Protecting the bonobo and its habitat through cassava cultivation in the savannah
World Resources Institute (WRI) research from 14 forest-rich countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia concludes that communities "maintain or enhance the carbon storage of their forests" when they own them.
> In accordance with these findings, since 2018 the DRC State has granted the village community of Nkala 4,100 hectares of forest that it can legally manage independently. Two years later, the encouraging results indicate that community ownership could become a powerful lever to halt the decline of the Congo Basin rainforest, while reducing poverty.
> Here is a project whose main objective is to increase the involvement of local populations in the conservation of the bonobo and its habitat by establishing new plantations using mosaic-resistant cassava cuttings in the savannah, marrying the conservation of bonobos with the well-being of local communities.
The installation of these woodlots aims not only to redirect cassava cultivation from the forest to the savannah, to secure bonobo habitats but also to ensure food security and increase cassava-based incomes.
Specifique objectives
- Strengthen the local population’s technical capabilities in the management of agricultural activities, namely: the production, harvesting, and marketing of cassava
- Develop new plantations with improved mosaic-resistant cassava crops in each of the participatory villages
- Support the spread of improved cassava cultivation across the local communities that neighbour bonobo habitats.
- Prevent the negative effects of population pressure on bonobo habitats
- Increase cassava production
> Access the entire project.