Kahuzi-Biéga National Park

The park has a long history of armed conflict. Armed militia have been involved in hunting, mining and farming inside the park. All sectors were affected but evacuation performed by the Congolese army (FARDC) from 2015 and as a result Kasese and Nzovu-East sectors have been freed of rebel groups (State Party of the DRC, 2017). Their activities have affected and still affect locally the animal biodiversity and endemism values. Habitats are also negatively impacted by mining activities and the cultivation that occurs around the mining camps and occupied former villages. Miners also practice hunting. The insecurity created by their presence has made large areas of the park no-go areas for ICCN.

The 2017 Reactive Monitoring mission noted that ICCN had very limited access to an important part of the property and the World Heritage Committee expressed its deepest concerns regarding the persistent insecurity in a large part of the property due to the presence of rebel groups carrying out illegal activities, such as artisanal mining exploitation and poaching (UNESCO, 2018). In 2018, a team of 27 ICCN and WCS staff was kidnapped by militia while they were carrying out biological inventories in the Lulingu sector. Fortunately, the intervention of ICCN and the provincial government ensured that all were freed (UNESCO, 2018), however this underpins the ongoing threat of insecurity to the safety and lives of conservation staff and their ability to effectively manage the property. Despite the relative improvement in security reported in 2018, the property remains infiltrated by armed rebel groups who carry out illegal mining activities and continue to hamper the surveillance work of the property (UNESCO, 2019). In 2020, the government reported an improved security situation which allowed patrol access to all seven sectors of the Park (Tshivanga, Kasese, Lulingu, Itebero, Nzovu, Mumbili and Nkuku) and a significant increase in overall surveillance coverage (69.2%). The armed forces (FARDC) in collaboration with the park, local leaders and other state services continue to track armed groups observed in the villages around, and those who take refuge inside the Park. This led to the neutralization of several warlords of the Mai-Mai, FDLR, and Nyatura groups (State Party of the DRC, 2020). Although the government's recent report of improved security is encouraging, insecurity remains a significant threat to the property and will require ongoing strengthened efforts to ensure the safety of staff and communities on the ground, and the effective management of the property in future.

The site has experienced a history of mining pressure. In 2011 it was estimated that there were 918 mining sites, of which 405 had armed groups present (Hollestelle, 2012). The influence of armed groups in mining activities is considerable - charging taxes, providing “security” for the miners, and even digging for gold themselves. Since an operation led by FARDC, most rebel groups have been removed and since 2017, it is reported that no legal mining concessions are active in the property (State Party of the DRC, 2017; UNESCO, 2017). However, illegal mining persists and patrols continue to locate and shut down active artisanal camps: 14 in 2016; 2 in 2017; 20 in 2018. In 2019, no mining squares were observed inside the property and surveillance patrols found 19 artisanal mining digging holes of which 12 were abandoned and 7 found active but subsequently dismantled by the patrols (UNESCO, 2018 and 2019; State Party of the DRC, 2017-2020).

The recent improvements are encouraging and will hopefully improve further in the short to medium term, however given the lack of surveillance of the entire property and potential for continued insecurity, strong law enforcement efforts will need to be continued into the future to ensure that mining does not continue as a threat.

In 2009, 10% of the low altitude sector and 24% of the corridor and high altitude sectors were affected by deforestation (UNESCO, 2009). The illegal creation of farms (cattle, crops) by wealthy/influential “landowners” in the Nindja ecological corridor constitutes a very serious threat to mid-altitude and montane tropical forests since the continuum of primary habitat types from low altitude to high altitude has been completely severed (UNESCO, 2009). The resolution of this issue has been a high concern for many years, due to the impacts on the ecological connection between the two sectors, and hence the integrity of the site, and the extensive transformation of land (secondary vegetation instead of primary vegetation) in this area. As long as the issue of farms in the ecological corridor was not resolved it would also not be possible to deal with the issue of the many occupied villages in the low altitude sector that existed before the creation of the park and which have always remained occupied. A socio-economic study is on-going to specify the current situation of these villages.

The "National Forum on Governance and Enhancement of the Property" was launched in April 2015 with a special commission that oversees the follow-up of activities. In 2018, the occupation of the ecological corridor was raised as one of the major obstacles for the removal of the PNKB from the List of World Heritage in Danger and the Committee requested that the cancellation of land titles and evacuation of the illegal occupants to be accelerated as a crucial part of guaranteeing ecological continuity between the lowland and highland sectors of the property (UNESCO, 2018). In February 2018, UNESCO addressed a letter to the government, concerning tension between the Park and the local communities. ICCN informed UNESCO that a reconciliatory meeting with the different stakeholders resulted in the signature of a protocol for a resumption of collaboration between the management team and the local populations (UNESCO, 2019). In 2019, the government also reported the evacuation of approximately 90% of livestock farmers from the park's ecological corridor (State Party of the DRC, 2020) and that ICCN-PNKB has strengthened its presence within the limits of the ecological corridor through the organization of surveillance patrols and by the peaceful resolution of the existing conflict between the PNKB and the neighboring communities / Batwa for peaceful coexistence, as well as to limit the impact of encroachment through awareness-raising sessions and a commitment to strengthening the Park-resident population collaboration through a high level dialogue on the process of sustainable protection of the PNKB and of the peaceful coexistence between the park, the Batwa indigenous peoples and the other riparian communities (State Party of the DRC, 2020). In 2019, the Committee welcomed the evacuation and requested the government to develop a rehabilitation plan for this zone to facilitate the regeneration of natural vegetation and to assess the impact of encroachment on the OUV of the property (UNESCO, 2019), however no updates were provided in 2020 (State Party of the DRC, 2020) and this remains to be implemented.

Bushmeat commerce, involving almost all vertebrate species, is very intense and thus affects the biodiversity values of the park. Forest elephants are under intense pressure from ivory poachers with probably only few individuals left in high altitude. Many players are involved including rebel militia (FDLR, Raya Mutomboki, Maï-maï). Elephants are now extremely rare in the low altitude sector. In 1994 the population was estimated at 3.720, but in surveys between 2000 and 2008 no traces were found in low altitude (Amsini, 2008) while in 2015 traces were seen in the extreme North-western part only (WSC, 2015). Gorillas were heavily poached during the wars (mainly for bushmeat) and probably continue to be hunted in the low altitude sector. The population in low altitude sector was estimated to be less than 1000 in 2015 (Plimptre, 2015), a decrease by over 90% since 1994 (Plimptre, 2015). They are also victims of metallic cable traps (used for antelope hunting) in the high altitude. The high altitude population was halved during the wars. Surveillance of the high altitude sector is currently much improved and hunting of gorillas here has been virtually eliminated.

In recent years, anti-poaching efforts have been strengthened, including 1921 surveillance patrols, including 70 tented patrols, 1845 return patrols, 1 aerial patrol, 2 mixed patrols (eco-guards and FARDC) and 3 intelligence patrols. A Center for the Coordination of Operations (CCOPs) for real-time monitoring of property monitoring activities has been established. In 2019, 71 poachers were arrested for trapping, logging and artisanal ore digging, leading to 17 convictions (State Party of the DRC, 2020).

Fish poisoning is another threat affecting the fish diversity in the PNKB. In the low altitude, the river systems inside the park are rich in fish species and some species are abundant. The fishing practice is frequent in the low altitude of the park. So far, local populations no longer use local ichthyotoxin, extracted from local species such as Tephrosia spp., rather an acute insecticide Andrine which may have devastating widespread impacts on living beings for a long distance even in a river large than 30 m width. It is likely that some species that remain undescribed will vanish before becoming known. As mentioned previously, the lack of coverage of surveillance across the park, mostly in the lowland, facilitates the proponents of these activities to operate in the park, noting that this fishing is prohibited in general under Congolese policies (IUCN Consultation, 2020).