Tayna Nature Reserve is one of the earliest and most important examples of community-led conservation in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Created and stewarded by local communities, Tayna protects critical habitat for Grauer's gorillas and other globally threatened wildlife, while supporting ecosystem services that benefit local communities and the global climate.

Protecting a reserve of this scale requires more than legal recognition. It requires strong local institutions, reliable ecological information, and trained community leaders who can monitor wildlife, detect threats, and support informed management decisions.

What makes Tayna exceptional is that this conservation model has been sustained for nearly three decades through local leadership. The community-elected management authority, Réserve des Gorilles de Tayna (RGT), has demonstrated remarkable long-term commitment to protecting forests and wildlife.

In April 2026, RGT held its 25^th Ordinary General Assembly in Katoyo, Lubero Territory, North Kivu. The Assembly served as an important moment of reflection and collective planning for one of eastern DRC's most significant forest landscapes, helping to shape priorities for the year ahead.

The Assembly brought together a wide range of people and institutions involved in the governance and management of Tayna Nature Reserve, including political and administrative authorities, customary leaders, local community representatives, women's associations, and conservation partners. Among them was the Military Administrator of Lubero Territory, Colonel Alain Kiwewa, who thanked RGT and its partner GRACE for their commendable efforts to protect Tayna Nature Reserve, recognizing the reserve as a biodiversity-rich heritage site.

GRACE was represented by Country Director Jackson Kabuyaya Mbeke, who praised the commitment of all those involved and emphasized that Tayna is a source of both Congolese and global pride for the protection of Grauer's gorillas, a rare and endangered subspecies found only in eastern DRC.

Omer Paluku, Executive Secretary of the Union of Gorilla Conservation Associations for Development in Eastern DRC (UGADEC), also addressed participants, reminding them that UGADEC is a network of community conservation organisations. RGT is both a member organisation and an innovator of this locally led conservation model in the region.

Central to the Assembly was the evaluation of biomonitoring activities conducted between 2024 and 2025. Since 2020, locally hired monitoring teams have been conducting biodiversity surveys across Tayna Nature Reserve, an internationally recognized Key Biodiversity Area and one of eastern DRC's most important forest landscapes (see below). Forest Guardians completed the first systematic great ape survey of the reserve and have continued expanding scientific monitoring through camera traps, SMART, EarthRanger, and near real-time data collection systems.

This work is helping transform how conservation decisions are made in Tayna. Data collected by local teams has documented threatened and ecologically important species including Grauer's gorillas, eastern chimpanzees, okapi, buffalo, and elephants. A recent peer-reviewed publication on Tayna's great apes further reinforced the reserve's global conservation importance and the value of long-term, community-based monitoring.

The Assembly also highlighted how this proven approach is expanding beyond Tayna. In 2025, GRACE, UGADEC, and partners began applying the same monitoring methodology in the neighbouring Usala Conservation Corridor, where teams are surveying more than 150 transects across remote mountains and rivers. This effort will establish the first biodiversity baseline for Usala and support community-led protection across a larger connected landscape from Tayna to Maiko.

RGT Coordinator Jackson Kalungero presented achievements from the 2024-2025 fiscal year, highlighting progress in reconciling conservation goals with the active engagement of local communities.

The Bami of the Batangi and Bamate chiefdoms, including Mwami Stuka Mwanaweka and Mwami Shabani Mukosasenge, emphasized that community leadership and collaboration remain essential to improve the effectiveness of conservation interventions and ensure the long-term sustainability of Tayna's protection efforts.

The Assembly included a moving tribute to Honoré Masumbuko, GRACE's Education Manager, and David Mulamba, a territory chief within Tayna Nature Reserve who dedicated their lives to the protection of Grauer's gorillas and Tayna's biodiversity. Participants honored their courage, commitment, and lasting contributions to conservation.

The 25^th RGT General Assembly demonstrated that conservation progress is built not only through data, technology, and formal management structures, but through trust, local leadership, and shared responsibility. In Tayna, community-led conservation has endured for nearly three decades. It remains a powerful model for protecting Grauer's gorillas, forests, and the communities whose futures are deeply connected to them.

Réserve de Gorilles de Tayna (RGT) and GRACE Gorillas