State of the Rainforest 2014

experience. The next step of integrating the communities in the protected areamanagement will be a critical one: ‘We want community conservation. If you come with other forms of conservation, even recognized by the land tenure law, we will oppose. We will conserve as our ancestors used to conserve. The rights of local populations must be recognized and respected’, declares Richard Miniota. Community conservation needs to be acknowledged within the Nature Conservation Law, so that Itombwe can become the first example of a community-based natural reserve that benefits both the environment and the rights of the local communities. Local communities from Bionga, like their neighbours, are already preparing for this, gathering in management committees and keeping alive their traditional knowledge despite the difficulties. It is now the duty of national and international civil society organizations to push community conservation forward.

context Musombo is like a ‘spiritual’ death penalty, where both the individual and the family come to experience increased mortality and severe misfortunes. Only the Mwami can revoke the punishment for such rule infringements. ‘We want community conservation’ The local communities and the indigenous groups feel it is important to maintain these traditional forest management practices. As Richard Miniota argues, ‘ICCN [the national conservation authority] can’t be everywhere. We need to set up a system of co-management between local communities and the authorities.’ This is a crucial aspect for the next steps of the Itombwe participatory process. The DRC national conservation law in its present form does not include co-management of protected areas. The outer limits will soon be defined and validated out of this unique participatory

Communities dependent on forest resources in Bionga

Isoga

Namko Mangwa

Bionga

Msiri

Kalamba

Atangela

D EMOCRATIC R EPUBLIC OF THE C ONGO

South Kivu

Lukechi

Infrastructure

Activities in the forest

Hunting

Village Road Trail

Agriculture

Artisanal mining Gathering Fishing Fish pond Sacred site

Itombwe Natural Reserve

Proposed reserve limit Proposed multiple use zone

Proposed zone with integral protection

Source: based on a map by Blaise Mudodosi, 2010; information by local communities in the chiefdom of Wamuzimu with technical support from the Laboratory of Indigenous Peoples, Africapacity and Rainforest Foundation Norway

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1

2 Km

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STATE OF THE RAINFOREST 2014

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