DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
WOMEN FOR FORESTS
Women of the DR Congo WECAN/SAFECO project walk between the savannah and their tree nursery.
Since 2014, Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) in partnership with Synergie des Associations Feminines du Congo (SAFECO) is working with women in South Kivu Province, Democratic Republic of Congo to protect and reforest damaged forest lands; build and advance food sovereignty efforts; raise awareness about women’s rights and leadership; the long-term harm of industrial deforestation and illegal logging; protection of the Itombwe Rainforest in relation to climate change solutions; learning hands-on reforestation techniques; defending the rights of Indigenous Pygmy women and the local communities living in and around forest areas, and renewing cultural practices connected to land respect.
The WECAN DR Congo women-led project is protecting 1.6 million acres of old-growth Itombwe Rainforest and reforesting 1,209 square kilometers of the area decimated by generations of slash and burn, to regenerate this essential forest ecosystem.
The project was originally initiated by WECAN’s Executive Director, Osprey Orielle Lake, after meeting with Neema Namadamu at a WECAN International climate conference where Neema was invited to be a presenter. Subsequent listening and learning circles were organized to learn how a women’s leadership and forest protection project could be developed in the DR Congo. From there a wonderful partnership began between SAFECO and WECAN.
The goals of this project are to:
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protect and regenerate forest ecosystems for biodiversity well-being and climate mitigation
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promote food security and sovereignty for women and displaced communities
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create income-generating livelihoods for women through tree planting, harvesting, and sale of fruits and herbs from planted trees
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secure land ownership for women
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ensure access to healthy and local foods for project participants and community members
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give girls more access to education since they will not need to walk such long distances in order to provide daily wood, food, and other forest needs
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protect women and girls from gender-based violence during long walks to locate forest needs
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create women’s empowerment and respect in their communities
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uplift Indigenous worldviews of humans living in right relationship with nature
Learn more about the DR Congo Women for Forests project in the video below!
We are very thankful to have Neema Namadamu on our team as the WECAN Coordinator for the Democratic Republic of Congo. Neema Namadamu is a visionary peacemaker from Bukavu, South Kivu Province in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where she advocates for peace, women’s rights, rights for persons with disabilities, rights for Indigenous pygmy peoples, and Rights of Nature. She is Founder and Director of SAFECO, the Synergy of Congolese Women’s Associations and Maman Shujaa: Hero Women of the Congo. WECAN creates opportunities for Neema Namadamu to speak at international conferences and convenings about the success of WECAN’s DRC Congo project, and to speak directly with leaders, policymakers and the media about the vital importance of reforestation and forest protection.
Please continue on this web page to learn further about the WECAN DR Congo Women for Forests Project, the DR Congo Women for Food Sovereignty Project, trainings, resources and more.
Neema Namadamu, WECAN DR Congo Coordinator, speaks during the UN COP21 climate negotiations in Paris, France – Photo via Emily Arasim
WECAN DR Congo Women For Forests Project
Women of the DR Congo WECAN/SAFECO project work together transplanting trees and sharing knowledge in the nursery
The Itombwe Rainforest in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) is an internationally recognized conservation area due to the extraordinary biodiversity of its plants and animals. It constitutes a part of the Congo Rainforest, which is the second largest tropical rainforest in the world. However, its enviable wealth of farming, mining, forestry, water and cultural resources have been a constant source of conflict and war, leading to the ongoing suffering and human rights abuses of the Pygmy forest communities. The project is working to protect 1.6 million acres of old-growth forest in the Itombwe Rainforest.
At its current rate of deforestation, scientists estimate that the entire Congo Rainforest will be gone by 2100. Sixty percent of the Congo Rainforest is located in the DR Congo, making this region a vital area of concern. In addition to industrialized logging, illegal timber harvesting operations, mining and farming, local communities have depended entirely on the Itombwe’s old-growth forest for fuelwood and other wood products such as timber, charcoal and medicine. Through trainings and on-the-ground projects, WECAN’s Women for Forests project in the DR Congo addresses these issues through the elevation of women’s leadership, environmental education, widespread reforestation activities and renewal of Traditional Ecological Knowledge.
On average the project works with 5,000 participating women and their family members in planting seedlings in natural forest areas that have been clear cut, as well as generating new food sovereignty nurseries for local communities. The women reforesters plant all the trees by hand without mechanical equipment or vehicles and also commit to protecting the new trees from fire and animals, while also ensuring no further clear cutting and deforestation of old growth stands.
The women participants of the project are continuing their successful tree nurseries growing over 25 local tree varieties, which have medicinal, food, fuel, and reforestation purposes. Twenty-five percent of the new growth is for human use, and seventy-five percent of the planted trees are for re-wilding damaged lands.
A woman and her child tend the WECAN/SAFECO tree nursery
Each year, the newly planted trees decrease the community’s reliance on the Itombwe old growth forest for fuel or other needs, which is essential for carbon sequestration and biodiversity protection. Over half a million trees have been planted by women leaders and community members so far - all by hand, with no machinery or equipment.
Due to the project’s reforestation efforts to date, the Itombwe Rainforest biome is changing, and the rains are returning on a regular basis as well as wildlife that have not been seen in generations. The results are addressing drought in the region, and new, wild forests are spontaneously sprouting up near and under trees planted by our participants. The forest is rewilding itself alongside our efforts.
This is one of many forested areas subjected to decades of slash and burn that have been regenerated by WECAN DR Congo Reforesters over the years. Photo Credit: WECAN
As part of the WECAN Women for Forests Program, this project and campaign does not participate in any market-based mechanisms, including carbon offsets, carbon credits, biodiversity offsets, biodiversity credits, REDD+, or nature-based solution schemes.
In addition, we co-facilitate and coordinate trainings and strategy sessions focused on the protection and reforestation of the Itombwe Rainforest and the support of the region's Indigenous Pygmy peoples, whose cultural and ecologic heritage is severely threatened by unsustainable and exploitative logging, mining, and agricultural practices.
Through online trainings, on-the-ground workshops, and an ongoing reforestation project, WECAN DR Congo provides a platform for local women to learn, strategize, build, and implement a plan for protection of the Itombwe Rainforest, their rich Traditional Ecological Knowledge, and their communities living in and around the rainforest!
WECAN DR Congo Women For Food Sovereignty Project
WECAN DR Congo Food Sovereignty Project participants harvest sorghum. Photo Credit: WECAN
In 2020, WECAN DR Congo initiated a Women for Food Sovereignty component to the project. Local women are caring for gardens and fields to increase food security in their communities, which are located near two displacement camps.
Between eight food cooperatives, and spanning 20 communities within the Itombwe Rainforest, women are growing organic food to empower displaced communities and fight malnutrition. Currently, the women are growing cabbage, onions, eggplant, amaranth, potatoes, sorghum, soybeans and beans. This impact of this women-led project extends beyond participants, to their families and communities, accounting for nearly 20,000 people.
The project was started to combat malnutrition, undernourishment and poverty among vulnerable households suffering the consequences of war. In addition to home gardens to grow fresh vegetables for family meals, women cooperatives were formed to allow for the creation of small businesses for the sale of their crop yields. Permits for field planting are obtained from local authorities and the women participants are provided with trainings in best practice considerations such as sunlight, soil quality, accessibility and proximity to a water source for irrigation, weeding, and more.
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WECAN DR Congo Food Sovereignty Project participants harvest crops from garden beds to distribute to community members.
Photo Credit: WECAN
WECAN also provides training for women participants in the construction and use of Clean Cookstoves– which decreases the amount of wood typically required when cooking and heating their homes– and we distribute Solar Lanterns; both of these efforts help alleviate the need to cut down old growth trees. Providing clean cookstoves also supports the improvement of women's health in the area by reducing the exposure to toxic indoor smoke that disproportionately affects women and children and decreases the chance of gender-based violence and the physical labor associated with collecting firewood for fuel.
By promoting food sovereignty and women's leadership, this project is protecting women and children from the disproportionate violence they face in times of conflict. Protecting women, children, and local communities from increased violence and food insecurity is essential in forest protection. Without measures of stability, conflict can drive vulnerable people to harm each other or the environment for a false sense of security. Implementing a food sovereignty project is one way to reduce internal tension and enable these communities to focus on environmental protection.