This project reduces the principal drivers of forest and biodiversity loss and is charting a new pathway for community prosperity through comprehensive investments into the surrounding local communities, which are among the most under-served in the world.
The community-run fish pond initiative is continuing to expand through the project area as a more sustainable option to wild-caught fish, with new succes s in breeding the African sharptooth catfish (Clarias gariepinus). Women are leading agricultural intensification in th e project zone through Community Based Organisations (OBs), securing food and alternative income through the establishment of a new cassava species. Construction continues on new educational, water and healthcare facilities, with a new clinic in Ibali set to open in early 2022.
Fish have been a traditional and primary source of food and essential nutrients for communities surrounding Lake Mai- Ndombe. For decades, the lake was teeming with fish caught by local fishermen.
Located in a remote 300,000 hectare rainforest area in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Mai Ndombe REDD+ Project provides essential basic social services for over 50,000 people in 28 villages. Already challenged by the remoteness of the project, poor infrastructure, and other day to day implementation issues, in 2020 the project had additionally to overcome the new challenges brought by the COVID pandemic. Yet the project successfully faced down these daunting challenges and made breakthrough accomplishments that advance the project toward durable conservation success.
Investing into the community’s youth, building capacity to address critical healthcare needs, and providing economic alternatives have been the main focus of the Mai Ndombe REDD+ project’s work in Q1 2020.
