INFORBIO

The further humans penetrate the rainforests of our planet, the more the natural barriers that protect us from wild animal diseases disappear. Up to 75 percent of all new human infectious diseases are zoonoses, i.e. they are transmitted by animals. The Congo Basin in Central Africa is considered a hotspot for zoonoses. Together with indigenous and local communities, WWF together with its partners is protecting important wildlife here and setting up field laboratories and an early warning system for infectious diseases.

In the heart of the Congo Basin lies the second largest contiguous rainforest in the world. It is home to forest elephants, lowland gorillas, leopards, hippos, rare rodents and hundreds of species of monkeys and bats. The wild diversity can be felt in every corner of the forests. However, agricultural land, rubber and palm oil plantations, the timber industry and extensive mining projects are eating ever further into nature. This so-called land use change is the main cause of new zoonoses.

EcoHealth Alliance (2019). Infectious disease emergence and economics of altered landscapes 

By 2030, the WWF and its partners want to protect a 100,000-hectare network of forests in the Congo Basin - not only as a valuable habitat for endangered and endemic species, but also as an important barrier against epidemics.

Early warning system for zoonoses

“If we uncover the causes of animal deaths at the source, we can prevent diseases around the world.” Frédéric Stéphane Singa bumps along muddy roads in his jeep through rainy jungle in the far southwest of the Central African Republic. He is a wildlife vet, currently the only one in the whole country, and works for the WWF in Dzanga-Sangha, a huge protected area and UNESCO World Heritage Site. Frédéric Singa was called by a ranger to the carcass of a bongo antelope to examine it as quickly as possible - in protective clothing: “There is a possibility that a previously unknown germ is hidden in the forests, which could be the start of the next pandemic.” In order to understand and prevent the spread of dangerous infections, the project is setting up a complex data portal as an early warning system.

The early warning system and the large-scale protection of forests outside existing national parks are the two central pillars of a comprehensive new project entitled “INFORBIO” by WWF together with partner organizations in the Congo Basin.

Examination of a carcass in the Congo Basin © Tobias Grässle

Field labs in the rainforest

In Dzangha-Sanga and the Campo Ma'an National Park in Cameroon, around 1000 kilometers to the west, WWF operates field laboratories, continues to expand them and in future will also train rangers to sample dead wild animals such as gorillas, bats and a number of small mammals. The wild rainforests of Campo Ma'an are among the last refuges of western lowland gorillas, which is why the WWF maintains an important conservation program for them here.

The aim of the field laboratories is to systematically test for infectious diseases. Animal carcasses are examined by trained veterinarians in compliance with safety standards. This is done by the Helmholtz Institute for One Health (HIOH).

In future, it will also be possible to take samples in Lobéké National Park in south-eastern Cameroon - from dead wild animals as well as from bats and rodents, which are considered hosts for numerous pathogens, including the Mpox virus, for example.

Sound recordings in the forest

It is never quiet in the rainforest. Birds, monkeys and even rodents whistle and call in high-pitched tones. As night falls, the calls of small tree hyraxes and galagos, also known as bush babies, can hardly be ignored.

Gorilla mother with baby in the camera trap © WWF

WWF recording devices capture all these sounds. Artificial intelligence is used to analyze them and identify the different species. This form of monitoring is called bioacoustics and has become increasingly important as part of biomonitoring in recent years. It is important to know exactly which animal species occur where, because the implementation of the project and, above all, the effective protection of the forests is based on this information.

Involving indigenous peoples and local communities

Indigenous people use the app for monitoring © Fabien Moustard / UCL

It is not only artificial intelligence that helps with biomonitoring in the Congo Basin, but also local knowledge. University College London (UCL) works closely with the indigenous peoples and local communities living in and around the project areas. These include the Baka in Lobéké - one of the oldest indigenous peoples in the world, the Bagyéli in Campo Ma'an and the BaAka in Dzanga-Sangha. The various communities are involved in decision-making on forest protection as well as the early warning system and monitoring. They enter their observations into a user-friendly app. This includes information on forest destruction and poaching. This not only serves to protect species. Poached animals carry a high risk of transmitting infections.

Complex database

A comprehensive data portal set up by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) will bring together all relevant information from the various sources, including laboratory analyses, biomonitoring, observations from the forests by communities as well as remote sensing data on deforestation and human activities, for example through satellite images. Diverse data sets are combined and analyzed efficiently. If you overlay health data and land use data, for example, you can get indications of zoonotic risk areas. In addition, regions outside protected areas that are particularly worthy of protection can be identified and argued for - such as wildlife corridors and areas with high forest loss.

Intact forests for the health of us all

Large, healthy forests outside protected areas are a fundamental goal of the INFORBIO project - as natural barriers against zoonoses and for species and climate protection. To this end, we are working with indigenous and local communities to create and expand a network of forest areas that can be managed sustainably and still actively contribute to the conservation of biodiversity and nature. Such areas are called OECMs - an abbreviation for Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures, i.e areas outside the conventional protected areas. Together with local communities, UCL will identify, register, manage and monitor suitable forest areas. 

Reforestation in the Congo Basin (Virunga) © Mone Van Geit / WWF Belgium

Where the forests are degraded, the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) will help reforesting them. The communities themselves select the tree species that can be useful to them. Jointly they develop sustainable income opportunities through non-timber forest products such as nuts or natural rubber and promote better agricultural practices to conserve the forests. Tree nurseries and the planting and care of new trees generate further income and promote biodiversity.

Opportunities for people, forests and the climate

Around the protected areas of the Congo Basin, timber industry, agriculture and mining compete for the large, contiguous forest areas that still exist here. Indigenous and local communities are often even denied access. The challenges are therefore enormous. At the same time, these forests offer a unique opportunity to connect protected areas and to create and maintain a large, functioning ecosystem.

Salonga National Park © Thomas Nicolon / WWF DRC

By 2030, 30 percent of the earth should be under effective protection, according to the UN's so-called 30x30 target of the Global Biodiversity Framework. This goal cannot be achieved with traditional protected areas such as national parks alone. Sustainable use and local conservation measures in ecologically important areas such as the Congo Basin can close this gap.

INFORBIO is the name of the new WWF project in the Congo Basin, an acronym for “INtact and effectively managed FORests and BIOdiversity as natural barriers to mitigate climate change and risk of pathogen spillover”. In other words, “Intact and effectively managed FORests and BIOdiversity as natural barriers to mitigate climate change and risk of pathogen spillover”. The project is funded by the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV) and the WWF is carrying it out together with various partner organizations.