Protection

Our first mission is to protect the forest and its wildlife from immediate threats. Across community reserves like Itombwe, illegal mining, logging, and hunting are destroying habitats that have stood for thousands of years. Working in collaboration with the Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN), we are training and equipping community eco-guards, removing snares, dismantling poaching camps, and restoring 35,000 hectares of critical habitat.

This work isn’t just about enforcing boundaries — it’s about building relationships. Our eco-guards come from the very villages they protect. Through community-led patrols, participatory governance, and local conservation committees, people who once had no voice in the forest’s management are now its greatest defenders.

Each snare removed, each gorilla nest recorded, each poacher turned advocate — these are small victories that add up to lasting change.