Strained tensions with local and Indigenous communities impede many conservation projects in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Historically, these tensions have been the result of the forced displacement of communities for conservation; the exclusion of local people from decision making; and ignorance of traditional ecological knowledge. Hence, while conservation of the DRC’s rainforest is more important than ever, it is critical that it is carried out in a way that considers the needs, rights and experiences of local and Indigenous Peoples. This research project responds to these urgencies by developing a biocultural paradigm – that is, one that links biological and cultural systems – for conservation research and policy in the DRC’s rainforest.

The project’s biocultural approach directly feeds into, and is consistent with a national-level policy agenda in the DRC to protect Indigenous rights, particularly through the new law on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Indigenous Pygmy Peoples signed by President Tshisekedi in 2022. Through extensive research and engagement with stakeholders around the DRC’s Yangambi Biosphere Reserve and Kahuzi-Biega National Park, the project will contribute to this law becoming the cornerstone of a new approach to better integrating Indigenous peoples into conservation initiatives.

To accomplish this, the project will deliver on the following objectives:

• Foster collaboration between researchers and environmental managers in the DRC and Belgium on the topic of biocultural diversity;
• Generate and publish high-level academic research on the linkages between cultural and biological diversity in the DRC’s rainforests;
• Identify operational intervention points for more socially just and bioculturally sensitive conservation policies to secure the Congo Basin rainforest.

Project activities will take place from September 2023-November 2025.

Study sites in the DRC

• Yangambi Biosphere Reserve
• Kahuzi-Biega National Park
• Okapi Wildlife Reserve

Partners

University of Antwerp, Belgium; University of Kisangani (UNIKIS), Democratic Republic of the Congo; National Institute for the Study of Agricultural Research (INERA), manager of Yangambi Biosphere Reserve, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Funders

• CIFOR-RESSAC
• VLIR-UOS

• Simpson, F. O. et al (2024). Indigenous forest destroyers or guardians? The indigenous Batwa and their ancestral forests in Kahuzi-Biega National Park, DRC. World Development, 186, 106818–106818. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2024.106818

• Great Lakes of Africa Seminar Series
  Dates: 27 January 2025
  Location: online
  Seminar title: The Role of Rumor in Conservation Social Contracts in Yangambi Biosphere Reserve
  Presenter: Dr Fergus Simpson
  Organiser: UAntwerp-IOB
  
  
• Congo Research Network annual conference
  Dates: 29-31 January 2025
  Location: Sharjah, UEA
  Presentation title: Gouvernance de la Réserve de Biosphère de Yangambi : analyse des stratégies de collaboration entre acteurs
  Presenter: Eric Abanati
  
  
• European Conference on African Studies (ECAS) 2025
  Dates: 25-28 June 2025
  Location: Prague
  Panel name: Indigenous identity, agency and custodianship of nature in Africa
  Organisers: Dr Fergus Simpson, IOB-UAntwerp and Dr Richard Sufo, CIFOR
  Short summary: This panel scrutinises the role of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) as custodians of African nature. It explores Indigenous identity, agency and belonging in relation to their ancestral environments with case studies from diverse ecological, cultural and geographical settings.