Gorilla Journal Journal of Berggorilla & Regenwald Direkthilfe No
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Gorilla Journal Journal of Berggorilla & Regenwald Direkthilfe No. 51, December 2015 The Conservation Sarambwe Gorilla Folk African Tropical of Itombwe Nature Reserve: Current Filmmaking Forests under Reserve Developments Stress and Threats BERGGORILLA & REGENWALD DIREKTHILFE Authors of this Issue Andrew Robbins is research assis- CONTENTS tant for agent-based modelling and de- D. R. Congo 3 Adam Pérou Hermans Amir is a mographic/life history analysis at the The Conservation of Itombwe Nature filmmaker at At Films and a PhD can- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Reserve: Actions and Challenges 3 didate in Environmental Studies at the Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. The Sarambwe Reserve: Current University of Colorado. His dissertation Dr. Martha Robbins, a research as- Developments and Threats 9 concerns the Cross River gorilla folk sociate at the Max Planck Institute for Mountain Gorilla Females Avoid filmmaking. Evolutionary Anthropology, has been Inbreeding 12 Noal Zainab Amir is an M.A. stu- studying the behavioural ecology of go- Uganda 13 dent at the Institute for Gender, Race, rillas since 1990. Since 1998, she has Feeding Competition in Female Sexuality and Social Justice at the Uni- been studying the socioecology and re- Bwindi Mountain Gorillas 13 versity of British Columbia. She co- productive strategies of mountain go- Cross River 15 runs At Films and produced the gorilla rillas in Bwindi Impenetrable National Improving Law Enforce ment: Going film series. Park. the “SMART” Way in Nigeria and Emmanuel Sampson Bassey has Ndimuh Bertrand Shancho hails Cameroon 15 worked for WCS as the Afi Cybertrack- from Ngoketunjia Division, Northwest Gorilla Folk Filmmaking in the er Project Coordinator since 2011. His Cameroon. He holds a BSc. in Jour- Cross River Headwaters 16 main interests are football and nature nalism and Mass Communication from Rain Forest 20 conservation. the University of Buea. He is the Media/ African Tropical Forests Are under Onesiphore Bitomwa works for the Publication Officer for the Camerooni- Stress 20 Institut Congolais pour la Conservation an conservation non-profit organiza- Reading 22 de la Nature (ICCN), Réserve Naturelle tion, the Environment and Rural Devel- New on the Internet 22 d’Itombwe, Mwenga, D. R. Congo. opment Foundation (ERuDeF), where Berggorilla & Regenwald Prof. Dr. Roberto Cazzolla Gatti is he has been advocating for primate Direkthilfe 23 Associate Professor in Ecology and Bi- conservation and environmental pro- Great Ape Photo Exhibition odiversity at the Tomsk State University tection for the past 3 years. in Vienna 23 (TSU), Russia. Claude Sikubwabo Kiyengo work- Deo Kujirakwinja manages WCS’s ed for the IUCN from 2000 to 2005 Albertine Rift work in eastern Congo and was the chief conservator of the and is one of Congo’s leading ornithol- Parc National des Virunga, central sec- Gorilla Journal 51, December 2015 ogists. tor from 2006 to 2007. Since 2008 he Editor: Dr. Angela Meder Guillain Mitamba works for WCS is our assistant, since 2010 General Di- Augustenstr. 122, 70197 Stuttgart, (Wildlife Conservation Society), D. R. rector of the Institut Superieur de Con- Germany Congo Program, Bukavu. servation de la Nature, Environnement Fax +49-711-6159919 Leonard Mubalama is the coordi- et Tourisme (ISCNET) in Rumangabo E-mail [email protected] nator of the WWF/Itombwe Conserva- and in 2011 he became the PACEBCo Translation and Proofreading: Ann tion Project. expert for conservation and biodiver- DeVoy, Bettina and Andrew Grieser Dr. Andrew Plumptre is the Direc- sity in the Virunga region (COMIFAC). Johns, Colin Groves tor of the Albertine Rift Programme of Alain Twendilonge works for WCS Cover: Trackers and ranger in the Sa- WCS. He has been working in this re- (Wildlife Conservation Society), D. R. rambwe Reserve. Photo: Aimé Bara- gion for more than 20 years support- Congo Program, Bukavu. ruha ing conservation research and man- Jean de Dieu Wasso works for Af- agement. ricapacity/Rainforest Foundation Nor- Organization Address: way, Bukavu. Berggorilla & Regenwald Direkthilfe Dr. Edward Wright is a postdoc- c/o Rolf Brunner Bank Account: toral researcher at the Max Planck In- Lerchenstr. 5 IBAN DE06 3625 0000 0353 3443 15 stitute for Evolutionary Anthropology in 45473 Muelheim, Germany BIC SPMHDE3E Leipzig, Germany (MPI). His current E-mail [email protected] Switzerland: research focuses on the correlates of Website: IBAN CH90 0900 0000 4046 1685 7 body size in male and female moun- http://www.berggorilla.org BIC POFICHBEXXX tain gorillas. 2 Gorilla Journal 51, December 2015 D. R. CONGO The Conservation of clude hunting using traditional means cluding transition and bamboo forest. or firearms, small-scale and industrial Itombwe’s vegetation is very varied, Itombwe Nature Reserve: mining, lighting of bush fires to facili- ranging from low altitude to the highest Actions and Challenges tate grazing by domestic animals, hu- summits (Doumenge & Schilter 1997; man settlements and the weak govern- Mubalama et al. 2008). Itombwe Nature Reserve (INR) is a key ance of natural resources (Plumptre et The current attempt to demarcate site for biodiversity in Africa in general al. 2010, 2013; Weinberg et al. 2013). the reserve boundaries is the result and the region of the Albertine Rift in In order to find solutions for the chal- of field work conducted within a joint particular (Doumenge & Schilter 1997; lenges facing conservation of the mas- framework developed through a par- Hart et al. 1999; Plumptre et al. 2007; sif, conservation stakeholders involved ticipatory process that has focused on Greenbaum & Chifundera 2012). The in the INR have put into place an in- the identification and the validation of reserve is part of the exceptional high- tegrated intervention plan which cov- current maps (Mubalama et al. 2013; altitude forests extending from 1,500 m ers a range of activities from consulta- Plumptre et al. 2013). The current re- to over 3,000 m altitude (Mubalama et tions with the local population to activi- serve boundaries give the reserve a al. 2008). According to different biologi- ties to protect the reserve’s biodiversity surface area of 5,732 km², with a perim- cal expeditions into the massif, the site (Mubalama et al. 2013). This paper eter of 568 km (Mubalama et al. 2013). remains important for biodiversity both will present the planning process, the It extends into the territories of Mwen- due to the number of endemic species different threats to biodiversity in the ga, Uvira and Shabunda. (endemism) and for the number of spe- Itombwe Nature Reserve, the conser- Currently, the reserve is managed cies in general (species richness), es- vation efforts made by various stake- by the Congolese Institute for Nature pecially due to recent re-discoveries of holders and the challenges that need Conservation (ICCN). Conservation certain amphibian species (Plumptre to be overcome. activities here are supported by Wild- et al. 2010; Greenbaum & Chifundera life Conservation Society (WCS), the 2012). However, in spite of its biologi- Location of the Itombwe Nature Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) cal richness and habitat diversity, the Reserve and Africapacity/Rainforest Foundation biodiversity of the massif is threatened The INR is situated in the east of the Norway (Plumptre et al. 2010, 2013; by various human activities. These in- Democratic Republic of the Congo Mubalama et al. 2013). (DRC) in South Kivu Province, west of Lake Tanganyika. It extends between Participatory Process for the Vali 2° 51.286’ and 4° 0.690’ south, and dation of the Reserve Boundaries between 28° 09.889’ and 28° 58.511’ The process of creating protected areas east. The Itombwe Mountains are part in the DRC has paralleled the evolution of the Mitumba Range in the east of the of conservation in the rest of the world DRC in the Albertine Rift. The Mitumba (Hockings et al. 2000; Palomo et al. Range borders the western branch 2014). Protected areas were originally of the Great Rift Valley, with several created by governments with little or large lakes covering the valley floor no consultation of local communities or (Doumenge & Schilter 1997). other stakeholders (Stevens & Stevens The range is part of what is known s. d.; Wells & McShane 2004). This top- as the Itombwe Massif and it is cov- down approach can be seen as being ered by a vast mountain forest. In fact, the root cause for the weak support by it is part of a mountain range that ex- stakeholders at different levels (Ki de- tends along the entire eastern border ghesho 2002; Fisher et al. 2012). of the DRC, from Katanga to North Kivu In the case of Itombwe, the reserve (Doumenge & Schilter 1997; Mubala- was created by ministerial decree no. ma et al. 2008). The Itombwe Mas- 038/CAB/MIN/ECN-EF/2006 of 11 Oc- sif has the largest high-altitude forest tober 2006. This decree did not include in the whole of Africa. Of the massif’s an identification of boundaries and had 15,000 km2, over 7,500 km² are cov- little community buy-in (Plumptre et al. ered by forest. Almost all of this (over 2009, 2013; Greenbaum & Chifundera Map of the Itombwe Massif 6,700 km²) is high-altitude forest, in- 2012; Mubalama et al. 2013). This was 3 Gorilla Journal 51, December 2015 D. R. CONGO at the bottom of a certain resistance by At the conclusion of this meeting, designing, coordinating and ensuring local communities and other groups to the different stakeholders pledged to the implementation of activities (Dam- the implementation of conservation ac- support the process of demarcation of man & Hofsvang 2012; Mubalama et tivities (de Failly & Bandu 2010). the Itombwe Nature Reserve. A joint al. 2013). In order to ensure that the In order to minimise conflicts be- framework for the coordination of ac- various stakeholders remain involved in tween different actors and to ensure tivities was identified to ensure the in- the process, the joint team produced a ownership of different stakeholders of volvement of the various stakehold- plan of activities to be carried out before the process of boundary demarcation, ers as below (Kujirakwinja et al.