Yangambi, pôle scientifique au service de l’homme et des forêts

The Yangambi Biosphere Reserve (RBY) is managed in a participatory manner to the benefit of local communities and national and international scientific community. Itis important to bepreserved while becoming a scientific pole of reference for carbon data, promoting and developing research on biodiversity and climate change, while ensuring the food securityof localpeople and the preservation of natural resources. The Yangambi Scientific Pole (YPS) project aims to contribute to this by strengthening the sustainable participatory management of the RBY and implement the first rounds of carbon flux measurements in the Congo Basin forest. The establishment of these towers is essential for monitoring the REDD + process in the Congo Basin countries and it is the first in the scientific world. The scientific coordination of the project is carried out jointly by ERAIFT and CIFOR on the concept of a coordination platform. The scientific coordination platform ensures the free access to data for researchers from all over the world and allow a wide dissemination of these data. The specific objectives of the project are to: 1. Protect the Yangambi Biosphere Reserve and its landscape, to assess the effects of human pressure on natural resources through joint action and the involvement of multi-stakeholders platforms, and contribute to improvement of the food securityof the riparian communities. 2. The Yangambi Biosphere Reserve becomes a high level scientific center through the establishment of scientific coordination between Belgian, Congolese and international institutions, the capitalization and valorization of knowledge and training support for the Congolese researchers in the international network of universities and scientific institutions. 3. Two measuring towers of the level of greenhouse gases (eg. CO2) are installed and operational within the Yangambi Biosphere Reserve and their data benefit the national and international community.