kahuzi_biega-description : Protected Areas in the Congo Basin: Failing both people and biodiversity?

Country: Democratic Republic of Congo

Type and IUCN Category: National Park (IUCN category: II). Kahuzi Biega was also designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1990 and listed as a World Heritage Site in Danger in 1997.

Size (hectares): 600,000

Date of creation: 30 November 1970. Part of the area was a ‘Zoological and Forest Reserve of Mount Kahuzi’ since 1937. In 1975 the park was extended tenfold, from 60,000 hectares to the present area.

CARPE landscape: Maiko-Tayna-Kahuzi-Biega

Management plan: A plan was adopted for the period 2009-2019 but it is not publicly available (PAPACO 2010)

Local communities: Kahuzi Biega National Park is in an area of high population density. It is inhabited by several Bantu as well as indigenous Twa (or Batwa) groups (Mudinga 2013, Barume 2000).

Administration: The National Park is managed by the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation (ICCN) with technical and financial support from the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) (Park website). The conservation objectives are to maintain the ecological, socio-economic and cultural richness of the park, ensure its territorial integrity, encourage community conservation through the involvement of the local population and develop participatory and sustainable tourism. (PAPACO 2010).

Biodiversity: Kahuzi-Biega National Park is home to 136 species of mammals and 400 species of birds. The park is the last refuge of the eastern lowland gorilla. Other primates include eastern chimpanzees, owl-faced monkeys and several Cercopithecinae and Colobinae. The mammals include forest elephants, forest buffalo, giant forest hogs and bongos (Mudinga 2013, UNESCO World Heritage website).

Neighbouring and overlapping extractive industries (Mapping for Rights):

Over 20 mining permits were granted around Kahuzi-Biega, 14 of which are still operating as of 2016:

10 permits managed by Sakima SARL: no. 26 between 1968 and 1998; nos. 70, 77, 79, 81 between 1969 and 1999; nos. 180 between 1994 and 2014; nos. 13, 15 and 16 between 2006 and 2016; and no. 2596 between 1998 and 2016
Three permits managed by Societe Olive SPRL since 2007 (no. 8598, 8599 and 8389)
One permit managed by HA & GA Holding since 2005 (no. 2596)
One permit managed by La Boissière SPRL since 2007 (no. 7201)
One permit managed by N.T.N. Consult since 2006 (no. 6644)
Two permits managed by Twangiza Mining (no. 68 for 1999-2017 and no. 44 for 1998-2016)
One permit managed by Bale Mining SPRL since 2006 (no. 5886)
One permit managed by Tshiteya Kabeya since 2007 (no. 8505)
Two permits managed by Krall Metal Congo since 2006 (no. 5186 and 5189)
One permit managed by Technobuild SPRL since 2007 (no. 7232)

Information available on funding:

(Please note that some of these grants may be covering several protected areas or landscapes.)

CARPE Phase III: “Central Africa Forest Ecosystems Conservation (CAFEC)”, Maiko-Tayna-Kahuzi Biega landscape, 2013-2018
Funder: USAID
Objective: To maintain the ecological integrity of the humid forest ecosystems of the Congo Basin through sustainable management of forests and reduction of threats to biodiversity
Grant manager: Conservation International
Project area: Maiko-Tayna- Kahuzi Biega landscape
Funds: $13,600,000. Specific amount dedicated to Kahuzi Biega unknown (USAID 2013b).

Conservation of biodiversity and sustainable forest management / (GTZ/KFW) Biodiversity and Forest Program (PBF) (2005-2016)
Funder: German cooperation (GTZ/KfW)
Objective: “At both national and provincial levels, the public institutions and non-governmental actors responsible for the sustainable management of natural resources fulfil their political and operational tasks more effectively” (GIZ website).
Project area: National level and two specific parks, namely Kahuzi Biega and Okapi Faunal reserve
Funds: $4,500,000 from GTZ and £16,500,000 from KFW over 2008 – 2010 (Malele Mbala 2010: 17). Specific amount dedicated to Kahuzi Biega unknown.

Preservation of Congo Basin Ecosystems (2009-2015)
Funder: African Development Bank
Objective: Institutional Support (targeting COMIFAC and its partners) and rural community development
Project area: Equateur and Eastern Provinces and four forest landscapes (Maringa-Lopori-Wamba, Maiko-Tayna-Kahuzi-Biega, Lac Télé–Lac Tumba and Virunga)
Funds: around $80,000,000 (Malele Mbala 2010: 15). Specific amount dedicated to Kahuzi Biega unknown.

Grauer’s Gorillas and Chimpanzees in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo – Conservation Action Plan 2012-2022
Funders: The Arcus Foundation, The World We Want Foundation
Objective: “To identify critical threats to gorillas, chimpanzees and their habitats in the landscape, and to develop conservation strategies to address these threats.” (Maldonado et al. 2012: 2)
Grant manager: Jane Goodall Institute
Project area: Kahuzi-Biega, Maiko, Tayna and Itombwe Landscape
Funds: Unknown

Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Forest Management, 2016-2019
Funder: German development agency GIZ and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Objective: Improvements in sustainable management of natural resources and the preservation of biodiversity in and around protected areas to benefit the resident population and private small-scale forest owners.
Grant manager: MEDD, DFS, GFA
Funds: $24,000,000 (Divided between the Kahuzi-Biega, Okapi, Salonga, Ngiri, Kundelungu and Lomami Protected Areas; specific amount dedicated to Kahuzi Biega Area unknown).

Assessment and development of a modernised, extended network of protected areas in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2009-2014
Funder: WWF Germany
Objective: Development of bases for the planning, designation and improvement of a protected area network in the Congo Basin (target: 15% of the land area) with a focus on the biological diversity of forests, freshwater ecosystems and their functioning as carbon sinks.
Grant manager: The DRC Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation and Tourism (MECNT),
Congolese Wildlife Authority (Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature – ICCN), DRC Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)
Funds: $1,990,000 across a network of protected areas in the DRC (Specific amount dedicated to the KBNP unknown).