74 CHAPTER 3 | Living Primates
Anthropology AppliedThe Congo Heartland Project
Under the leadership of Belgian prima-
tologist Jef Dupain, the African Wildlife
Foundation has embarked on a number
of projects to support the continued
survival of bonobos and mountain goril-
las in the Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC). Called the Congo Heartland Proj-
ect, this work is designed to support the
local human populations devastated by a
decade of civil war in the Congo itself as
well as the impact of the massive influx
of refugees from war and genocide in
neighboring Rwanda.
The rich rainforest habitats of
the tributaries of the mighty Congo
River in the DRC are the only natural
habitats for bonobos in the world.
Mountain gorillas can be found in
the DRC and in neighboring Uganda
and Rwanda. Primatological fieldwork
thrived in sites established during the
1970s until the mid-1990s when war
and genocide led to the forced removal
of primatologists. While many left the
region, Dupain stayed and monitored
the kinds of bushmeat brought into the
markets in Kinshasa. With the human
population desperate and starving and
the poachers armed with automatic
weapons outnumbering the few park
rangers charged with protecting thegreat apes, many primates perished.
Since a fragile peace was achieved in
2003, initiatives of the Congo Heart-
land Project have been reestablished,
including involving local communities
in agricultural practices to protecting
the Congo River and its tributaries
and to preserve their precious animal
populations.
Congo Heartland Project initiatives
typically empower local communities
in development efforts using a par-
ticipative, interactive, and transparent
approach. For example, a range of dif-
ferent ethnic groups, including those
who are marginalized such as Pygmies
and women, met with local authorities
to reestablish the management poli-
cies of Dupain’s field site (the Lomako
Yokokala Faunal Reserve) as it re-
opened for researchers and ecotourists.
Forty percent of the income generated
in park revenues is to return to the lo-
cal communities. According to Dupain,
success for these projects is defined as
follows:
Local communities take part
in decision making on how the
protected area will be managed,
on how revenue will be shared,
and as a result,
local communi-
ties take up the
defense of their
protected area. In
time, densities of
bonobo, bongo, for-
est elephant, Congo
peacock, leopard,
Allen’s swamp
monkey, black and
white colobus, and
many others will in-
crease, more tour-
ists and researchers
will come and will
be willing to pay for
this environmental
service, local com-
munities will have
increased access to
education, medical
treatment, electric-
ity, clean water...
the list goes on.Mange Bofaso put it best: “In Ka-
tanga they have diamonds. Here
in Lomako, we have bonobos.”a
The Congo Heartland Project
also includes encouraging a variety
of alternative economic practices in
communities bordering existing wildlife
preserves. For example, around the
Virunga National Park, home to the
endangered mountain gorilla, Congolese
Enterprise Officer Wellard Makambo
encourages and monitors bee keeping
and a women’s mushroom farm
collective. He also advises members
of a conflict resolution team dealing
with gorillas that have left the wildlife
preserve to raid human crops. Local
communities require reassurance and
restitution, while gorillas need to be
returned safely to the park. When
Makambo made his first trip back to
the Bukima Ranger Station after the
war, he wrote,
While I was standing on the hill
surveying the amazing Bukima
view I felt like a mighty silverback
gorilla looking at his bountiful
bamboo kingdom. One whose life
would be hopeless if this kingdom
is destroyed. I tried to measure
the effects of the war on people
and on our activities and projects.
It was tough getting my head
around it: how to re-start things
when you realise effort alone is
not sufficient. You need stability
as well, which is slowly coming
back to this area.
These economic development projects
are playing a crucial role in restoring
the stability in the region required for
the continued survival of bonobos and
mountain gorillas.aAfrican Wildlife Foundation,
Facebook blog. http://www.
facebook.com/pages/African-Wildlife-
Foundation/11918108948. (accessed
June 13, 2009)
bIbid.The African Wildlife Foundation team in the Congo Heartland.
The Lomako Conservation Research Center provides jobs for
local families and serves as an anchor for research, conserva-
tion, and microenterprise activities in the largely undisturbed
Lomako Forest while also securing the habitat of the bonobo,
a rare great ape that lives in the Lomako Forest.© AWF/Paul Thomson