Inventory and Monitoring Unit: Meeting Information Needs for Conservation in a Country Emerging from Conflict

As the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) emerges from nearly a decade of conflict, the country’s remaining natural landscapes, among the most biologically diverse in Africa, are becoming targets for unprecedented levels of exploitation and settlement. This will threaten some of DRC’s most important wildlife, including species that are found nowhere else; such as the okapi, bonobo, and Congo peacock, not to mention other great apes.

Timely and accurate information presented in the right format, and to the right people, will be required to meet the challenges faced by DRC’s National Parks at a time when they have never been more vulnerable. The WCS-DRC Program has established an Inventory and Monitoring Unit (IMU), a cross-cutting program that will work with staff on the ground to collect, analyze, and interpret  baseline biological data, and to communicate the results in a way that identifies priorities for the protection of DRC’s vast and diverse natural heritage. IMU will guide field projects to help understand and reduce the threats faced by wildlife and their habitats.

IMU also supports the development of a protected area information management system at a national scale, through a collaborative UNESCO program, in conjunction with the Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN), the Congolese National Parks Service. This national level unit, known as SYGIAP (Système de Gestion d’Information pour les Aires Protegées, or the Protected Areas Information Management System), will ultimately be responsible for the entire National Park system database and the dissemination of critical information concerning the DRC protected area network.

WCS Activities and next steps
An IMU has five primary activities to develop and manage information, and to support its application for conservation in the DRC:

Inventories Post-conflict baselines for protected areas and key wildlife species. 
Many of Congo’s natural landscapes have barely been explored, and the post-conflict status of some of the country’s most distinctive wildlife remains unknown. Conflict has produced predictable losses, but inventories have also revealed surprising wildlife survival. It is important to know where wildlife remains and what threatens it before opportunities for conservation are lost.

Monitoring Are we having an effect?
Information on the status of key wildlife and trends in threat level to protected areas is essential for planning, and adapting conservation projects in the field.

Communication Mapped presentation of conservation needs. 
Computer-based mapping programs will be a critical tool to communicate the results of inventories and monitoring, as well as the lessons learned, in order to influence policy and planning at both the site and the national levels.

Technical Support Expertise to meet conservation needs.
A network of collaborating experts will strengthen project design and analyses and provide computer support in the field.

Capacity building  IMU provides basic training in field data collection methods and data management.
We develop links for professional development for national staff, and ensure access to necessary computer, software, and communications equipment. IMU supports site based data management units and updating of site maps. At the level of the National Parks headquarters in Kinshasa, IMU contributes to the SYGIAP national protected areas database and to the preparation of annual reports on the state of DRC’s protected areas for national and international distribution.