Nkuba Conservation Area

Central Africa > Democratic Republic of the Congo > Nkuba Conservation Area

Summary

• Eastern chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) & Grauer's gorillas (Gorilla beringei graueri) are present in Nkuba Conservation Area.
• It has been estimated that approximately 200 gorillas occur in the site.
• The great ape population trend is unknown.
• The site has a total size of 1,580 km².
• Poaching is a major threat at the site, fueled by civil conflict and illegal mining activities.
• Conservation activities, implemented by the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, have focused on sensitization and raising awareness, employing people from local communities, including ex-poachers, and improving local livelihoods.

Site characteristics

The Nkuba Conservation Area is situated in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), roughly halfway between Maiko National Park and Kahuzi-Biega National Park. The site is community-owned and managed by a collaboration between the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund (DFGF) and local community stakeholders (DFGF 2020). The area is a biodiversity hotspot, providing habitat for at least eight threatened species of mammals, including eastern chimpanzees and Grauer's gorilla (DFGF 2020). The site also holds a wide diversity of birds, insects, plants and fungi. In April 2021, the DRC government officially recognized the community ownership of the three forest concessions that make up Nkuba Conservation Area (Starling 2021).

Table 1. Basic site information for Nkuba Conservation Area

Area	1,580 km²
Coordinates
Designation	Conservation area (community-owned)
Habitat types	Subtropical/tropical moist lowland forest

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

Ape status

Researchers at the DFGF estimate that about 200 Grauer's gorillas live within Nkuba. Nkuba makes up about 10% of the gorilla’s total habitat in DRC (Starling 2021).

Table 2. Ape population estimates in Nkuba Conservation Area

Species	Year	Abundance estimate (95% CI)	Density estimate [ind./ km²] (95% CI)	Encounter rate (nests/km)	Area	Method	Source	Comments	A.P.E.S. database ID
Gorilla beringei graueri
Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii

Threats

Poaching is a major threat at the site and in the region (Starling 2021, Maldonado et al. 2012 ). Hunting activities are linked to the civil unrest in the region and armed rebel groups who control artisanal mines and often poach gorillas (Starling 2021). Violence has left the local population in acute poverty, forcing them to hunt for bushmeat or work for mining operations that harvest minerals used to make electronics sold in the Global North (Starling 2021).

Table 3. Threats to apes in Nkuba Conservation Area

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Quantified severity	Description	Year of threat
1. Residential & commercial development		Absent
2. Agriculture & aquaculture	2.1 Annual & perennial non-timber crops	Present, but threat severity unknown		Habitat loss from widespread deforestation, mainly due to agriculture (Starling 2021, Maldonado et al. 2012).	Ongoing (2021)
3. Energy production & mining	3.2 Mining & quarrying	High		Environmentally damaging mining operations that harvest minerals used to make electronics (Starling 2021).	Ongoing (2021)
4. Transportation & service corridors		Absent
5. Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	High		Rebel groups in the region, which is mineral rich, control artisanal mines and often poach gorillas for their high volumes of meat (Starling 2021).	Ongoing (2021)
6. Human intrusion & disturbance	6.2 War, civil unrest & military exercises	High		Civil unrest from armed rebel groups have fueled illegal mining operations and poaching (Starling 2021, Maldonado et al. 2012).	Ongoing (2021)
7. Natural system modifications		Unknown
8. Invasive & other problematic species, genes, diseases		Unknown
9. Pollution		Unknown
10. Geological Events		Absent
11. Climate change & severe weather		Unknown
12. Other options		Absent

IUCN Threats list

Conservation activities

Table 4. Conservation activities in Nkuba Conservation Area

Category	Specific activity	Description	Year of activity
1. Residential & commercial development	Not reported
2. Agriculture & aquaculture	2.11. Farm more intensively and effectively in selected areas and spare more natural land	DFGF provides training in agricultural techniques and crop diversification (DFGF 2020).	Ongoing (2020)
3. Energy production & mining	Not reported
4. Transportation & service corridors	Not reported
5. Biological resource use	5.6. Conduct regular anti-poaching patrols	Unarmed rangers patrol the forests for signs of poachers (Starling 2021).	Ongoing (2021)
	5.17. Provide sustainable alternative livelihoods; establish fish- or domestic meat farms	Fish farms or chickens to provide eggs distributed by DFGF (DFGF 2020).	Ongoing (2020)
	5.18. Employ hunters in the conservation sector to reduce their impact	Ex-poachers are also employed as Fossey Fund staff (Starling 2021).	Ongoing (2021)
6. Human intrusion & disturbance	Not reported
7. Natural system modifications	Not reported
8. Invasive & other problematic species, genes, diseases	Not reported
9. Pollution	Not reported
10. Education & Awareness	10.1. Educate local communities about primates and sustainable use	Educational programming, includes radio shows and nature clubs in schools (DFGF 2020).	Ongoing (2020)
	10.2. Involve local community in primate research and conservation management	People from nearby communities are engaged and employed in all facets of DFGF's conservation activities—protection, science, community engagement. DFGF has employed 70 full-time staff members from the local community at Nkuba and hires about 250 part-time employees every month (Starling 2021).	Ongoing (2021)
11. Habitat Protection	11.3. Establish areas for conservation which are not protected by national or international legislation (e.g. private sector standards & codes)	The Congolese government has officially recognized community ownership of the conservation area, thereby increasing the area of community-owned forests in the Walikale territory by more than 70% (Starling 2021).	Ongoing (2021)
12. Species Management	Not reported
13. Livelihood; Economic & Other Incentives	13.2. Provide non-monetary benefits to local communities for sustainably managing their forest and its wildlife (e.g. better education, infrastructure development)	In exchange for protecting gorillas by not hunting them and alerting authorities of poaching activity, DFGF provides education, jobs and conservation training to locals. Since communities own the forests they have an incentive to protect them, motivated by the steady employment, health care, payment of school fees and improved living conditions (Starling 2021).	Ongoing (2021)
	13.3. Run research project and ensure permanent human presence at site	In 2012, DFGF set up a research station at the site, serving the dual purpose of studying and protecting the Grauer’s gorillas. The Nkuba-Biruwe station allows the DFGFI gorilla trackers and researchers to study and protect the gorillas and their habitat. Since 2014, the tracking of three gorilla groups has been the main project activity. Data are collected about the way gorilla groups utilize their habitat, e.g., diet, group movements, seasonal variations (Binyinyi, Ngobobo & Caillaud 2015).	Ongoing (2021)

Conservation activities list (Junker et al. 2017)

Challenges

DFGF staff at the site have to deal with armed groups and continued insecurity (DFGF 2015). In addition, the lack of law enforcement means there is no direct way to deal with poaching; to address this, DFGF tries to sensitize local communities and to get them to reduce hunting in areas where great apes need to be protected (DFGF 2015).

Table 5. Challenges reported for Nkuba Conservation Area

Challenge	Source
Lack of law enforcement	DFGF 2015
Civil unrest	DFGF 2015

Research activities

A study by van der Valk et al. (2018) showed that Grauer’s gorilla populations have suffered decreased genetic diversity from habitat fragmentation, making Nkuba’s role as a wildlife corridor between Kahuzi-Biega and Maiko crucial. Furthermore, another study found that Nkuba’s gorillas were more genetically diverse than populations living at the edges of its habitat range, highlighting the importance of Nkuba for forest connectivity (Baas et al. 2018).

Documented behaviours

Table 6. Ape behaviors reported for Nkuba Conservation Area

Behavior	Source
Not reported

External links

Relevant datasets

A.P.E.S Portal

References

Maldonado, O., Aveling, C., Cox, D., Nixon, S., Nishuli, R., Merlo, D., Pintea, L. & Williamson, E.A. (2012). Grauer’s Gorillas and Chimpanzees in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (Kahuzi-Biega, Maiko, Tayna and Itombwe Landscape): Conservation Action Plan 2012–2022. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group, Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation & Tourism, Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature & the Jane Goodall Institute. 66pp.
Starling, M. (2021, July 6). In DRC, community ownership of forests helps guard the Grauer’s gorilla. Mongabay. https://news.mongabay.com/2021/07/in-drc-community-ownership-of-forests-helps-guard-the-grauers-gorilla/
Baas, P., van der Valk, T., Vigilant, L., Ngobobo, U., Binyinyi, E., Nishuli, R., ... & Guschanski, K. (2018). Population‐level assessment of genetic diversity and habitat fragmentation in critically endangered G rauer's gorillas. American journal of physical anthropology, 165(3), 565-575.
Van Der Valk, T., Sandoval-Castellanos, E., Caillaud, D., Ngobobo, U., Binyinyi, E., Stoinski, T., ... & Guschanski, K. (2018). Significant loss of mitochondrial diversity within the last century due to extinction of peripheral populations in eastern gorillas. Scientific reports, 8(1), 1-10.
Binyinyi, E., Ngobobo, u., & Caillaud, D. (2015). Tracking of Grauer’s Gorillas in North Kivu. Gorilla Journal, 50.
DFGF. (2015). Illegal trade in natural resources affects Congo wildlife. https://gorillafund.org/uncategorized/illegal-trade-in-natural-resources-affects-congo-wildlife/
DFGF. (2020). Earth Day in the DRC.https://gorillafund.org/congo/earth-day-in-the-drc/

Page completed by: A.P.E.S. Wiki team Date: 05/11/2021