Interactive Web Mapping Tool for the Congo Basin

Project Title:

Responsible Organisation:

CARPE

Website:

Organisation Type:

Government and Non Governmental Organisations

Project Director:

Jean-Robert Bwangoy-Bankanza

Partner Organisations:

USAID, Congo Basin Forest Partnership, various others

Administrative Country:

United States

Project Region:

Africa

Project Country:

Project Funding:

US Government

Type of technology used:

Data Management and Information Sharing

Technology Details:

Remote Sensing: Landsat imagery; GIS software: ESRI, ArcInfo

Support Of Technology Company:

Conservation/Developmant Focus:

Forest

Project Duration:

Project Aims:

Central African Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE) operated in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, and Sao Tome e Principe.The Congo Basin hosts the richest ecosystems in tropical Africa, however, very little is known about distributions of plant and animal species, and how they have been affected by the area’s 20 million human inhabitants, who depend directly on natural resources for their livelihoods. Unsustainable logging, mining, shifting cultivation and other problems related to poverty and political instability are posing increasing threats to this globally significant tropical forest. The aim is to compile a new tropical forest zoning map of the Mai-Ndombe region, Democratic Republic of Congo, to assist local policy makers in identifying which forest areas and plant and animal species are under threat from logging, cultivation and other human activities. To address the issues of deforestation and biodiversity loss in the Congo Basin and aid the design of sustainable forest resources management plans.

Project Activities:

The map consists of high-resolution Landsat satellite images that have been combined with GIS data sets containing information on the vegetation as well as socio-economic data. CARPE has started providing stakeholders, including members of fishing communities and farmers’ associations as well as natural resources management professionals, with training in skills such as the creation and use of geospatial data.

Project Results:

The maps show the relations between the forest resources of the Congo Basin and the local communities that depend on them. African decision-makers have access to, and the capacity to use, information critical to natural resources management – so proving invaluable in the design of sustainable forest resources management plans. As a visual medium, maps are powerful tools to engage local NGOs, individuals and government agencies in management. Through its mapping activities, CARPE hopes that its efforts to conserve the forests will help to slow down global climate change and the loss of species and genetic resources that are of universal value.

Future Steps:

• To provide information to assist policy makers in establishing a network of national parks and protected areas.
• To support the creation of a regional legal framework for rational natural resources management and anti-poaching laws.
• To be used to promote sustainable agriculture and ecotourism programmes.

Technology Lessons Learned:

Contact Name 1:

Dierde Smith

Telephone/Fax 1:

Postal Address 1:

Email 1:

dsmith@hermes.geog.umd.edu

Contact Name 2:

Telephone/Fax 2:

Postal Address 2:

Email 2:

Organisation Summary:

General Text:

Project Image: