The overall objective for the Understanding the Ecological and Socioeconomic importance of plants used by Batwa Indigenous Communities in upland Kahuzi-Biega National Park, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to Inform Habitat Restoration is to restore degraded areas in Kahuzi-Biega National Park (KBNP) and reduce extractive pressures in this critical national park by raising local capacity to establish multidisciplinary species inventories for insights into how forest composition and regeneration sustains biodiversity.

The project will gather traditional knowledge through interviews with Indigenous Batwa living on the periphery of the park to document useful plant species and those consumed by great apes living in KBNP. Shared data will inform habitat restoration best practices both in the park and in adjacent community areas. One result may be to prioritize planting of tree species with high socio-cultural value to improve local access to important natural resources that have become rare outside the national park and reduce pressure on forests within the park. To achieve these goals, the project will train government and community partners in data collection through botanical field research. The project will also compare assisted versus natural forest regeneration in the park by assessing species composition in areas undergoing active restoration versus in nearby areas undergoing passive regeneration.

The immediate objectives of the project are:

(1) Reforest degraded areas in Kahuzi-Biega National Park and reduce extractive pressures in the park.
(2) Better understand how great ape-dispersed plants shape forest composition and regeneration.
(3) Document how Indigenous Batwa and other communities on the park’s periphery use native plants for sociocultural well-being.
(4) Document the plant species consumed by great apes (gorillas and chimpanzees).
(5) Document the traditional environmental knowledge of Indigenous Batwa families living around Kahuzi-Biega National Park.

Key deliverables include:

(a) Documentation of the range of plants consumed by great apes across seasons in upland Kahuzi-Biega National Park.
(b) Documentation of assisted versus natural forest regeneration outcomes in upland Kahuzi-Biega National Park.
(c) Documentation of sociocultural values of plants consumed by great apes, Indigenous Batwa and other park-adjacent communities.
(d) Creation of a handbook of key local plants species used by the community; a multidisciplinary species inventory in upland KBNP.
(e) Targeted professional development support for an early-career Congolese scientist through the Conservation Fellows program.
(f)  Achieve botanical training of 50 national park staff and key community members across 15 villages reached through workshops and use of handbooks.

Augustin K. Basabose, Ph.D., is Founder and Executive Director of Primate Expertise, a Congolese NGO dedicated to community-based conservation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A renowned primatologist, National Geographic Explorer, and member of the IUCN Primate Specialist Group’s Great Apes Section, he has led primate research and conservation efforts for decades while mentoring the next generation of Congolese practitioners. His long-term research in Kahuzi-Biega National Park revealed that plants eaten by great apes are also valued by Indigenous Batwa communities for food and medicine. These insights now guide forest restoration and community garden programs in and around the park.