IGH

• community anti-poaching and anti-deforestation patrols

• ecological monitoring of wildlife and flora

• biodiversity conservation education

• tree planting and restoration of degraded forests

• promoting ecologically viable development through alternative activities that improve local Itombwe communities’ living standards

IGH was founded in 2014 on the idea that no wild species of the Itombwe Mountains should be lost. It began with ecological monitoring of great apes in the Itombwe Nature Reserve, and soon grew into a large association whose members commit to protecting more than 772 wild species across the Itombwe Mountains, drawing heavily on local communities’ skills, know-how, culture and traditional practices to achieve sustainable conservation of this exceptional biodiversity and fragile rainforest.