REDD+ – Mai Ndombe, DRC (Congo)

Project Description

The project area is an ecologically rich and diverse area which includes some of the world’s most important wetlands and was previously zoned for commercial timber extraction.  It is home to Chimpanzees, Bonobos and forest elephants, and around 50,000 people

Leading deforestation drivers are logging, subsistence agricultural practices and aggressive fuelwood/ charcoal use

Its activities consist largely of participatory community-based conservation initiatives which reduce local incentives toward unsustainable land use, with emphasis on agricultural improvements

It is focused on four main themes:

• stopping planned legal and reducing unplanned illegal logging
• agricultural improvement activities
• village-centred capacity building through Local Development Committees (CLDs)
• infrastructure and socio-economic development activities

Activities are funded through carbon financing and designed to reduce/ eliminate deforestation in the project area, while improving socio-economic livelihood of surrounding community

Sustainability Beyond Carbon

Project proponents are working closely with the villages and communities in the project area to educate, inform, listen, learn and most importantly, to understand and respect their local customs

They are engaged with each major village and/or seat of traditional authority, and consent to develop the project in a participatory manner was given by all traditional authorities

The community engagement process will continue throughout the life of the project

Project objectives include:

• building a minimum of 20 schools
• construction of healthcare centres in 5 villages plus reparation and extension of secondary hospitals in 2 villages
• assisting transportation to off-concession markets for agricultural and other products
• providing a network of rural canteens
• improving agricultural production techniques
• generating employment by recruiting from the local communities