Episode 07: Community-Managed Forests, Wildlife Corridors, and Biodiversity in the Congo Basin with Dominique Bikaba, Executive Director of Strong Roots Congo

Solving Climate, Naturally

In this episode, we sit down with Dominique Bikaba, Founder and Executive Director of Strong Roots Congo, a grassroots conservation and sustainable development organization operating in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that is securing land tenure for community forests and creating an ecological corridor for the critically endangered eastern lowland gorilla. The corridor preserves primary forest and enhances reforestation of degraded areas, while creating economic opportunity for community members. Born in the area that is now that Kahuzi-Biega National Park, Dominique has dedicated his life to conservation in the region. He holds a master's degree from the Yale School of Forestry.

We wanted to feature stories from the DRC because when it comes to addressing climate change, DRC stands to play an outsize role. Beyond its status as the largest country by area in Sub-Saharan Africa and the 15th most populous country in the world, DRC is home to 80% of the Congo Basin rainforest - the only remaining significant carbon sink among the world’s three largest tropical rainforests. It is also the world’s largest producer of cobalt, a critical component of lithium-ion batteries, and thus electric vehicles. Yet the DRC is also plagued by long-running violent conflict, an exploitative history of mineral and natural resources extraction, poverty, and corruption. It is both one of the most important, and most challenging, frontiers for conservation and climate action.

In this conversation, we touch on:

- The importance of the Congo Basin for both preservation of biodiversity and as the world’s largest carbon sink

- The idea that people are a part of nature, not enemies to it

- The need to combine, rather than replace, traditional knowledge with science and technology

- DRC’s legal framework for community-managed forests, and Strong Roots Congo’s efforts to secure community land rights to create a 600,000 ha ecological corridor between Kahuzi-Biega National Park and Itombwe Nature Reserve - crucial habitat for three species of great apes

- Drivers of deforestation in the DRC, most notably energy needs of a growing population

- The need for sustainable conservation financing that enables a holistic, long-term approach to landscape management

Want to learn more? Check out these resources:

- Strong Roots Congo

- Nia Tero

- Kahuzi-Biega National Park

- Nature article, “Age, extent and carbon storage of the central Congo Basin peatland complex”

- National Geographic article, “Inside the search for Africa’s carbon time bomb”

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Episode recorded on: September 30, 2021