PD 310/04 Rev. 2 (F) 

Biodiversity Management and Conservation in Forest Concessions adjacent to Totally Protected Area
(Nouabale-Ndoki National Park)

Republic of Congo

In 1999 the Government of Congo, Wildlife Conservation Society, and the Congolaise Industrielle des Bois timber company developed collaboration with common goals for improved forest management of the CIB concession which forms a crucial part of the Nouabale-Ndoki National Park ecosystem complex. The need for buffer zone management to ensure long-term integrity of the Park, CIB's interest in progressive forest management and biodiversity conservation, and the Ministry of Forestry Economy and the Environment's commitment to sustainable development and environmental conservation as a member state of ITTO, resulted in a ecosystem management initiative on a landscape scale (Kabo-Pokola-Loundougou-Nouabale- Ndoki) (PD 4/00).

Phase II of this project will concentrate on adaptive implementation and monitoring of the wildlife, socio-economic, and RIL components of the forest concession management plan. Lessons learned from the model developed in the CIB concessions will be shared with Sangha-Tri-national Transboundary partners and the neighboring concessions in the Republic of Congo to promote replication of this approach and national norms for wildlife management. The project aims to extend wildlife conservation and integrated management to cover 21,000 km2 of the Ndoki-Likouala landscape in the Republic of Congo.

Implementing agency  

Wildlife Conservation Society
Budget  

ITTO: USD 742'241
Swiss contribution: USD 420’000
Planned duration   3 years
Starting date   August 2007
Status   completed
Topics   Biodiversity conservation and protected areas management
Contact   jblaser(a)intercooperation.ch

Final report

ITTO 2011, Final Report, 3p.

Progress report

November 2010

The project was approved by the Council at its Thirty-eighth Session in June 2005 in Brazzaville, Congo, and fully funded at the same Session. The Agreement regulating its implementation was signed on 13 March 2006. The payment of the first disbursement of the ITTO funds has been delayed by the consultation among project parties (CIB, WCS and MEF) on a memorandum of understanding (MoU) which is to govern their roles and responsibilities for a successful implementation of the project. The first installment of the ITTO funds was released in August 2007. A first 4-month project extension was granted until December 2010, without additional ITTO funds, by the ITTO Secretariat, based on an official request including proper justification with appropriate detailed work plan and budget.

As in Phase I, the project aims at contributing to the conservation and sustainable management of biodiversity and production of high value tropical timber in lowland forest concessions forming a managed buffer zone adjacent to the Nouabale-Ndoki National Park (NNNP) in northern Congo. The specific objectives are: a) to implement and monitor ecosystem management systems with the timber company and local communities in the 1.3 million ha Kabo-Pokola-Loundougou forest concession adjacent to the NNNP; and b) to promote the replication of a model ecosystem management approach in the key forest concessions of the Tri-national Trans-boundary Conservation Area of neighboring Cameroon and Central African Republic and the Mokabi forest concession in the Republic of Congo.


Since the Forty-third Session of the ITTO Committee on Reforestation and Forest Management and in accordance with the project's most recent progress reports submitted in February and August 2009, and the minutes of the fourth project steering committee meeting, progress in project implementation can be summarized as follows:

  • The awareness campaign on the principles of sustainable wildlife management and protection has continued through sessions carried to educate children and sensitize adults. The main themes of the sensitization campaigns were related to the following issues: rights and management of the subsistence hunting for local communities, legislation on fauna, promotion of alternative activities to substitute commercial-oriented hunting, biodiversity participatory management, adherence to hunting regulations and Congolese wildlife laws by local people and company employees, potentially negative consequences of unsustainable use of biodiversity resource, etc.;
  • The support and promotion of alternative activities (farming, breeding, bee-keeping, fishing, etc) which could be sources of protein and/or income for the local population, have continued and been reinforced in the entire project area, but the team in charge of;
  • For the surveillance of 1.3 million hectares of the project area and the implementation of the anti-poaching system, a team of 38 eco-guards is operational with the support of the project, CIB company and Government through the ministry of forestry economy of the Republic of Congo;
  • The ecological and socio-economic monitoring system has been carried out thanks to a database on the wildlife inventories and surveys of hunting activities which was created in order to facilitate the development of strategies that could provide orientations to the future planning of traditional lands and to determine the wildlife situation in the whole forest concessions covered by the project. This ecological and socio-economic monitoring system has worked on the indicators of animal presence on the project area and on utilization bush meat by local populations;
  • For the preparation of the management plan of the Loundoungou-Toukoulaka forest concession, the CIB company has undertaken relevant technical studies and surveys (multi-resources forest inventory, dendrology, ecology, socio-economic, mapping, etc.) and related reports have been submitted to the ministry of forestry economy for review;

The norms of reduced impact logging techniques based on a GIS system have been updated, tested and established for all CIB forest concessions in relation to the biodiversity conservation in the project area.

The project implementation has been extended until December 2010, but another extension was recommended by the fourth project steering committee meeting based on appropriate work plan and budget to be submitted to the ITTO Secretariat in due time.

Documentation

Borner M.; Atok D. K.; 2008: Management and conservation of forest concession biodiversity, Evaluation of ITTO projects shows positive outcomes in North Congo, ITTO Tropical Forest Update 18/ 2, p. 13-15.