{"id":34173,"date":"2026-07-05T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T17:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/?p=34173"},"modified":"2026-07-05T08:23:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T13:23:17","slug":"a-community-that-was-driven-from-its-forest-lands-in-the-1970s-now-protects-71700-acres-in-the-congo-and-has-managed-to-reduce-deforestation-by-87-in-just-one-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/a-community-that-was-driven-from-its-forest-lands-in-the-1970s-now-protects-71700-acres-in-the-congo-and-has-managed-to-reduce-deforestation-by-87-in-just-one-year\/34173\/","title":{"rendered":"A community that was driven from its forest lands in the 1970s now protects 71,700 acres in the Congo and has managed to reduce deforestation by 87% in just one year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a conservation story that began with displacement is now turning into something very different. Families whose ancestors were forced away from forest lands during the creation of Maiko National Park in the 1970s are helping protect a community forest where satellite data show a sharp drop in forest loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bamasobha Local Community Forest Concession<\/a> covers about 71,700 acres and is led locally by Gangala Yafali Mangusa Jr., a descendant of one of those displaced families. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In just one year, reported forest loss inside the concession fell from about 2,320 acres in 2024 to about 296 acres in 2025, a drop of roughly 87 percent, according to Global Forest Watch data cited in recent reporting by journalist J\u00e9r\u00e9mie Kyaswekera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A forest with a painful history<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Maiko National Park is one of the most remote protected forests in the country. It was created in 1970 and is known for rare wildlife<\/a>, including Grauer\u2019s gorillas, okapis, Congo peafowl, forest elephants, and chimpanzees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For local communities, though, the park also carries a harder memory. Mangusa said park rangers once began \u201cforbidding people from entering the forest and eating meat,\u201d even though Indigenous families had long depended on hunting and fruit gathering to survive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That history matters because conservation is not just about drawing a line on a map. For many families, the forest was where food, medicine, building materials, and identity all came together. What happens when that link is cut?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bridge
A bridge crosses the Rutshuru River near Congo\u2019s forest regions, where community conservation efforts are expanding.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What community conservation means<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The concession model gives local people a formal role in managing forest land. In simple terms, a local community forest concession<\/a> is an area where communities can legally help decide how forests are used, protected, and restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Read More: A frightened bat ray could warn the others without making a sound or splashing, by releasing a chemical signal into the water that its neighbors detect within seconds<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, communities can receive long-term rights over forest areas of up to about 123,500 acres through this system, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same source says the country has more than 338 million acres of forest, covering 58 percent of its land surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Bamasobha, the change began after local communities worked with the Peasants\u2019 Association for the Rehabilitation and Protection of Pygmies, known as PREPPYG. By 2023, the communities had created a management plan that separates the forest into areas for production, conservation, development, protection, and regeneration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patrols make the change visible<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The local patrols are not glamorous. They mean walking forest paths, checking for illegal hunting, watching for timber cutting<\/a>, and reporting mining activity that could damage streams and wildlife habitat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But those basic steps appear to be making a difference. Claude Muhindo Sengenya, a community facilitator with PREPPYG, said surveillance in conservation and protection zones may have reduced large-scale logging and helped some animal populations recover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The numbers give the story weight. A fall from 2,320 acres of forest loss to 296 acres is not just a neat statistic. It suggests that when communities have a stake in the land, forest protection can become part of everyday life rather than an order from outside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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