Help Stop Slash and Burn Farming in the Congo

The area of Wamba just outside the Reserve’s northwest sector has experienced an increase in population which has put pressure on the fragile forest ecosystem. The communities surrounding Wamba have an interest in conservation and protecting the forest and requested the construction of a nursery to improve food security and learn about our agroforestry program.

The nursery was completed in March and is currently managed by Therese Bangbeto, the first woman to run one of OCP’s five nurseries. Because of the addition of this 5^th nursery, we can contribute to improving food security in the communities in the northern part of the Reserve, and we expect a decrease in the need for people to be involved in illegal activities to support their families. Under Therese’s guidance, this nursery, after starting all the seedlings from seeds collected locally, has already distributed 8,902 trees to 1,794 people through September. We have a goal of distributing 60,000 trees in 2018 from all our nurseries and it looks like we are on pace to hit our target later this year.

This year we were ambitious with construction projects throughout the Reserve – A new Zunguluka guard post and immigration checkpoint at the eastern boundary of the Reserve, a new internet space for ICCN rangers to provide regular communication to their counterparts in the field and constructing a much-needed office complex in Mambasa for our educators, agronomes and women’s groups. The office complex is nearly complete and should be finished by the end of this month. It was constructed on a plot of land owned by OCP, and when finished, it will provide office space and storage for educators, agronomes and women’s groups to meet and store their materials such as sewing machines, seeds and fabrics. Having this safe and proper storage space will provide team members with a productive environment to plan and conduct their programs and store all supplies. An additional benefit is OCP no longer will have pay to rent for office space in town.  

This year has been full of ambition with large-scale projects to protect the Okapi Wildlife Reserve. All of this is only possible because of the continued support from people like you. We thank you for your dedication to help protect okapi and their rainforest home!

Links:

• http://www.okapiconservation.org