The Mbendjele Pygmy communities of northern Republic of Congo are working together in a unique venture with an international logging company that uses GPS (global positioning system) technology and radio to keep each other informed about areas to be protected and areas to be logged. The Congo basin forest, the world’s second largest, stretches across six countries - Gabon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Congo and Cameroon. Congolaise Industrielle des Bois (CIB), a subsidiary of a Danish timber company, manages a 1.3 million hectare area of the forest that is home to around 16,000 people, 9,000 of whom are Mbendjele Pygmies.

Standards set by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), an independent not-for-profit organization, require CIB to preserve the forest ecosystem (also home to lowland gorillas and forest elephants) and to identify and protect ‘sites of special cultural, ecological, economic or religious significance to indigenous peoples’. Such information can only come directly from the Mbendjeles, but they live in small groups of 30 to 60 people, dispersed throughout the forest as they hunt and gather their food, have no chiefs or community leaders, and most do not speak any European languages.

"No one was sure if this kind of forest operation was possible in the Congo Basin, but we decided that if the company wanted to be here for the long-term, sustainable forest management was the only way forward," said CIB environmental manager Lucas van der Walt. "We hoped that these efforts would ultimately translate into a smarter, cost-effective and more profitable business." In 2004, CIB turned to the Tropical Forest Trust, a non-profit charity based in Switzerland, for advice.

TFT engaged partner organizations and anthropologists familiar with the Mbendjele lifestyle, language and traditions, to create the Indigenous People’s Voices project which lets the Mbendjeles plot significant areas using a geographic information system (GIS) which stores and analyzes reference points. The data is incorporated into CIB’s system to produce accurate harvesting maps.

Dr Jerome Lewis, an anthropologist at the London School of Economics, helped design a user friendly software package called CI Earth that runs on a rugged handheld computer with a touch-sensitive screen. Using a powerful receiver capable of communicating with satellites even through the dense forest canopy, the device automatically uploads data on specific locations directly into a GIS map or Google Earth. Collaboratively, they developed pictograms - easily recognizable icons that made it easier for the Mbendjeles to record the exact location of, and the significance of, each site, even if they were unable to read or write. Pressing on the picture of a small syringe, for example, recorded the position of a tree of medicinal importance, and an icon of a domed hut indicated a village. Other important areas include burial grounds, natural springs and sites of spiritual significance.

On the first field test, the TFT team went into the forest together with some community members and staff from CIB. After two hours of capturing data, the information was uploaded to a laptop and transferred to a saved Google Earth map. The Mbendjeles watched as the computer screen first showed images of the entire planet, before zooming in to their location. Gradually, the computer revealed details of rivers they knew, and identified where they were standing. Within minutes, they could recognize landmarks and point to features on the map. Seeing the trees they had plotted that day gave them confidence in the technology. Even the older men and women became interested once they realized the system could help them protect their land. 

Mbendjele hunters now take the devices with them as they go into the forest to track animals. When they record the location of a significant area, CIB downloads the information and accurately maps the site. Exact locations are decided after further discussions between CIB and the community and the Mbendjeles mark off their key resources with white paint to ensure tree fellers on the ground know exactly which trees and areas will be protected.

Currently, the communities get information on where and when logging will occur from CIB representatives called ‘animateurs’, who meet with community members to give details of logging plans. But because the Mbendjeles spend much of their time in the forest,  the project team introduced radio – another new technology. A TFT feasibility study showed that radio coverage was feasible, and people were interested because regular broadcasts in their own language would keep the wider population informed. TFT also tested portable wind-up radios, to see if the community would use them and if they would be robust enough for forest use. The small radios, which don’t need batteries, proved popular and have since been distributed among community members and family groups.

The result is Radio Biso na Biso, which means ‘between us’ in the local Lingala language, the first radio station for indigenous forest communities in Central Africa staffed by people from the community. Due to start broadcasting later in 2008, the station will provide information on forestry management plans. CIB has built the studio and the TFT has been awarded a community broadcast licence. Along with Open Air Radio, a grassroots media project based in the UK, Dr Lewis will develop an 18-month training program to help with technical and production tasks.

The Mbendjeles have made a few pilot programs already and will eventually have regular broadcasts, with programs featuring traditional music, educational and public-service programs including information on health and locations and times for medical treatment and vaccination programs.

Although the station is based in the logging town of Pokola, smaller satellite studios will be built throughout the area, with a series of broadcasting towers to relay the signal to reach as many people as possible. The World Bank will provide some funding and CIB has promised to match that amount.

CIB’s investment of time and money into the Indigenous People’s Voices project helped the company gain FSC certification for one of its concessions in the region in 2006, the first such area in tropical Africa to meet the requirements. The project itself was recognized in November 2007 by the Tech Museum of Innovation in the social equality category of their Laureate awards scheme. ‘We are proud to be among those recognized for their contributions,’ said TFT executive director Scott Poynton. ‘I think the CIB approach is a living, breathing example that timber production does not have to be synonymous with tropical forest destruction. What we hope to demonstrate with our work in the Congo, and elsewhere, is that there are rewards to be had for companies that do things the right way.’

This story is adapted from a longer story entitled Logging the Forest, in ICTUpdate, Issue 42, Indigenous Knowledge: Adapting technology to tradition. ICTUpdate is a bimonthly printed bulletin, a web magazine, and accompanying email newsletter, published by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) ACP–EU, Agro Business Park 2, 6708 PW Wageningen, the Netherlands. Each issue of ICTUpdate focuses on a specific theme relevant to ICTs for agriculture and rural development in African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. Also see Congolese pygmies use GPS to save trees, 27 July 2007, run by SciDev.Net, which reported on a longer article about the project in Nature 448, 402 (2007), and a story entitled Using sat-nav to save the rainforest.  

 

 

 

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