Rapport mi-parcours du projet " Capitalisation des résultats du projet Makala "

Ce document décrit l'avancement des activités du projet " Capitalisation des résultats du projet Makala " au cours des huit premiers mois d'exécution du projet. Ce projet est intégré dans le lot 1 du projet : " Etudes et assistance technique dans tous les secteurs " de l'Union Européenne qui le finance par un contrat cadre via le consortium IBF (Demande de prestation N°2013/323021). Ce projet de capitalisation est mis en oeuvre par le Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad). (Résumé d'auteur

Developing management plans for periurban degraded forests around Kinskasa (DRC)

The forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo are part of the second largest tropical forest in the world. Many of the rural population of this country are located nearby and live from them. The need for wood energy in the capital Kinshasa, estimated at 490,000 tons / year (Makala Project, 2011), leading to a dynamic of deforestation and degradation of forest ecosystems in suburban areas and inducing significative deterioration living conditions of populations. This study is part of the EU project Makala. It focuses on the management of degraded natural forests through participatory management of village in the periurban area of Kinshasa. The main objective of this work is to provide an opportunity for an endogenous group, traditionally managing the village territory, to develop a vision for the sustainable development of their living space. Three stages were carried out: the sustainable management of relict forests, the development of agroforestry systems, and last planification of logging and forest recovery operations. The challenge for management planning is to combine these three types of actions, depending on the local landscape units, representative of the diversity inherent in soils: diversity of objectives (conservation, production, agroforestry, ...); diversity of soil conditions; diversity of users' rights; diversity of actors involved... This development is based on the local names, the perception and the appropriation of village territory experienced by the local population. (Résumé d'auteur

Assisted natural regeneration: a tool for degraded tropical forests

A major part of anthropic impacts on natural tropical forests in central Africa is related to unmanaged shifting agriculture and fuelwood extraction by local communities, mainly along access tracks (roads, rivers,...)and at the edge of forests. Assisted Natural Regeneration has been largely designed and used in dry countries. In a EU projet in DRC and Congo (Makala), we have adapted these techniques to shifting agriculture. We used the capacity of sprouts and seeds of remaining local forest species and induced specific management techniques amongst farmers. The results show a very good reactivity and regrowth of natural forest species with a low cost and low technicity involvement of farmers. Social acceptance is the most critical factor for successfull large scale development of such techniques. Such techniques can also be adaptated to industrial concessions in their efforts to rehabilitate deforested and/or unproductive areas and in their efforts towards sustainable management and certification. (Résumé d'auteur

Evolution of plant cover and carbon stock in the fuelwood supply basin of Kinshasa (D. R of Congo)

Context: The European Makala project has map the trees and forests resources of the fuelwood supply basin of Kinshasa, in D. R. of Congo and predict its evolution. The analysis of past land cover change, used satellite imaging techniques to understand and document the spatial organization, mechanisms of forest degradation and the mechanisms for the recovery of forest stands. Method: Through high resolution LANDSAT satellite imagery, we mapped the supply area of the city of Kinshasa, from 1984 to 2012. Subsequently we applied for each class obtained an estimate of biomass measured in the field and finally we have applied volume tables to obtain the potential energy wood. Estimating aboveground biomass was conducted in 2012 as a result of forest inventories in the field. The 317 plots (4337 trees of 44 species) across the four types of plant cover were used to quantify the aboveground biomass. These measurements were performed over the area of Batéké plateau, in the valley of the river Lufimi. These initial data, combined with satellite data allowed the first comprehensive assessment of the aboveground biomass in the study area. Results: The average volume of wood available per hectare between 2000 and 2012 fell by more than 50% in 10 years. Through the combined use of field measurements and remote sensing, each finage of the supply basin can be analyzed individually. The Kinduala village, in Lower Congo, near Kisantu is under great anthropogenic pressure. The analysis shows a strong deforestation until 2005 to leave room in 2012 as an open landscape where juxtaposed agricultural parcels and savannah. The disappearance of woodland is responsible for the observed decrease in carbon stocks (less than 75% in 28 years). Conclusion: We have available for the first time qualitative and quantitative estimates of the dynamics of ecosystem degradation (forest and non-forest) in the supply area of Kinshasa. Drastic reduction of forest cover, significant decline in fallow periods and savannah, declining stocks of biomass and carbon constitute particularly strong signals. However, these initial estimates are derived from a small sample was extrapolated to the entire supply basin. Should be in the months and years ahead increased sampling to approach fairer and concrete values. Only a conscious policy and a sustainable community land management, with a very high dynamic of trees reintroduction in agricultural land, can reverse the curve. (Texte intégral

Rapport de démarrage du projet " Capitalisation des résultats du projet Makala "

Le projet " Capitalisation des résultats du projet Makala en R. D. du Congo " (CapMakala) a réellement débuté ses activités avec l'arrivée à Kinshasa de l'Expert Junior Emilien Dubiez le 07/10/2013 et a pris sa vitesse de croisière avec la tenue de la première réunion du comité de pilotage du projet le 06/11/2013. Un premier budget d'opération a été proposé à la DUE, il est en attente d'accord. Une partie du matériel du projet Makala a été affectée au projet CapMakala et, en particulier, le matériel informatique, le mobilier de bureau et deux véhicules tous-terrains, ce qui a permis un démarrage du nouveau projet sans gros investissements. Des TdR concernant l'affectation au projet d'un agent de l'administration ont été rédigés et ont été envoyés au Ministère, nous attendons la validation du budget d'opération et la remise d'une liste de candidats potentiels pour lancer la procédure de recrutement. Les orientations et la stratégie du projet ont été discutées et développées au cours d'une réunion de programmation et du comité de pilotage. En conclusion, on peut estimer que le projet CapMakala a débuté de façon tout à fait satisfaisante, quoiqu'avec un certain retard. Les points à régler en décembre 2013 sont l'accord sur le budget d'opération et sur la prolongation du projet jusqu'en début octobre 2014, ainsi que le choix d'un candidat de l'administration qui pourrait prendre ses fonctions début janvier 2014. (Résumé d'auteur

Landscape management to develop agroforestry in Central-Africa. [P120]

In Central Africa, the degradation of tree resources exacerbates the effects of climate change (high variations of temperatures, dry air, etc.). However, attempts to limit this degradation by developing community forestry, individual forest plantations and agroforestry have often produced disappointing results. Contributing factors include a lack of land tenure security, which is required for planters and/or their descendants to benefit from the labour they invest in planting trees. Another is the vulnerability of isolated plantations, which can be destroyed by bushfires, wandering livestock, and illegal trees cutting. In semi-arid zones of northern Cameroon, as in the wetlands of D.R. Congo, research-and-development projects have combined two approaches to address these issues. The first seeks to establish Simple Management Plans (SMP) of village territories; the second to disseminate simple techniques for the collective management of natural forests and for setting up individual agroforestry plots using plantation or Assisted Natural Regeneration (ANR). The evaluation of these projects, based on surveys of villagers and forest inventories, shows that the combination of these two approaches may indeed enable villagers to slow the degradation of their natural resources and engage in a dynamic reconstruction of the tree component of their territories. However, the success of these combined approaches is contingent on several conditions. First, villagers must collectively see resource degradation as a danger and their restoration as an opportunity for a better future. The support of traditional authorities and administration also is required. Finally, to ensure that rebuilt agro-systems are well adapted to the current and future needs of populations under evolving environmental conditions, the support of research and development is often necessary from the earliest stages. This was the case for the enrichment of Faidherbia albida parklands in northern Cameroon and for improving systems of shifting cultivation by planting trees and implementing ANR in DR Congo (Texte intégral