The strategy used in creating and managing that reserve advocates for the coexistence in the same 

 ecosystem of wild animals, plants and humans. The human-forest relationships are the target of all 

 procedures of nature conservation in TNR. This ideal concept is promoted in TNR instead of 

 attempting to suppress it, as is the case in national park systems where forceful methods are used to 

 keep neighboring communities from enjoying certain rights of the area protected by the public service. 



This method could contribute in avoiding human-protected area conflicts in most of the National parks 

 in the DRC. Thus, there is a need to recommend it to those desiring to contribute to the global efforts 

 being made to save the web of life. 



This article aims to enrich the debate on forest and wildlife protection, and to express support for 

 sustainable nature management through a sensitization of the community. It also strives to contribute to 

 research and to promote solutions to problems related to the destruction of forests and its fauna. 



METHODOLOGY 



The methodology used is mainly bibliographic. To that effect, the author consulted monographs on 

 TNR, activity reports of TNR and publications related to the management of the protected area. 



The author and a team of field workrs conducted interviews with the administrators of the reserve and a 

 few local residents in order to double check the facts. ■ 



RESULTS 



The Tayna Nature Reserve is a product of community efforts 



The UGADEC Journal (Union of Associations for Gorilla Conservation and Community Development 

 in Eastern DRC), alluding to the creation of the former Tayna Gorilla Reserve now renamed Tayna 

 Nature Reserve, remarked that 'Awareness of the danger (of loosing the whole forest) was bom in the 

 region'. Consultations started among landowners and their families with the aim of participating in the 

 conservation of their own ecosystems to ward off the danger of extinction of faunal and floral species in 

 their forests. The Chieftancy then took over with the Mwami Stuka and Mwami Mukosasenge, chiefs 

 of the Batangis and of the Bamates respectively, with the technical support of their son Pierre Kakule. 

 They initiated the idea of creating the Tayna Gorilla Reserve in 1 998. 



The customary chiefs who owned lands, together with local leaders and the intelligentsia, agreed to 

 allocate a surface area of 850 square kilometers to the new reserve. The particularity of that initiative is 

 the introduction of the concept of community and participative conservation that avoids any violent and 

 traumatic action against indigenous populations in accordance with the respect of indigenous 

 populations' rights in conservation areas (Kakule, 2004). 



The objective in creating this protected area is to introduce the notion of conservation to populations. 

 The specific objectives aim at protecting rare and threatened species (particularly the lowland gorilla), 

 promoting development in the area, transforming the reserve into a natural laboratory and advocating 

 ecotourism (Kakule, 2002). 



Fauna and flora protected at the Tayna Nature Reserve 



The census revealed that the conservation area hosts at least 1 6 primate species, 80 other mammals 

 including the forest elephant, the buffalo, the leopard and the okapi. Birds such as the grey parrot, the 

 great black-casqued hombill and the great blue turaco can also be found at the TNR. Of all species, the 

 lowland gorilla {Gorilla beringei graueri) remains the flagship species of the protected area, hence its 



Nature & Faune Vol. 23, Issue 1 23 



