Anthropogenic Disturbances in Northwestern Virunga Forest Amid Armed Conflict

Charles Mumbere Musavandalo (), Pyrus Flavien Ebouel Essouman, Serge Shakanye Ndjadi, Julien Bwazani Balandi, Timothée Besisa Nguba, Carlo Sodalo, Jean-Pierre Mate Mweru, Kouagou Raoul Sambieni and Jan Bogaert
Additional contact information
Charles Mumbere Musavandalo: Ecole Régionale Post-Universitaire d’Aménagement et Gestion Intégrés des Forêts et Territoires Tropicaux (ERAIFT), Kinshasa P.O. Box 15.373, Congo
Pyrus Flavien Ebouel Essouman: Ecole Régionale Post-Universitaire d’Aménagement et Gestion Intégrés des Forêts et Territoires Tropicaux (ERAIFT), Kinshasa P.O. Box 15.373, Congo
Serge Shakanye Ndjadi: Faculté des Sciences Agronomiques, Université Évangélique en Afrique, Bukavu P.O. Box 3323, Congo
Julien Bwazani Balandi: Ecole Régionale Post-Universitaire d’Aménagement et Gestion Intégrés des Forêts et Territoires Tropicaux (ERAIFT), Kinshasa P.O. Box 15.373, Congo
Timothée Besisa Nguba: Ecole Régionale Post-Universitaire d’Aménagement et Gestion Intégrés des Forêts et Territoires Tropicaux (ERAIFT), Kinshasa P.O. Box 15.373, Congo
Carlo Sodalo: Ecole Régionale Post-Universitaire d’Aménagement et Gestion Intégrés des Forêts et Territoires Tropicaux (ERAIFT), Kinshasa P.O. Box 15.373, Congo
Jean-Pierre Mate Mweru: Ecole Régionale Post-Universitaire d’Aménagement et Gestion Intégrés des Forêts et Territoires Tropicaux (ERAIFT), Kinshasa P.O. Box 15.373, Congo
Kouagou Raoul Sambieni: Ecole Régionale Post-Universitaire d’Aménagement et Gestion Intégrés des Forêts et Territoires Tropicaux (ERAIFT), Kinshasa P.O. Box 15.373, Congo
Jan Bogaert: Unité Biodibersité, Ecosystème et Paysage (BEP), Teaching and Research Center (TERRA), Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Université de Liège, 5030 Gembloux, Belgium

Land, 2025, vol. 14, issue 4, 1-23

Abstract: This study focuses on identifying and assessing the extent of anthropogenic disturbance factors directly affecting the forests of northwestern Virunga. It posits that the army camps within the forest are a hotspot for expanding human activities in the context of armed conflict. A multiscalar approach was used to examine disturbances across multiple levels to capture their complex interaction and to avoid oversimplified interpretations. This approach included an analysis of the dynamics and spatial structure of the forest cover from 2016 to 2023, along with an inventory of the local disturbance factors. The study focused on seven study sites hosting army camps, namely Mikuha, Lahe, Pk26, and Ngite within Virunga National Park, as well as Mamundioma, PK2, and Kinziki in its periphery. The findings show that the installation of army camps did not lead to significant forest fragmentation. Except for Mamundioma, all the other sites showed an increase in forest areas, due to the aggregation of remaining forest patches during periods of insecurity. However, this trend toward passive forest restoration does not offset disturbances. It merely reflects a slowdown in the conversion of forest areas to other land uses. Nine anthropogenic factors contribute to forest disturbances, with cash crops (74.17%), food crops (72.50%), and trees cut down for energy (61.61%) being the most prominent. Other contributing factors include carbonization (31.67%), fire use (30.00%), sawn timber (26.67%), path creation (17.50%), exotic tree species introduction (10.00%), and the establishment of invasive species (11.67%). Spatial analysis provides a partial explanation for such forest disturbances. Its exhaustive description would require a mix of spatial data and field observations.

Keywords: Virunga National Park; degradation; land use; insecurity; disturbance inventory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/4/732/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/4/732/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:14:y:2025:i:4:p:732-:d:1623421

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().