WILDLIFE PROTECTION

The Park faces numerous threats. Illegal and unsustainable exploitation of the Park's natural resources is the main threat to its biodiversity.  This is linked to illegal occupation of the protected area, combined with constant human population growth around the Park and the resulting demand for land for housing and agriculture. Mining and the presence of armed groups linked to mining reinforce the demand for wild meat and have other adverse environmental, socioeconomic, and security impacts in and around the Park.

Protecting wildlife requires reactive strategies, technological innovations, and a constant presence on the ground to better understand and curb poaching, but also to anticipate its evolution.

Demographic pressure has always been high around the Park, particularly in its highland sector. Its geographical accessibility and proximity to large population centers pose major challenges for the protection of the wildlife and forests of the Kahuzi-Biega National Park. These combined threats and challenges have led to Kahuzi-Biega National Park being listed as a World Heritage Site in Danger since 1997.

For several years, deforestation caused by illegal logging and charcoal burning has intensified in the northern part of the highland sector. Kahuzi-Biega National Park has 304 eco-guards (as of November 2024). Among them are 22 women and 43 members of the indigenous Wambuti community. Since the signing of the public-private partnership between ICCN and WCS for the Park's co-management, two waves of recruitment and training of new eco-guards have strengthened and renewed the aging workforce. An annual training and refresher program has been consolidated, operational procedures have been harmonized, patrols have been intensified, and new buildings are under construction to strengthen the presence of eco-guards in the Park.

However, wildlife crime continues to evolve. Small game hunting predominates to supply wild meat to rapidly expanding urban centers in the east of the country. Seizures of metal cable snares are increasing rapidly.

To address these developments, training for eco-guards continues to expand, with an increasing focus on human rights, first aid, combat techniques, communication technologies, and investigative procedures to adapt to the changing sector.

The vastness of the territory, the diversity of habitats and the recurring presence of armed groups in the Park make it a complex area to monitor and control. The dense vegetation allows illegal operators to hide. The Park uses intelligence techniques to refine its enforcement strategies, study the modus operandi of poachers and traffickers, and analyze access routes to the Park. The anti-poaching team makes informed decisions based on up-to-date knowledge of the context, directing and intensifying patrols in targeted areas identified as vulnerable.

Various conservation technologies make the work of eco-guards more effective:

  • Signs of illegal human activity in the Park are collected by patrols, then summarised and visualized using the Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool (SMART), which maps human threats and activities to understand trends and distribution of threats. The use of SMART also facilitates collaboration with other protected areas at the national level and across Central Africa.
  • The use of a VHF communication system enables real-time radio communication across the Park and connects eco-guard units on patrol using portable kits. In addition, the Park relies on a wildlife trafficking program operating throughout the country. This program plays a key role in identifying and dismantling criminal networks responsible for poaching elephants, primates, and other wildlife products, ensuring that poachers and traffickers are brought to justice, and sending a strong deterrent signal to criminals who target wildlife.

Combating poaching requires a holistic approach aimed at creating better conditions for people living in the region so that they do not have to resort to poaching. To achieve this, it is essential to raise awareness among the population of the importance of South Kivu's ecosystems. The Park team is implementing an awareness-raising program in schools in the surrounding area and within local communities. Environmental civil society, which is almost as old as the Park itself, is playing its part and striving to pass on this passion to the people living near the Park.

The Park can also count on initiatives operating in its peripheral zone to strengthen and advance the rights of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPs and LC) in and around the Park. The goal is for Indigenous Peoples to exercise their cultural, environmental, political, and socioeconomic rights through participatory management of protected areas, greater social cohesion, and increased autonomy.

WCS has also supported and implemented a national wild meat program, including research and awareness-raising efforts on the issue of wild meat consumption in urban areas.