In DRC’s most biodiverse area, farmers and park rangers battle for control
Kamandi village in Lubero territory, North Kivu province. Many who live here rely on farming within Virunga National Park. Photo: Merveille Kavira Luneghe/ Global Press Journal
If Kahambu Vwiravwameso, a farmer, stands on the hills on the eastern side of Kamandi, a village in southern Lubero, she can see some of Virunga National Park. The park, which runs through a densely populated area on the western shores of Lake Edward, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, is a breath-taking expanse of green land with rich biodiversity.
Over four million people live within a day’s walk from Virunga National Park, home to 500,000 hectares (1.2 million acres) of extremely fertile land, according to a 2018 paper published in the Journal of Peasant Studies. The ballooning of the rural population in North Kivu province — which has grown almost sixfold since 1960 — has made the fertile lands in Virunga National Park a coveted resource.
