Biodiversity and community forests.

As Team Leader and Short-Term Expert for Deutsche Forstservice GmbH in Kindu, I contributed to the Biodiversity and Forest Programme (PBF) with the Ministry of Environment of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The assignment focused on preparing a forest area for management by local communities, with the aim of securing village land tenure and preserving the forest ecosystem. My work brought together participatory cartography, field surveys and proposals for community-based forest management.

Key responsibilities

• Participatory forest mapping. Prepared participatory cartography for a forest area intended to be allocated to local community management, supporting village land tenure and forest ecosystem conservation.
• Field surveys and boundaries. Supervised field surveys for the delimitation of village forest areas.
• Participatory forest management. Proposed mechanisms for managing forest areas with local communities in accordance with a management plan.
• Wood value chains. Proposed profitability calculation mechanisms to support improvements in wood value chains.

From mapping to management

The work connected the identification of village forest areas with practical proposals for their management. Participatory mapping and field delimitation provided the spatial basis, while the proposed management and profitability mechanisms addressed how communities could manage and use forest resources.

• Participatory cartography
• Community forestry
• Village land tenure
• Field survey supervision
• Forest management planning
• Wood value chains