Working with Communities
WCS-Congo works with local communities to map and manage the traditional hunting territories around their villages, to help ensure that they are able to use these natural resources sustainably.
Almost all rural families and many urban families living in the countries of the Congo Basin rely on subsistence and small-scale commercial agriculture and on the consumption of fish, wildlife and non-timber forest products. This means that the livelihood security of most families is intimately connected to the health, diversity and productivity of natural systems.
With few if any employment and revenue generating alternatives, widespread loss or degradation of natural resources has and will result in a catastrophic decline in human welfare. Efforts to ensure the conservation and wise use of natural resources will directly benefit poor, often marginalized, rural families, and will ensure that the urban poor have access to affordable foodstuffs and building materials.