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Protecting and Restoring the Itombwe Rainforest through Community Action in the Congo
- Nature Conservation
- Indigenous
- Women
- Forests
- Biodiversity
- Ecosystem Restoration
- Afrotropics Realm
- Daughters for Earth
| Bioregion | Victoria Basin & Albertine Rift Forests (AT12) |
| Category | Nature Conservation Our project categories represent one of three core solutions pathways to solving climate change. Energy Transition focuses on renewable energy access and energy efficiency. Nature Conservation includes wildlife habitat protection and ecosystem restoration, as well as Indigenous land rights. Regenerative Agriculture supports farmers, ranchers, and community agriculture. |
| Realm | Afrotropics The Project Marketplace is organized by the major terrestrial realms divided into 14 biogeographical regions – N. America, Subarctic America, C. America, S. America, Afrotropics, Indomalaya, Australasia, Oceania, Antarctica, and the Palearctic realm, which coincides with Eurasia and is divided into Subarctic, Western, Central, Eastern, and Southern regions. |
| Status | active Seed indicates an early stage project that needs some level of support to develop into a larger funding proposal. Active indicates any project that needs core programmatic funding. Urgent indicates a short-term project initiated in response to a natural disaster or other impending risk. |
| Partner | Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) International |
One Earth’s Project Marketplace funds on-the-ground climate solutions that are key to solving the climate crisis through three pillars of collective action — renewable energy, nature conservation, and regenerative agriculture.
The Itombwe Rainforest in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is an internationally recognized conservation area due to the extraordinary biodiversity of its plants and animals. However, its enviable wealth of farming, mining, forestry, water and cultural resources have been a constant source of conflict and war, leading to the ongoing suffering and human rights abuses of the Indigenous Baka forest communities and the devastation of their land.
The Itombwe Rainforest is part of the Congo Rainforest, the second largest tropical rainforest on Earth, and it is experiencing rapid deforestation. 60% of the Congo Rainforest is located in the DRC, making this region a vital area of concern, particularly as the world looks to forests for carbon sequestration and climate mitigation. In addition to industrialized logging, illegal timber harvesting operations, mining and farming, local communities have depended entirely on the Itombwe’s old-growth forest for fuelwood and other wood products such as timber, charcoal and medicine.
Image credit: Courtesy of WECAN International
For five years, women in South Kivu Province have been organizing through the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) in partnership with Synergie des Associations Feminines du Congo (SAFECO) to protect the natural forest and reforest previous clear-cuts.
Through trainings and on-the-ground projects, WECAN/DRC’s program addresses these issues through the elevation of women’s leadership, environmental education concerning protection of old-growth forests, widespread reforestation activities, and renewal of Traditional Ecological Knowledge.
Image credit: Courtesy of WECAN International
“The women of WECAN-DRC are determined to change things in the Itombwe Rainforest, for ourselves and for the rest of the world. We are taking our stewardship of the forest seriously. We know that the difference we make not only affects our communities, but also the global climate and the entire planet. We feel the weight of it all and are doing our part. To our sisters around the world we say: We are TOGETHER!” -- Neema Namadamu, Co-Coordinator of WECAN-DRC.
As part of this project, a major forest restoration effort is underway with a full extend of 1,209 square kilometers. The effort is focused on protecting old-growth trees and regenerating damaged forest ecosystems for both biodiversity and climate mitigation.
Image credit: Courtesty of WECAN International
The project will also create income-generating livelihoods for women through tree planting and harvesting and the sale of fruits and herbs from planted trees. A key strategy is to help secure land ownership for women and to provide girls with better access to education by removing the need for them to walk long distances to harvest fuel wood.
This is the first and only project of its kind to occur in the Itombwe Rainforest. The implementers and leaders are women, increasing respect for women and their leadership role within the communities. The women refer to themselves as forest guardians and take great pride in their efforts to protect old-growth forests, guard against illegal logging, and to plant trees in damaged landscapes - with 30% of the trees planted for human use and 70% planted to reforest. So far, 12 communities are engaged in the project, representing 25,000 people who are no longer harvesting old-growth forests