Yangambi Biosphere Reserve

Yangambi Biosphere Reserve is a protected area in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is located in Tshopo province.

Geography

Yangambi Biosphere Reserve lies north of the Congo River within the Congo River Basin. It is west of the city of Kisangani.

Flora and fauna

Plant communities within the Yangambi Biosphere Reserve vary based on rainfall, soils, and human disturbance. They include secondary forests with Pycnanthus angolensis and Fagara macrophylla, semi-deciduous secondary rain forests, rain forests with Gilbertiodendron dewevrei, climax forests with Brachystegia laurentii and swamp forests.
The reserve is important for its biodiversity It is home to 32,000 tree species. Endangered and threatened tree species in the reserve include afrormosia, iroko, ilomba, and sapelli.
It was also once home to African forest elephants, but they have now disappeared locally. In 2018, a study confirmed the presence of common chimpanzees in the area.

Conservation

The protected area was designated in 1939, covering 235,000 hectares.
Yangambi was declared a Biosphere Reserve in 1976, part of UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programme.
Human activities in the reserve include agriculture, hunting, fishing, making canoes, and gold mining. The forest is used for research and experiments in forestry and forest regeneration. Illegal activities, including logging and resource extraction, also take place in the reserve, and illegal hunting has depleted much of the local wildlife.