Conservation of chimpanzees and gorillas in the Itombwe Nature Reserve

The project area is located in the Itombwe Nature Reserve, in South Kivu Province, in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is situated in the Itombwe Massif, designated as a Key Biodiversity Area by the IUCN and also as a site of the Alliance for Zero Extinction. Covering an area of 5,732 km², the Itombwe ecosystem, mainly composed of tropical forest, is particularly rich. It is home to endangered wildlife species listed on the IUCN Red List, such as the eastern chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii, EN) and Grauer’s gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri, CR). Recent data show that primate populations have already declined significantly in this reserve, where only about 500 chimpanzees and 280 gorillas remain. There are many threats to the survival of these species, including hunting, habitat loss and fragmentation resulting from increased local consumption of bush meat, agriculture, artisanal mining and logging. However, regulating these threats is difficult given the low number of eco-guards within the protected area. The reserve currently has only 18 official eco-guards to cover the entire 5,732 km². These 18 eco-guards, who are very poorly paid, currently patrol only 17% (970 km²) of the total area of the Paran reserve. This patrol rate is currently insufficient to control illegal activities throughout the reserve. As a result, local communities, suffering from food insecurity and severe economic hardship, are taking advantage of these shortcomings to engage in large-scale deforestation and poaching in areas of the reserve where surveillance patrols are lacking. The main objective of the project is to work with local communities to conserve chimpanzees and gorillas and increase their population in the Itombwe Nature Reserve.