The forests of the Albertine Rift are known for their high biodiversity and the important ecosystem services they provide to millions of inhabitants. However, their conservation and the maintenance of ecosystem service delivery is a challenge, particularly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Our research investigates how livelihood strategy and ethnicity affects local perceptions of forest ecosystem services. We collected data through 25 focus-group discussions in villages from distinct ethnic groups, including farmers (Tembo, Shi, and Nyindu) and hunter-gatherers (Twa). Twa identify more food-provisioning services and rank bush meat and honey as the most important. They also show stronger place attachment to the forest than the farmers, who value other ecosystem services, but all rank microclimate regulation as the most important. Our findings help assess ecosystem services trade-offs, highlight the important impacts of restricted access to forests resources for Twa, and point to the need for developing alternative livelihood strategies for these communities.

/pdf/social-perceptions-of-forest-ecosystem-services-in-the-3u1sshkb53.pdf

Social Perceptions of Forest Ecosystem Services in the Democratic Republic of Congo

On Earth Day weekend , Earth Optimism summits and related events around the world celebrated conservation success stories. In Washington, DC, over  presentations featured progress in protecting species and spaces, reducing pollution, restoring habitats, harvesting wisely, and tackling climate change (EarthOptimism, ). Participants included not only conservation scientists, but also policy makers, students, artists, engineers, inventors, and representatives of business, media and philanthropy. The successes described during the summits represented a fraction of positive developments around the world, and these continue to accumulate. Articles in this issue of Oryx, for example, point to progress in ameliorating negative human– wildlife interactions (Jamwal et al., ; Pozo et al., ; Scheijen et al., ), valuing protected areas (Davenport et al., ; Deacon & Tutchings, ; Lham et al., ), and increasing the potential for biodiversity and human wellbeing to improve hand-in-hand (Benedicto Royuela et al., ; Sardeshpande & MacMillan, ). A consistent theme in these—and many other—reports is the importance of engaging local communities (Kujirakwinja et al., ; Olendo et al., ; Superina et al., ). This bottom-up aspect of conservation successes means that by definition many are small in scale—each a drop in the bucket compared to the overall scope of the challenges we face. This mismatch in scale has led some to conclude that talking about such small successes is counterproductive because it could result in a decreased sense of the urgency of conservation amongst the general public and policy makers, or in the arming of those who oppose conservation outright with arguments that we need do no more. I received one e-mail suggesting that ‘Scientists who engage in optimism events should be ashamed of themselves’. Yet no one involved in the Earth Optimism and related movements argues that we are anywhere close to achieving what is needed to return human activities to sustainable levels. Nor are we suggesting that conservation failures or concerns go unexamined (plus there seems to be little risk of this, as reports of ongoing and impending disasters continue to pour in; e.g. Ripple et al. ). Rather, we are saying that we need more clearly documented and narrated stories of conservation success and better ways of finding these exemplars, which are often hard to track down. This is a genuine problem. I have found that almost anyone can rattle off a long list of environmental problems, but even conservation professionals are often remarkably unaware of what has been achieved, particularly in areas outside their expertise. We all need to know about what is working, as conservation successes such as those documented in this issue of Oryx provide an antidote to despair and its partner, apathy, and are a source of inspiration and information for those wishing to replicate or expand the scale of success. In this issue, for example, I gained much from Martin & Richardson’s () report of the complete eradication of rats and mice from South Georgia, one of the most important seabird nesting islands globally. The article provides valuable details on how this extraordinary success was achieved: the planning and funding required, how risks were minimized and effectiveness was monitored, and the need for continued vigilance. Even if South Georgia is just one island, and removing invasive rodents is just one conservation challenge, the fact that it was done on a surprisingly large scale by a small conservation organization is extremely encouraging, and the lessons learned will facilitate comparable efforts elsewhere, including in the tropics where removing rats could even benefit coral reefs (Graham et al., ). Over the last decade we have made inroads in professional and public awareness that all is not lost. When we organized the first Beyond the Obituaries symposium on ocean conservation successes in  at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, one of my colleagues told me there weren’t enough successes even to fill a daylong programme. Less than  years after the launch of #OceanOptimism by  of us in , the tag has been used by over , Twitter accounts. In addition to a growing number of professional articles that analyse the elements of success (e.g. Cinner et al., ; Pringle, ), several books have featured this theme (e.g. Balmford, ; Bloomberg & Pope, ). Nevertheless, we are in a race against time across all environmental fronts, and I often feel that the efforts to publicize environmental successes are themselves too small in scale. Whenever I tell an audience about the partial recovery of sea turtles (Mazaris et al., ) or of Chesapeake Bay (Lefcheck et al., ), it is gratifying to know that – more people are now aware of these achievements. But if our goal is to reach one billion people with this message— as it should be—our efforts are falling far short. Fortunately, the media now seems more receptive to telling the story of NANCY KNOWLTON, Smithsonian Institution, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 163, Washington, DC 20013-7012, USA. E-mail knowlton@si.edu

/pdf/earth-optimism-recapturing-the-positive-19nazsbm91.pdf

Earth Optimism—recapturing the positive

Assessment of wood provisioning in protected subtropical forest areas for sustainable management beyond the zone.

Conservation, extraction and social contracts at a violent frontier: Evidence from eastern DRC’s Itombwe Nature Reserve

Our ecological understanding of tropical montane forests in Africa is still limited, particularly in the Albertine Rift. Because of a greater role of environmental filtering at higher elevations, tree species' richness and aboveground biomass (AGB) is expected to decrease with increasing elevation. However, broader scale patterns are complex and different patterns have also been observed in different mountains. We established eight permanent 1-ha plots in Itombwe Mountains and sampled all trees >= 10 cm diameter following standard RAINFOR protocols to investigate tree species' richness, forest structure, and estimated AGB. We also collected and analyzed soil samples to establish how these affected AGB. We identified over 120 tree species, 12 of which were of international conservation concern according to IUCN criteria. Species richness was significantly negatively correlated with elevation. AGB ranged from 268 Mg/ha (submontane) to 396 Mg/ha (middle montane forests), and it was significantly positively correlated with elevation, soil organic matter, and soil organic C and N. We compare Itombwe with other montane forests in the Albertine Rift, to demonstrate their high floristic diversity, high abundance of large stems, and high AGB, insights which are crucial for the future management of these unique forests. Abstract in French is available with online material.

Tree diversity and carbon stocks in the Itombwe Mountains of eastern DR Congo

Biological surveys starting in the 1950s provided clear evidence that the Itombwe Massif, located in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, is one of the most important areas for conservation in Africa. Further surveys in the mid 1990s and early 2000s showed key species were still present and could be conserved. Following a report on these surveys the Ministry of Environment established the Itombwe Reserve in 2006 without consulting local communities who have legitimate customary rights to reside within the area and use the region's natural resources. Although creating the Reserve was within the government's legal authority, its establishment violated the rights of the people there. Here we report over a decade of work by a consortium of international and national human rights and conservation NGOs, the local communities and the protected areas authority (Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature), to remediate this taking of customary rights. Starting in 2008 these partners began a participatory process with all 550 villages within and around the boundary of the Reserve. Using a community resource use mapping approach, developed from best practices, the team helped communities determine the boundary of the Reserve, and then pilot participatory zoning to identify zones for settlements, agriculture, hunting, gathering of non-timber forest products, and conservation. This process secured the customary rights of long-term residents in the Reserve and protected their lands from being taken by non-rights holders. As a result of this work the use rights of communities were largely restored and the communities agreed on 23 June 2016 to formalize the boundaries of the renamed Itombwe Nature Reserve.

/pdf/establishing-the-itombwe-natural-reserve-science-25bpustifl.pdf

Establishing the Itombwe Natural Reserve: science, participatory consultations and zoning

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Establishing the Itombwe Natural Reserve: science, participatory consultations and zoning