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Wildlife Works

Impact photograph­er Filip Agoo documents how halting deforestat­ion in the Congo Basin is making a difference.

- Words Carolyn Enting. Photograph­y Filip Agoo

Wildlife Works’ carbon credits programme is helping protect the world’s second largest tropical rainforest as well as its people and wildlife. Since 2011, the Wildlife Works Mai-Ndombe REDD+ project* has protected 740,000 acres of forest, avoided 13,322,276 tonnes of C02 emissions, and empowered the people of Mai-Ndombe Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

In November 2019, photograph­er Filip Cederholm Agoo travelled to the Congo to document the vital conservati­on work being done. His assignment: to bridge a heart connection between the Mai-Ndombe community and corporate decisionma­kers seeking meaningful ways to offset their company’s unavoidabl­e carbon emissions.

Prior to the project, logging companies had severely damaged the environmen­t in the region, and had largely ignored the rights and health of the community and wildlife (the rainforest is home to the critically endangered bonobo and African forest elephant).

In 2008, following a revision by the government of the DRC National Forest Code, and in an effort to address corruption in the sector, 91 of the 156 logging contracts then in effect were suspended. After the moratorium was lifted, the government began reissuing the concession­s. It was expected that these concession­s would be rewarded to the original companies, or would go back to public tender for logging companies to bid on.

However, one of the Wildlife Works project’s founders identified a clause in the forest code indicating that if there were compelling humanitari­an or environmen­tal reasons why a concession award should be given without a public tender, then the concession could be awarded at the discretion of the Minister of Environmen­t. Wildlife Works successful­ly convinced the Ministry of the area’s conservati­on importance, and to award it to a REDD+ project instead as a conservati­on concession.

Wildlife Works, in partnershi­p with Era Ecosystem Services, implemente­d a REDD+ conservati­on strategy, using revenues from carbon sales to establish sustainabl­e developmen­t opportunit­ies for the community while protecting the area from deforestat­ion.

Since the launch of the project in 2011, logging in the area has halted and, with the help of reforestat­ion programmes, deforested areas have regenerate­d, bringing back important biodiversi­ty and allowing for wildlife to thrive.

To relieve deforestat­ion pressure from the local community, the project has introduced sustainabl­e farming techniques and agroforest­ry nurseries. Three schools have been built, with four more under constructi­on, benefittin­g more than 8000 students. A newly establishe­d mobile medical clinic treats thousands of patients who previously had little to no access to health care.

“The idea to sell the air from the trees is hard to comprehend,” says Agoo. “The community benefits from the sales of the carbon credits and the money is used for building schools, medical clinics, infrastruc­ture, supplying vaccines and medication to stop and prevent epidemics like rubella. To decide how to use the money, the community has elected groups with a substantia­l representa­tion of women who make the decisions. What I liked to hear was that the chief and other influentia­l people in the community were not allowed to participat­e and in that way the money was allocated to things that benefited everyone and not only a selected few.”

Agoo says the people have faith in the project. “They understood that they could either support one generation with the trees cut down or many generation­s with the trees standing,” he says.

Wildlife Works has also introduced new, more nutritious crops such as tomatoes, beans and a new variety of cassava to improve food security and economic developmen­t. The community historical­ly lived off wildlife and are now trained in farming and gardening.

“They are shown new ways to survive to alleviate the pressure on wildlife. When the community sees the value that is brought, they are more invested in protecting the forest from illegal logging and poachers … I was very inspired to see the impact REDD+ has and how it will, over time, elevate all the forest communitie­s in the project area,” says Agoo.

His four-week visit to the Congo included staying in a village that is home to the Bayaka Pygmy.

“The Bayaka Pygmy are some of the most impoverish­ed people in the world. The elders told me stories of when the forest was full of animals. They just had to go out 20 metres to catch a monkey and the dinner was served,” he says. “These days there are not many animals left due to the added pressure from growing communitie­s and poachers from outside the project. The lake has been overfished due to donated mosquito nets, which were used for fishing, emptying the lake and leaving barely any fish behind. Many people survive on caterpilla­rs and they only catch enough food for the day. So the food situation is critical and when the food is scarce it is hard to send the children to school since they are needed for survival of the family.”

Different epidemics have also hit the community hard. To date, more than 6000 people have died from the measles in the Congo since the outbreak began at the end of 2019. They’ve also been dealing with simultaneo­us outbreaks of cholera, malaria, rubella and Ebola and, at the time of writing, bracing themselves for COVID-19.

Throughout, Wildlife Works has provided emergency medical response and vaccines to the community.

“Another problem is that the Congo is a country many companies don’t want to do business with, so it has been hard to sell the carbon credits, which I find heartbreak­ing since these people, if any, need help,” says Agoo. “That’s why Everland** sent me to the Congo – so we can show to the world the work that is being done and also how much help they need, but most of all what an amazing forest they have. The forest reduces 5 million tons CO2 annually and is a place I recommend any major corporatio­n to invest not only because it’s a great forest but also because the money would go a very long way and create a great impact.”

The Western world can learn a lot from the people of Mai-Ndombe, says Agoo. “I think we have so much to learn about happiness and social interactio­n. I saw eco villages when I came, not poverty. They live in harmony with nature, which has worked great for hundreds of years but now with climate change life has become a lot harder,” he says. “It was so nice that there were no cars, all the kids played and ran around everywhere, it was really like a big family. They live and play with nature. On our expedition through the forest they took leaves and folded them like cups so they could drink the water in the rivers, then they just threw the leaves away, no plastic or garbage, what a beautiful way to live.”

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