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

Country: Democratic Republic of Congo

Type and IUCN Category: Nature Reserve, IUCN category not reported. It is hailed as the first officially recognised community-managed protected area in DRC.

Size (hectares): 90,000

Date of creation: It was formally created in 2006 through Ministerial Order 012/CAB/MIN/ECN-EF/2006. However, the reserve’s inception dates back to a 1998 initiative proposed by a number of individuals, including two traditional chiefs.

CARPE landscape: Maiko-Tayna-Kahuzi-Biega

Management plan: A management plan was completed in 2008 (Mehlman 2010) but to date is not available to the public.

Local communities: Local communities of various ethnicities live around Tayna Gorilla Reserve.

Administration: In 2006, the state-run Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation (ICCN) transferred management of the reserve to local communities through a “community organisation” called RGT (Tayna Gorilla Reserve) (Mehlman 2010).

Biodiversity information: The Tayna Gorilla Reserve is known for its rich biodiversity and for the abundance of eastern lowland gorillas and other threatened species such as chimpanzees, leopards and forest elephants (Mehlman 2010: 88).

Neighbouring and overlapping extractive industries (Mapping for Rights):

Eight mining permits have overlapped with the reserve since its creation. As of August 2016, only one permit is still operational:

(1-6) concessions 1376, 1393, 1398, 1399, 1400 and 1403 (managed by LONCOR RESOURCES between 2003 and 2008)
(7) concession 1727 (managed by BANRO CONGO MINI between 2007 and 2012)
(8) concession 6262 (managed by KAMBALE BAYOLI since 2006)

Information available on funding:

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

Grauer’s Gorillas and Chimpanzees in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo – (Kahuzi-Biega, Maiko, Tayna and Itombwe Landscape) Conservation Action Plan (2012-2022)
Funder: The Arcus Foundation/The World We Want Foundation
Objective: Conservation action plan for gorillas and chimpanzees
Grant managers: Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) and partners
Funds: No available information. (Maldonado et al. 2012)

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 for the whole project area. Specific amount dedicated to the Tayna Gorilla Reserve unknown (USAID 2013).

CARPE Phase IIa (2003 – 2006)
Funder: USAID/CARPE
Objective: The aim was to facilitate the effective management of a reserve that had already been created and recognized, while integrating various “micro-zones” of human activities.
Grant managers: Tayna Gorilla Reserve and the Union of Associations for Gorilla Conservation and Community Development in eastern DRC (UGADEC), a federation formed by eight community-based local NGOs
Funds: The Tayna and UGADEC community conservation programme received approximately $1,750,000 in direct operations funding from October 2003–September 2006 (Mehlman 2010: 93).

Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International (2001 – 2003)
Funder: Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International (DFGFI) and USAID
Objective: Creating a community reserve, in which local communities lead the process, rather than a more ‘top-down’, traditional approach to creating a protected area.
Grant managers: DFGFI
Funds: $65,000 DFGFI funding in 2001. In October 2001, DFGFI secured an award from the US Congressional “Gorilla Directive” (administered by USAID) and was able to provide Tayna (and other project members from UGADEC) direct operations funding at approximately $430,000 from October 2001 to September 2003 (Mehlman 2010: 93 ; Yanggen, Angu, & Tchamou 2010: 72).