OKAPI CONSERVATION PROJECT 2016 ANNUAL REPORT MISSION TO CONSERVE THE OKAPI IN THE WILD, WHILE PRESERVING THE BIOLOGICAL AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY OF THE ITURI FOREST OKAPI CONSERVATION PROJECT PROJECT STAFF Founder & President - John Lukas On-site Director - Rosmarie Ruf Asst. Director - Enckoto Napameyi Marcel DISPENSARY NURSES Asst. Director of Education - M’monga Kiete Anzatebedanga Accountant - Mutahinga Mumbere Eleme Mbambu Mituho Asst. Accountant - Kambale Katsuva Julien Mulowayi Katalayi Program Officer - Lucas Meers Seburo Bwichubungize AGROFORESTRY INFRASTRUCTURE/MAINTENANCE Department Head - Muvi Yalala Mbete Nguma Vusike Kiruzi Program Asst. - Mpinda Tchinkunku Kababo Mutubule Abdoul Kimakima Technician - Enckoto Bameseto Panga Madro Kasereka Katsuva Technician - Makubili Mwanika Sagbolo Yuma Katsuva Kaposo Technician - Masiyiri Mulawa Paluku Kakule Yangunapayi Makasi Mbusa Mughanda Abdala Moricho Muhindo Maliro Alezo EDUCATORS Gomo Akya Kakule Kavunga BOARD OF DIRECTORS Kalinda Mubengwa Scott Citino Kasereka Kyove Linda Fairstein Mumbere Kayenga John Heminway Nelson Murongo Charles Knowles Toliba Maseko Pat Manocchia John Lukas FRONT COVER: Male okapi recorded We'd like to thank WCN for providing by an OCP camera trap near the top of longstanding support, guidance and Mount Mbia, just 1 km from the Okapi fundraising opportunities. Wildlife Reserve Headquarters in Epulu. 2016 ANNUAL REPORT A LETTER FROM JOHN During 2016, the security situation in to carry out OCP’s far-reaching education the Okapi Wildlife Reserve gradually and community assistance programs. improved with no insurgent attacks During 2016, OCP educators produced occuring since January 2015. This was 2,000 calendars and 1,000 copies made possible by the support we provided of the first Okapi Wildlife Reserve to our partner, the Institute in Congo Newsletter which were shared with many for the Conservation of Nature (ICCN), communities living inside and along the to conduct more targeted anti-poaching Reserve boundaries. operations in conjunction with the Congolese army gradually shifting its Our educators installed large signs at the focus to keeping gold mines closed by two entrances to the Reserve that show securing access roads and trails to the the protected endangered animals living mines and following up on information on in the Reserve to remind all travelers that Maimai movements. they are protected by law and you cannot hunt them. ICCN patrols were dispatched to areas previously too dangerous to transverse We added a new Women’s Group in because of the presence of armed Mungbere, where OCP provided resources insurgents. In 2016, the ICCN rangers in line with what all the women's groups carried out 498 patrols which covered receive such as administrative support, 14,190 km on foot and resulted in 2,156 sewing machines and materials, beans snares dismantled, 70 poaching camps and vegetable seeds for community destroyed, 113 poachers arrested and gardens to each group in an effort to 1200 miners evacuated from the Reserve. support small business enterprises that As a direct result of improved security empower women. in the region, ICCN patrols were able to monitor 55.5% of the Reserve – an M’Monga Kiete, OCP Assistant Director increase of 15% over 2015. of Education, was the point person for the UN funded STAREC peace and After the attack on the Zunguluka guard reconciliation program that reached over post by Maimai militia in January 2015, 30,000 people living in and around the which heavily damaged the newly built Reserve through meetings and workshops guard housing blocks, the Guard post was to address current issues in the Reserve completely rebuilt using funds through a and solidify each communities and grant from the USFWS African Elephant government agencies commitment to Fund. In an effort to provide and promote Reserve security. sustainability, solar power and rainwater cisterns were installed in each of the We have had many ups and downs guard houses. over the last 29 years, but we remain steadfastly committed to our mission to As the security situation inside the Okapi protect and conserve okapi in the Wildlife Reserve gradually improved, we wild. All of what we do would not be were able to install camera traps to better possible without the generous support monitor the okapi populations’ response we receive from WCN, zoos of the world, to the reduction of the number of foundations, government institutions insurgents, miners and poachers traveling and individual donors. A special thank through and living in the Reserve. The you to all our friends and donors from images of wild okapi, as best as we can the OCP staff and ICCN rangers in DRC, determine, are the first recorded for the your support provides life-enhancing Okapi Wildlife Reserve. opportunities for them and their families. Progress made by the ICCN and the Congolese army to clear out poachers and miners has made it possible for OCP staff to travel freely around the Reserve OKAPI CONSERVATION PROJECT 1 CONSERVATION BUILT ON TRUST FOILS AMBUSH, SAVES LIVES Community Conservation is a necessary the sustainability of their food sources, component of effective conservation improve the delivery of health care and projects across Africa. Although we often education, while reducing impact on forest hear that ‘too many people are the problem’ resources that okapi need to survive. causing the devastating impacts their activities have on wildlife and natural We have anecdotal evidence that the habitats, what we also know is that a real communities in which we invest are more solution involves working with people to cooperative, are better stewards of their address threats to wildlife. Measuring the land and more respectful of Reserve effectiveness of supporting communities regulations. Although this impact is hard to and addressing quality of life needs, relative measure, as many variables are involved, to the ultimate goal of habitat protection it is easy to imagine what would happen to for wildlife, is very difficult to quantify and the forest if we were not working with the subject to much debate. communities; we just need to look east to North Kivu province where large areas have OCP has wide-reaching community been deforested and converted to large assistance programs that include support scale agriculture. of schools, health clinics, women’s groups, farmers, soccer teams and local In July of 2016, there was an incident development projects such as building at Nzaro on the eastern border of the clean water sources. We do this to create Reserve that showed why it is important dialogue with community members about to support communities and keep how they can cooperate with Reserve lines of communication open between regulations and at the same time, improve community leaders, conservation project 2 OKAPI CONSERVATION PROJECT 2016 ANNUAL REPORT staff and ICCN rangers. An ICCN- valued the people in the delegation and UNESCO delegation of OCP Staff, WCS appreciated what they had done to make Staff, ICCN rangers led by the Mambasa life better for his community members. District Administrator, was meeting with community leaders in Nduye to enhance Once informed about the ambush, ICCN collaboration between all parties in rangers hiked through the forest and implementing peace and security initiatives came up behind where the poachers had funded by the UN. positioned themselves, surprising them. Not unforeseen, a shoot-out ensued, and OCP has been working directly with one poacher was killed and the rest fled the Walese Karo community since 1994 into the forest. No rangers were injured. through the establishment of the Bukulani The delegation then passed, picked up the and Nduye ICCN patrol posts, initiating rangers and made it safely to Mambasa. soya-bean cultivation to help children in dispensaries, improving 4 water sources, Lives were saved because the community assisting the women’s group in Nduye with valued its conservation partners. These gardening and tailoring and providing were not ordinary lives. They were school supplies to primary and secondary dynamic people working diligently to schools. conserve okapi – all are highly skilled and competent advocates for conservation While the delegation was preparing to and communities that are critical to the travel back to Mambasa on the lone dirt functioning of the Okapi Wildlife Reserve. track through the forest, farther down They would be hard to replace in present the road, a band of eight poachers armed day DRC. These dedicated conservationists with AK-47s set up an ambush. They had are alive today because we invested in the positioned themselves on both sides of the communities and that investment really road along the forest edge ready to open fire paid off by protecting the human assets that on the partner delegation as they passed drive our programs to conserve okapi and on their motorcycles at a very low rate of the bountiful diversity of the Ituri Forest speed due to the poor road conditions. for all human kind. As the poachers were waiting in ambush, local people on foot and motorbikes were Community assistance is often shown allowed to pass by without harm. Several as a dotted line supporting conservation passersby notified their chief about what objectives, but in this case, it was a they had seen, and he sent word to the solid line from community members to delegation, who were ready to depart, about conservation agents that saved the lives of the location of a possible ambush. The chief dedicated Congolese conservationists along risked serious reprisals from the poachers a lonely forest trail in the middle of the and put his village in danger because he Congo. OKAPI CONSERVATION PROJECT 3 CENTRAL CORE ZONE CONSERVATION AREA When the Okapi Wildlife Reserve (OWR) Area within the OWR. This agreement was created almost 25 years ago, it was will prioritize the preservation of the envisioned that someday a portion of the biodiversity in this protected area by Reserve would receive protected status making the conservation of wildlife the similar to that of a National Park.