Poaching persists in the DRC's parks and nature reserves. Poaching is generally the work of renegade men in uniform. This illegal hunting threatens the survival of protected species. Due to its geographical position, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has one of the richest biodiversity on the planet. The fauna includes unique and rare species such as the pygmy chimpanzee or bonobo, the lowland gorilla, the mountain gorilla, lowland and forest elephants, the northern white rhinoceros and the okapi.

Healthy ecosystems and the vital services they provide to people depend on wildlife. Managing human-wildlife conflicts is therefore essential to achieving the United Nations' Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, in which "humanity lives in harmony with nature and wildlife and other living species are protected".

Conflicts between humans and wildlife have serious implications for livelihoods, security and community well-being, and risk undermining conservation efforts by eroding support for protected areas, wildlife and biodiversity. Reprisals against wildlife can pose a serious threat to the survival of a species and reverse the progress made in conservation. All human-wildlife conflicts are complex, but some are more so than others.

Indeed, the threats posed by animals to local communities living in the Maiko-Tayna Landscape are multiplying day by day, with potentially disastrous consequences for both wildlife and people.

The Maiko-Tayna Landscape is an area of pristine primary forest of great eco-systemic value to humanity. It is home to a number of rare species, including lowland gorillas, chimpanzees, red colobus monkeys, okapis, forest elephants, pangolins and Congolese peacocks. The connecting corridor between the two protected areas (Maiko and Tayna) increases the overall importance of the area for conservation, particularly for biodiversity, but also for the people who live there. Conflicts over resources and land have led people to invade and exploit the Maiko National Park, resulting in deforestation, extraction of mineral resources, poaching and illegal farming.

Description of the environment and involved conservation organisations

The area covered by this article includes the central sector of the Maiko National Park (MNP) as well as the corridors between this park and the Tayna Reserve, and between the park and the Usala Reserve.

The serious situation in the area was first brought to our attention by an organisation called 'Communautés Locales Unies pour la Nature et les Développements' (CLUND), which is a community-based non-profit association. It aims to protect the forest and conserve its biodiversity, with one main objective: the development and defence of the rights of local communities and indigenous peoples who own the forests on the basis of their customs. Better-known players such as FLOWADE and the Usala Reserve have also sounded the alarm.

As with FLOWADE, CLUND's policy of working closely with local communities has enabled it to record cases of poaching of key species and of human-wildlife conflicts in the area. Despite these records, no practical measures have been put in place to prevent these conflicts and come to the aid of the victims of the destruction caused by wildlife through compensation or other support, even though the products destroyed by wildlife remain the only means and source of subsistence for local communities (Zimmermann et al. 2020).

The people expelled from the area when the MNP was created (most of them belonging to the Pygmy, Lombi and Kumu communities) have never been compensated in any way, which is the cause of numerous conflicts on the ground. From an economic point of view, the creation of the national park has caused much hardship for indigenous peoples and local communities, in particular the ordered abandonment of several villages of the Loya group in the Bakumu-d'Angumu sector - such as Batite, Bayangana, Bakwame, Banatindo and their lands - which have become part of the MNP. The people of these villages have taken refuge in the landless Usala community, where they lead an extremely precarious life, which has led them to exploit the fauna and flora of the park (information from Batite village chief).

Cases of poaching of key species in the area between 2023 and March 2025

• In 2023, one elephant was shot dead in Katrikwaze, Maiko-Nord, by renegade men of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC). The case was dealt with by the courts in Butembo.
• In October 2024, a gorilla was shot dead in Burondo (Papy 2024). This case was reported in our previous article (Gorilla Journal 69).
• On 29 December 2024, an okapi was shot dead by poachers in the village of Magwada in the Maiko National Park, two hours' walk from the village of Ilunga (see photo.
• Also in 2024, a male elephant and an okapi were shot dead by renegade men of the FARDC who had come from Balobe for the purpose.
• Families of elephants from the Maiko National Park returned to the area around the villages of Mandaye, Kamanya and Mabombi, but two of these elephants were shot dead in January 2025 by uniformed poachers (information from Vumilia village chief).

Measures to mitigate or eradicate conflict and poaching

• Plan and implement effective measures to protect flora and fauna through cooperation between the local communities living near the park and the park managers.
• Implement effective measures to prevent human-wildlife conflicts in the region through the mobilisation of park managers to develop an understanding of the socio-cultural reality of the communities affected by these conflicts.
• Deal immediately with issues of human-wildlife conflict to prevent these conflicts from degenerating into major rifts between park managers and local communities where professional mediation and reconciliation processes are necessary (Zimmermann et al. 2020).
• Establish sustainable forest management to ensure the viability of forest ecosystems as a whole, and at all levels, while meeting socio-economic needs for the use of various forest resources (Limoges et al. 2013).
• Draw up a programme of emergency anti-poaching measures through consultation with all stakeholders, take courageous action to defeat or negotiate the withdrawal of armed groups to enable the reopening of the patrol posts at Loya and Mandaye and the stepping up of anti-poaching patrols.
• Establish a collaborative partnership between the managers of the Maiko National Park and local partners (community-based associations) such as CLUND, FLOWADE, RGU, local communities and Tayna to help curb this worrying situation;
• Set up an environmental education programme for communities living near the MNP;
• Set up development actions with visible and rapid impacts to support the evicted communities in the central-eastern part of the Maiko National Park.

Conclusion

Several factors have contributed to the worrying situation of poaching in the Maiko-Tayna Landscape, particularly the socio-security situation, the absence of park managers in the area, human-wildlife conflict and the insensitivity of local communities to nature conservation. The solutions proposed here may go some way towards resolving this alarming situation, which is threatening the wildlife heritage of the Maiko National Park in particular, the biodiversity of the tropical forests of the Congo Basin, and the endemic species of the DRC.

Papy Mahamudi Kabaya Eustache and Claude Sikubwabo Kiyengo

References
Abdelmalki, L. & Mundler, P. (2010): Séminaire sur la protection de l'environnement et le développement local. P. 3
Limoges, B. et al. (2013): Terminologie relative à la conservation de la biodiversité in situ. Le Naturaliste canadien 137 (2), 21-27
Soliku, O. & Schraml, U. (2020): From conflict to collaboration: the contribution of co-management in mitigating conflicts in Mole National Park, Ghana. Oryx 54 (4), 483-493
Zimmermann, A. et al. (2020): Levels of conflict over wildlife: understanding and addressing the right problem. Conservation science and practice 2 (10), e259