Democratic Republic of Congo

Fauna & Flora’s work in DRC

Fauna & Flora has a long history of navigating conservation in areas of conflict and has been working in DRC for several decades, ensuring that wildlife conservation remains a priority throughout extended periods of civil unrest and political turbulence.

Since 2007, we have supported the Congolese protected area authority – the Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature – and local communities to manage the country’s astounding biodiversity. Alongside our partners, we have played a key role in protecting spectacular, but threatened, species such as the eastern lowland gorilla, chimpanzee, okapi, bongo and forest elephant.

Fauna & Flora’s priority work in DRC is currently focused on supporting community reserves that are home to eastern lowland gorillas, by building local capacity to manage these reserves effectively.

Our primate protection work also covers the famous mountain gorilla: in 1978, Fauna & Flora helped establish the Mountain Gorilla Project, today known as the International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP). By bringing together governments, communities and international organisations, IGCP has been able to develop strategies to sustainably manage the remaining habitat of the endangered mountain gorilla in DRC, Uganda and Rwanda. Mountain gorilla numbers have increased from just a few hundred to over 1,000 since work began.

Our DRC work also involves a flagship project focused on the conservation of the elusive and endangered okapi. Supported by IUCN Save Our Species and co-funded by the European Union, ‘Supporting the long-term survival of okapi in Eastern DRC through coordinated, and sustainable local conservation approaches’ aims to track the locations of the okapi by deploying locally led teams across the Kanyama, Bitule and Omate community forests.