Congolese NGO to Co-Manage DRC Protected Area for First Time

A Congolese nongovernmental organization, Strong Roots, has been entrusted with the management of Itombwe Nature Reserve in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The 10-year public-private partnership will see Strong Roots work alongside the Congolese Wildlife Authority, with the organization retaining oversight. Strong Roots has spent a decade securing land for communities and wildlife, creating a 1-million-hectare biodiversity corridor through community forestry concessions. The organization has already secured 23 concessions, covering nearly 600,000 hectares of land, and is working with four of the seven chiefdoms within the reserve. Strong Roots' founder, Dominique Bikaba, is a member of an Indigenous community that was previously evicted to make way for another protected area.