporating satellite data (ARC, CHIRPS, CMORPH, PERSIANN, TAPEER, TARCAT, TMPA) is carried out over Central Africa, by evaluating them against three observed datasets: (a) the WaTFor database, consisting of 293 (monthly records) and 154 (daily records) rain‐gauge stations collected from global datasets, national meteorological services and monitoring projects, (b) the WorldClim v2 gridded database, and (c) a set of stations expanded from the FAOCLIM network, these two latter sets describing climate normals. All products fairly well reproduce the mean rainfall regimes and the spatial patterns of mean annual rainfall, although with some discrepancies in the east–west gradient. A systematic positive bias is found in the CMORPH product. Despite its lower spatial resolution, TAPEER shows reasonable skills. When considering daily rainfall amounts, TMPA shows best skills, followed by CMORPH, but over the central part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, TARCAT is amongst the best products. Skills ranking is however different at the interannual time‐scale, with CHIRPS and TMPA performing best, though PERSIANN has comparable skills when only fully independent stations are used as reference. A preliminary study of Southern Hemisphere dry season variability, from the example of Kinshasa, shows that it is a difficult variable to capture with satellite‐based rainfall products. Users should still be careful when using any product in the most data‐sparse regions, especially for trend assessment.

Background: In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Oldeania alpina (K. Schum.) Stapleton provides multiple goods and services to rural populations and is the keystone species of mountain forest ecosystems, most of which are in a very advanced state of degradation. The present study was carried out in Lubero cool highlands region, in the North-East of the DR Congo. It aims to highlight the knowledge of local populations on the uses of O. alpina as well as their perceptions of the spatio-temporal dynamics of this high-altitude bamboo species.Methods: Ethnobotanical surveys were conducted in five villages of the study area through semi-structured individual interviews and focus groups with 245 people. The different forms of use of O. alpina organs and the local perceptions of its spatio-temporal dynamics were the key axes of the surveys. The software R version 4.1.5 was used to calculate the ethnobotanical indices and to carry out static analyses of the data.Results: The results showed that O. alpina is well known by the populations of the study area and is solicited in seven main categories of use, namely: fuelwood (22.5 %), construction (22 %), handicrafts (17 %), agriculture (14.5 %), pharmacopoeia (14 %), worship (8 %) and food (2 %). For these uses, the populations solicit the following organs: culms (59.2 %), blades (12.24 %), shoots (10.54 %), rhizomes (6.78 %), sheaths (6.56 %) and straw (4.68 %). Also, for the populations of the study area, the bamboo groves of O. alpina are in a regressive spatio-temporal dynamics. Conclusion:In Lubero cool highlands region, O. alpina is in constant degradation due to uncontrolled human exploitation. The results of this study provide reliable technical bases for developing conservation strategies for O. alpina in the study area.

In the tropics, the domestic water supply depends principally on ecosystem services, including the regulation and purification of water by humid, dense tropical forests. The Yangambi Biosphere Reserve (YBR) landscape is situated within such forests in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Surprisingly, given its proximity to the Congo River, the YBR is confronted with water issues. As part of its ecosystem function, the landscape is expected to reduce deterioration of water quality. However, environmental consequences are increasing due to conversion of its dense forest into other types of land use/land cover (LULC) in response to human activities. It is therefore important to check how the physicochemical quality parameters of water resources are influenced by landscape parameters—and to know if the population can adapt to this water vulnerability. To do this, we analyzed the watershed typology (including morphometric and LULC characteristics) and the physical and chemical parameters of water within the principal watershed’s rivers. We also analyzed data from surveys and the Yangambi meteorological station. We found that some landscape indices related to LULC significantly influence water quality deterioration in Yangambi. On average, each person in the Yangambi landscape uses 29–43 liters of water per day. Unfortunately, this falls short of World Health Organization standards regarding some parameters. The best fitted simple linear regression model explains the variation in pH as a function of edge density of perturbed forest, edge density of crop land and patch density of dense forest up to 94%, 92% and 90%, respectively. While many researchers have identified the consequences of climate change and human activities on these water resources, the population is not well-equipped to deal with them. These results suggest that water management policies should consider the specificities of the Yangambi landscape in order to develop better mitigation strategies for a rational management of water resources in the YBR in the context of climate change.