Mumbere Lango, Kasereka Vitekere
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Biodiversity, Community-based conservation, Deforestation, Ecosystem, MTKB landscape
Poor planning and land-use allocation decisions can affect protected species by altering ecosystems. Agriculture, mining, and other human activities significantly threaten biodiversity and natural ecosystems. This research aims to understand the evolution of different microzones of land use and conservation efforts within the Maiko-Tayna-Kahuzi-Biega landscape (MTKB). It involves using time series of remote sensing, combined with existing regional and global remote sensing-based products and GIS, to provide local-specific estimates of land use changes related to deforestation data from 1986 to 2018. The survey identified 4 types of land use: mining, agriculture, rural complex, and conservation. The key results of this research show that forest degradation in the sampling area has an average rate of 8.24%, and 2.74% for deforestation over the past 32 years. Subdivided into three periods, the first period from 1986 to 2000, the period before community-based conservation initiatives were put in place, has a deforestation rate of 2.61% and a forest degradation rate of 7.04%. The period when conservation initiatives began, from 2000 to 2010, is characterized by a deforestation rate of 6.93% and 14.28% for forest degradation. This was also when mineral exploitation was at its peak in the region. The period when conservation is implemented shows (2010 to 2018) progress with a rate of 1.22% for deforestation and 2.77% for forest degradation, and agricultural activities cover 8% of the area, mining 5% (with mining exploitation license covering 30% of the landscape), and 40% for conservation projects. The current policy of community conservation needs to be reviewed and consider the momentum of community reserves that have proven their effectiveness, and reorientation of efforts to consolidate ecological corridors, as the mutation of community reserves seems to fragment the ecological corridor created within this landscape.
Cite this paper: Lango, M., Vitekere, K., (2025). ANALYSIS OF ECOSYSTEM CONSERVATION STAKES IN THE MAIKO TAYNA KAHUZI BIEGA LANDSCAPE FACING THE LAND USE NEEDS. Current Trends in Natural Sciences, 14(28), 36-55. https://doi.org/10.47068/ctns.2025.v14i28.003
