An ancestral answer to climate change

Kasangulu, one of the district’s 10 territories, lies in the northern part of Kongo Central; the extraction of charcoal and firewood are the region’s primary economic activities.

Because only 11% of the DRC is serviced by the country’s electrical grid, these fuels are the country’s primary source of energy, and offer higher profits than agriculture for the territory’s rural population.

The national capital Kinshasa - less than one hour away by road – represents a profitable market for Kasangulu’s fuels. But this trade comes at a steep price: as people harness trees for economic gain, the region’s rich tropical forests are quickly disappearing with devastating environmental consequences.

Having the highest biodiversity of all terrestrial ecosystems, forests play a crucial role in tackling climate change and alleviating poverty.

Around 1.6 billion people in the world, including more than 2,000 indigenous cultures, depend on them for their livelihoods, medicines, fuel, food, and shelter.

Despite these priceless ecological, economic, social, and health benefits, global deforestation continues at an alarming rate: 13 million hectares of forest are destroyed each year, which accounts for 12 to 20 per cent of the global greenhouse emissions that contribute to global warming and climate change.

But as a result of deforestation, fumbwa has almost disappeared in Kasangulu. Local sellers now must source it from other provinces, which increases transportation costs and affects the vegetable’s final price.

“For my household of seven people, I spend at least 12,000 Congolese Francs (US$6) to prepare fumbwa. It’s too much money for us, but I have no choice because it is a food highly prized at our home since our ancestors”, says Mvuemba Masamba, another Luseki resident.

The project set up two fumbwa nurseries in the villages of Kindundu and Boko Disu, where the plants grow for nine months before the seedlings are mature enough for transplantation into conserved forests.

Members of the local communities receive training in all steps of the operation, as well as on ancillary sustainable forest activities such as beekeeping.

After participating in all phases of the project, Mbuta Muntu Bantantu André received fumbwa plants to transplant into his land in Kindundu village:

As a result, he believes local communities will be encouraged to send their children to school because they will have higher income and enough food for their families. André also hopes the project is expanded to other territories of Kongo Central so that fumbwa can be found on every plate, as in the days of his ancestors.

In the village of Luseki, a community-based organisation responsible for 700 hectares of conserved forest has already transplanted over 13,000 fumbwa plants after its members were trained by RIID. “Now we know that it is possible to plant fumbwa. For us, it was a wild plant from the forests that our ancestors ate”, recalls Nuni Kuyeka, president of the organisation.

Small Grants = Big Impacts

SGP provides financial and technical support to civil society and community-driven initiatives that address global environmental issues while improving local livelihoods.

Since 2009, it has supported more than 200 projects in the DRC in the areas of biodiversity, capacity development, land degradation, international waters, and climate change - including adaptation.

SGP-supported projects in the country are aligned with national environmental protection priorities and implemented in the provinces of Kongo Central, Kwango, Kinshasa, Haut-Katanga, Equateur, North Kivu and Kasai.

Moreover, SGP DRC also worked on many other forest related projects, including as one of six countries participating in the pilot phase of the Community-Based REDD+ (CBR+), a partnership between the United Nations REDD Programme and SGP that was launched in 2015.

For more information, visit the SGP DRC Country page.

Visit the SGP global website for details on the overall Small Grants Programme.