Support to the empowerment of forest communities in Collectivité, secteur des Bapere

The project will be carried out in Bapere, the second largest forest block in North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Bapere knows, as several protected areas in the region, a large scale artisanal mining (cassiterite, coltan, wolfram) and logging for the profit of some individuals only. The area borders the Maiko National Park in the south. The project is set against the socio-political dynamics of an area that is slowly crawling out of civil war (peace agreement dates from March 2008). Also important to mention here is the large proliferation of arms that contributes to the increase of poaching in the region. The hunting as well as the agricultural activities are not well regulated. These practices and the not rational use of natural resources by the local communities in Bapere are endangering the sustainability of Bapere’s ecosystem. The project builds on earlier work done in the region and on the impact on local livelihoods of artisanal mining and logging, and a community mapping work. It goed one step further and wants to contribute to the participatory management of the natural resources and aims at sustainable development of the communities in the Bapere region. In order to achieve this goal, local communities will be capacitated in the rational use of tier natural resources and be helped in the formulation and implementation of their own local development plans. At this level is it also important to raise the interest of provincial and national political decision makers so that they adhere to a participatory resources management for the local development of their territory. The planned activities will bring together and organize local communities (development committee), authorities and other major stakeholders and stimulate the use of participatory maps of the forest space based on the sustainable management of resources.