In a first for the DRC, a homegrown NGO will co-manage a wildlife reserve

Strong Roots Congo will co-manage Itombwe Nature Reserve in South Kivu with the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature, the first time a homegrown NGO has shared management of a protected area with the DRC's wildlife authority.

The organization has already secured nearly 600,000 hectares of community land to link Kahuzi-Biega National Park with Itombwe, home to critically endangered Grauer's gorillas, and aims to reach 1 million hectares. The arrangement follows the DRC's adoption three months ago of a National Forest Policy recognizing Indigenous and local land management rights, a reversal after decades in which many protected areas were created by evicting the people who lived there.

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