No abstract

Projected rates of agricultural clearing in the Ituri Forest of north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo range from 0 to 0.1 per cent per year and suggest that deforestation for subsistence agriculture is not an immediate threat to the integrity of the Okapi Wildlife Reserve (OWR). If the human population continues to grow at over 3 per cent per annum, and bushmeat continues to be a major source of income for rural communities, subsistence-level exploitation of bushmeat may, however, not be sustainable. This paper proposes management approaches that address the demand for and supply of bushmeat, which are targeted at those political districts within the OWR where hunting is the greatest threat to populations of bushmeat species. These management approaches are designed to help conserve the Ituri's natural resources without compromising the health and income security of rural communities.

We used empirical data to simulate the impacts, over the next 40 years, of subsistence-level agricultural clearing and bushmeat consumption on forest resources within the recently established Okapi Wildlife Reserve in northeastern Zaire. Satellite imagery, human population census data, and field measurements were used to calculate present and projected impacts of agricultural clearing on forest cover. Data on per capita meat consumption and the species captured by hunters were combined with relevant ecological data to estimate ratios of consumption to production and to assess the sustainability of hunting. Even with projected population growth of nearly 300% among local communities over 40 years, sufficient secondary forest is available that agricultural clearing will have minimal effect on mature forest throughout most of the reserve. Impacts on the reserve's fauna will be more dramatic, particularly within 15 km of villages, where most hunting currently occurs. Subsistence exploitation of forest antelopes may be sustainable in much of the reserve (especially if high estimates of game production are used), but as the human population continues to increase duikers will likely be over-hunted. Primate populations do not appear to be threatened in the near future in those areas where bow hunters exploit monkeys, but an increase in this specialized activity in other regions of the reserve and growing human populations could change this. Although additional surveys of commonly hunted species throughout the Okapi Wildlife Reserve are essential to enhancing the precision of the simulation, our results suggest that mitigation efforts should be designed and implemented now if the long-term effects of domestic bushmeat consumption are to be addressed. Modelado de la Sustentabilidad de Cosecha y Caza de Subsistencia en el Bosque Ituri en ZaireResumen: Utilizamos datos empíricos para simular los impactos del nivel de persistencia de clareo agricultural y el consumo de carne silvestre en los recursos forestales durante los próximos 40 años, dentro de la recientemente establecida reserva de vida silvestre Okapi en el noreste de Zaire. Imágenes de satélite, datos de censos poblacionales humanos y mediciones de campo fueron usados para calcular los impactos actuales y proyectados del clareo agricultural en la cobertura del bosque. Datos de consumo de carne per cápita y de las especies capturadas por caza fueron combinados con datos ecológicos relevantes para estimar la relación del consumo con la producción y para evaluar la sustentabilidad de la caza. Aún con el crecimiento poblacional proyectado de cerca de un 300% a lo largo de 40 años entre las comunidades locales, existe suficiente bosque secundario viable de tal manera que el clareo agricultural tendrá efectos mínimos sobre el bosque maduro a lo largo de la mayoría de la reserva. Impactos en la fauna de la reserva serán mas dramáticos, particularmente dentro de los 15 km de villas, donde la mayorá de la caza se lleva a cabo actualmente. La explotación de subsistencia de an...

Biological surveys starting in the 1950s provided clear evidence that the Itombwe Massif, located in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, is one of the most important areas for conservation in Africa. Further surveys in the mid 1990s and early 2000s showed key species were still present and could be conserved. Following a report on these surveys the Ministry of Environment established the Itombwe Reserve in 2006 without consulting local communities who have legitimate customary rights to reside within the area and use the region's natural resources. Although creating the Reserve was within the government's legal authority, its establishment violated the rights of the people there. Here we report over a decade of work by a consortium of international and national human rights and conservation NGOs, the local communities and the protected areas authority (Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature), to remediate this taking of customary rights. Starting in 2008 these partners began a participatory process with all 550 villages within and around the boundary of the Reserve. Using a community resource use mapping approach, developed from best practices, the team helped communities determine the boundary of the Reserve, and then pilot participatory zoning to identify zones for settlements, agriculture, hunting, gathering of non-timber forest products, and conservation. This process secured the customary rights of long-term residents in the Reserve and protected their lands from being taken by non-rights holders. As a result of this work the use rights of communities were largely restored and the communities agreed on 23 June 2016 to formalize the boundaries of the renamed Itombwe Nature Reserve.

Projected rates of agricultural clearing in the Ituri Forest of north-eastern