At the heart of the Congo Basin, the Lokolama peatlands are among the world’s most important natural carbon sinks. Covering approximately 145,500 km² across the Congo River Basin, they are estimated to store up to 30 billion tonnes of carbon—the equivalent of three years of global carbon emissions. Beyond their critical role in regulating the global climate, these unique ecosystems support exceptional biodiversity and sustain the livelihoods of the communities who depend on them.
Today, this natural wealth is under growing pressure. Slash-and-burn agriculture and artisanal drainage carried out directly within peatland areas gradually release carbon that has accumulated over thousands of years, while forest concessions continue, in some cases, to overlap with these fragile ecosystems despite a national moratorium that has been in place for more than fifteen years. At the same time, the increasing value of carbon stored in these landscapes raises a fundamental question: who has the right to decide how these lands are managed, and who ultimately benefits from their protection? The communities who have cared for these ecosystems for generations are rarely included in these decisions, despite being their everyday custodians.
For these communities, protecting peatlands cannot be separated from improving living conditions. Rural poverty, insecure land access, limited livelihood opportunities, food insecurity and growing demographic pressure all contribute to the unsustainable use of natural resources. Without secure land rights, sustainable sources of income and viable agricultural alternatives, conserving these globally important ecosystems remains an ongoing challenge.
Women are at the heart of this balance. As custodians of invaluable knowledge of forests, water cycles and local biodiversity, they play a central role in agriculture, natural resource management and household food security. Yet they continue to be systematically excluded from decisions on land and environmental governance, even though their leadership is essential to the long-term protection of the Congo Basin’s ecosystems.
Around the Lokolama peatlands, DYFED works alongside local communities to strengthen their role in protecting ecosystems that are critical to the global climate. More than 20 communities are now engaged in locally led conservation initiatives supported through organisational capacity building, community participation and the collective governance of forest landscapes.
The organisation promotes more inclusive natural resource governance by placing secure land access, community ownership and women’s participation at the centre of local conservation efforts.
DYFED places women at the centre of its approach—not as beneficiaries, but as leaders in conservation. Through training, mentoring and leadership development, women strengthen their capacity to participate in decisions affecting land, forests and natural resources.
In Lokolama, women now lead the governance of a 4-hectare community farm, where they collectively decide how the land is managed, how harvests are distributed and how benefits are reinvested within the community. Their knowledge of forests, water systems and local ecosystems also plays a vital role in identifying and protecting the peatland areas with the highest biodiversity value.
Reducing pressure on fragile ecosystems also means strengthening household livelihoods. DYFED supports more than 50 households in transitioning towards sustainable agriculture on land outside the peatlands through the distribution of improved seeds, farming tools and climate-resilient agroecological practices.
By improving food security, stabilising household incomes and providing viable alternatives to slash-and-burn agriculture and peatland drainage, these initiatives deliver tangible benefits for both communities and biodiversity.
By connecting peatland conservation, agroecology, local governance and women’s leadership, DYFED is helping ensure that the communities who depend on these ecosystems are also the ones leading their protection.
Blandine has been working for two decades to protect the forests of the Congo Basin while strengthening women’s leadership in the governance of natural resources. Since 2019, through DYFED, she works alongside communities living at the heart of ecosystems of global importance, where conserving biodiversity cannot be separated from protecting rights, strengthening livelihoods and ensuring the meaningful participation of local communities.
Her work is grounded in a simple conviction: women are not only the primary custodians of natural resources—they are also their first guardians. By recognising and building on women’s knowledge of forests, water cycles and the landscapes they manage every day, she is helping ensure that women play a leading role in the decisions shaping the future of the Congo Basin’s ecosystems.
For Blandine, protecting peatlands is about more than safeguarding a globally significant ecosystem. It is also about recognising the women who protect these landscapes every day as decision-makers in their own right.
“I believe that when we empower women to protect the land, they safeguard far more than biodiversity—they protect life, dignity and the future of generations to come.”
