Democratic Republic of Congo - Working with Communities to Reduce Deforestation and Alleviate Poverty Project in the Virunga-Hoyo Region

This project, entitled « Working with Communities to Reduce Deforestation and Alleviate Poverty Project in the Virunga-Hoyo Region » is a collaborative initiative with local populations. The project aims, in the context of that collaboration, to (i) develop multiple strategies to reduce rates of deforestation; (ii) provide alternative sources of income; (iii) lay the foundations for a multiple environmental accounting system that could enable them to access supplementary carbon finance, whether under United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) regulated or voluntary market mechanisms. It's focus on the area around Virunga National Park (VNP) and within a forest corridor to the north as far as Mt Hoyo Reserve (MHR). Its implementation should permit to increase the area of conserved/managed forest beyond Virunga National Park by at least 1,500 km2. The project has four (4) components based on CBFF’s thematic areas of intervention: (i) forest management and sustainable practice, (ii) livelihoods and economic development, (iii) ecological and socio-economic monitoring and baselines, and (iv) benefits from carbon markets and payment for ecosystem services. Project coordination and management makes up a fifth component.