Comments on: Something went Wrong in the Middle of Congo

By: J.P. d'Huart

J.P. d'Huart — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 07:24:39 +0000

DRC is a member of IUCN and a signatory of CBD. It’s a pity that a Minister officialized a Sankuru “reserve” that does not meet any criteria and protected areas category adopted by the international community. Let’s now hope that the new Minister will swiftly demonstrate its commitment for wise conservation governance by rectifying a situation which does not advance the national conservation agenda.

By: Alex Engwete

Alex Engwete — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 19:05:41 +0000

Any Congolese who’s been with any of the RCD outfits is a murderous crook (or a potential one) and doesn’t deserve the trust of peasants and rural people who had suffered in the hands of these gangs of looters. Kudos for the courageous people of Djonga and shame on BCI for backing such criminals!

By: Carole

Carole — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 16:04:25 +0000

The reserve is a good idea and will help preserve the important land. It is a good thing for conservation.

The DCR is taking leadership in declaring Sankuru a Reserve and deserves the full support of conservationists.

The negative comments sound like slurs against the DRC. Everyone needs to applaud their leadership and help make the Reserve successful by putting aside petty differences.

Wouldn’t it be great if people an supposed conservationists spent the time and energy invested in slurs into positive work.

With that note, I’m going to stop reading this blog. Its too negative and a waste of my time. Off to save nature now…

By: Terese Hart

Terese Hart — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:44:13 +0000

And then Didace was removed from office and DRCongo was left with Sankuru Reserve and all of us were left wondering what “protected land” means.

By: khusrow

khusrow — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 12:34:43 +0000

the question that needs to be answered is? why do people let others take control of things that don’t concern them.. and specially kill animal that are too innocent to realize anything

By: michael

michael — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 11:54:04 +0000

The DRC Minister of the Environment, Didace Pembe Bokiaga, who officially declared the new reserve, said, “This increases the total area of protected land in the DRC to 10.47%, bringing us closer to our goal of 15%. We are proud that the Sankuru Reserve is being created in the framework of community participative conservation…and will be zoned to guarantee the rights of the local population.”

By: sheryl, washington dc

sheryl, washington dc — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 11:15:42 +0000

If this MP does manage to get the meaningless reserve degazetted, it’ll be interesting to see how ACOPRIK and BCI handle the press. And who will get the blame?

By: Maina

Maina — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 07:01:47 +0000

Sheryl, Terese, I know you might find this hard to believe, but this happens a lot in rural Africa and in especially resource rich areas. A perfectly good project (conservation or otherwise) can be brought down by local politics. Just one undesirable individual can send everything spiralling into decay. If one local leader identifies an “undesirable” in the project team then get him/her out of the picture right away. Otherwise the local leader will rally the entire village to oppose the project – mostly to gain political mileage in his quest for a seat in the local council. But then again, deception is also rampant and many times villagers have lost their traditional rights of access to resources through deception. Villagers are almost always receptive to new ways of utilizing their resources as long as they can be convinced that by doing so they will be securing the same resources for their long-term gain.

By: Terese Hart

Terese Hart — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 06:56:12 +0000

Sheryl, I will keep you informed if I find out anything more. Interesting how little sparks from the middle of the forest can make a fire in the capital, Kinshasa. Apparently there is a parliamentarian, Ekanga, of the forest Tetela who is trying to de-gazette the still meaningless Reserve !!

By: Francis

Francis — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 02:51:34 +0000

Yes I read about the Sankuru Nature Reserve in June’s edition of National Geographic magazine. It said that the DRC government and US based Bonobo Conservation Initiative (BCI) have created a vast 11,803 square mile sanctuary, larger than the state of Massachusetts. They said they have an agreement with local communities to stop killing Bonobos for bushmeat in return for development aid. The last part states that ” Sankuru is the first part in a network of planned reserves to be called Bonobo Peace Forest “