MAYUMBE
P-WAC, local partner
This project is an initiative of the European foundation P-WAC (Project for Wildlife and Apes Conservation). The president and founder, Amandine Renaud, is a primatologist and PhD student in anthropology. P-WAC is an association based in France and DRC which works for the protection of the great apes that are suffering from human activities such as hunting and poaching.
In order to achieve this goal, P-WAC works with local communities and motivates them to take part in wildlife conservation activities through education and by providing jobs and opportunities through the development of infrastructures on their protected site (access to clean water, housing, wildlife care center).
Their project is carried out in synergy with the local communities as well as other local partners such as the Congolese Institute for the Nature conservation, the Central Ministry of the Environment in Kinshasa, the Provincial Ministry of the Environment in Matadi and the village of Kinzau Mvuété.
Democratic Republic of Congo
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Democratic Republic of the Congo is the second largest country in Africa. Considered as the lung of the continent, it is covered by one of the largest equatorial and tropical forests on Earth. The main economic activities of the country are agriculture and mining, which are the two greatest causes of deforestation in the country.
Despite an abundance of natural resources, the country has a very high poverty rate. The population cannot benefit from the wealth that such resources could offer because of major corruption within the government and the illegal traffic of these resources. In fact, more than 87% of the population lives below the poverty threshold (less than $1.25 US per day). In addition, the country ranks 186th out of 187 countries according to the human development index of the United Nations and the average life expectancy is 48 years.
