Environmental History 12 Bila-Isia Inogwabini Reconciling Human Needs and Conserving Biodiversity: Large Landscapes as a New Conservation Paradigm The Lake Tumba, Democratic Republic of Congo Environmental History Volume 12 Series Editor Mauro Agnoletti, Florence, Italy More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/10168 Bila-Isia Inogwabini Reconciling Human Needs and Conserving Biodiversity: Large Landscapes as a New Conservation Paradigm The Lake Tumba, Democratic Republic of Congo 123 Bila-Isia Inogwabini Center for Research and Communication in Sustainable Development (CERED) The Jesuit Loyola University of Congo Kinshasa, Congo, Republic ISSN 2211-9019 ISSN 2211-9027 (electronic) Environmental History ISBN 978-3-030-38727-3 ISBN 978-3-030-38728-0 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38728-0 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland Acknowledgements Some important materials included in this book come from field experience I have had while I managed the Lake Tumba Landscape as Program Manager recruited by World Wide Fund (WWF), Central Africa Program. The field work being discussed has been, then, generously funded by the US Agency of International Development (USAID) under its Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CARPE). Ideas, views and statements I make here, however, do reflect neither views of USAID/CARPE nor those of my former employer (WWF). Apart from the funds to support the field work, I have been fortunate enough to get additional financial support from several biodiversity conservation organizations that helped the academic side of the work I did in Lake Tumba. These organizations included African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), British Ecological Society (BES), UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). I thank all of them for the support I received while I was conducting my Ph.D. research whose significant portions are part of this book. The book is built on published and unpublished elements. All previously pub- lished and unpublished materials included in this volume have been fully and appropriately acknowledged to the credits of all who have participated in making them available. This is the case when I compiled both published and grey litera- tures. As it is indicated above, some parts came from my Ph.D. research work at the University of Kent at Canterbury (UK) but some other materials came from dif- ferent processes. This is, for example, the case of the historical chronicle of the birth of the idea of Landscape as a conservation paradigm, the ethical questions raised by conserving biodiversity in humanly occupied areas and all the theoretical discus- sions about threat indexes, etc. For the first case, the work was essentially done through reviewing the literature and reflecting back on instances where I was part of the process. All materials related to the ethics of biodiversity conservation were drawn from my MA Research at the University of Leeds (UK) and discussions on the evolution of Pan, threat index, etc. are my own reflections. I benefited enor- mously from the support of the field teams I had worked with. Special thanks go to v vi Acknowledgements Prof. Michael Brudford of the Cardiff University and Cheryl Meridth with whom I jointly worked on the genetics of bonobos. I designed the sampling methods and collected the samples that Cheryl Meridth analyzed for her Master Degree super- vised by Professor Brudford at Cardiff. However, the interpretation of the results presented here is solely mine though I draw results from Cheryl Meredith’s Master thesis, which has been extensively cited throughout that specific chapter. I would also like to thank some of my former colleagues here: Abokome Mbenzo, Bakanza Nzala, Bokika Ngwalo, Dauphin Lomboto, Faustin Tokate, Guy Tshimanga, Matungila Bewa, Mbende Longwango, Philip Colson, Mputu Dianda, Zanga Lingopa who were part of the research teams. Where the field work was previously published with each of them as co-author, the work is entirely cited throughout the text of this volume. This is also the case for unpublished reports and materials. Finally, some materials, particularly those that were part of either my Ph.D. Thesis at Kent or my MA Dissertation at Leeds, were read through and commented on by Prof. Nigel Leader-Williams and Prof. Christopher Megone. Mistakes or errors are solely mine and should not be blamed on people cited here or organizations that provided support in one way or the other. Contents Part I General Concepts 1 From Parks to Landscapes: Reading of a Long Process ......... 3 1.1 Introduction ..................................... 3 1.2 Landscapes: Processes of New Conservation Paradigm ...... 5 1.3 The Ecoregion Program in Central Africa ................ 5 1.4 The Landscape-Species Approach in Central Africa ........ 8 1.5 International and Regional Political Processes ............. 11 1.6 Forces Driving the Landscape Approach and Conditions for Its Successes .................................. 13 References ............................................ 15 2 Landscape: Re-assessing the Conservation Paradigm ........... 17 2.1 Introduction ..................................... 17 2.2 Landscape Defined as a Conservation Vision ............. 19 2.3 Landscape Is Also a Planning Tool Linking Ecology and Economics ................................... 21 2.4 Ecology and Economics: What Is the Place of Conservation? .................................. 25 References ............................................ 27 3 Biodiversity Conservation in Human-Prone Landscapes: Social and Ethical Issues ................................. 29 3.1 Introduction ..................................... 29 References ............................................ 43 4 Landscapes Require New Legal Framework to Conserve Biodiversity ........................................... 45 4.1 Introduction ..................................... 45 4.2 Dealing with Obsolete Legal Framework in a New Conservation Paradigm ...................... 46 vii viii Contents 4.3 Using International Agreements and Treaties to Circumvent the Legal Vacuum ................................. 47 4.4 National Sovereignty Limits the Successes of Regional Planning Processes ................................ 49 4.5 Could the Biodiversity Diplomacy Help Where the Normal Diplomacy Failed? ....................... 51 4.6 Concrete Steps Toward New Forms of Legal Frameworks ..................................... 52 References ............................................ 54 Part II Data to Support the Conservation Action 5 Qualitatively Describing Forests of the Landscape ............. 59 5.1 Introduction ..................................... 59 5.2 Methods to Assess Habitats .......................... 61 5.3 Forest Types in the Lake Tumba Landscape .............. 62 5.4 Habitats in the Northern Part of the Lake Tumba Landscape ...................................... 63 5.5 Habitats in the Southern Part of the Lake Tumba Landscape ...................................... 64 5.6 Biological Diversity of the Landscape .................. 66 5.7 Plant Species .................................... 67 5.8 Human Ecology in the Lake Tumba Landscape ........... 68 5.9 Habitats of the Lake Tumba Placed in the Perspectives of the Congo Basin ................................ 74 References ............................................ 76 6 Bonobos in the Lake Tumba: Describing the Landscape Species .............................................. 79 6.1 Introduction ..................................... 79 6.2 Bonobo Presence in the Lake Tumba Landscape ........... 80 References ............................................ 87 7 Genetics of Bonobos in the Lake Tumba Landscape ............ 89 7.1 Introduction ..................................... 89 7.2 Materials and Methods ............................. 91 7.3 Genetic Variations in the Bonobos in the Lake Tumba Forest and Other Populations ......................... 92 7.4 Genetics of the Bonobos in the Lake Tumba Forests in Perspectives ................................... 93 7.5 Genetics and the Habitat Types Can Help in Identifying the Species Evolutionary