42
4.5.5 Strategy 5 Sustainable Funding
The bonobo’s geographic range covers a huge area in an extremely isolated region of DRC. Given
that there is genuine political will to ensure effective protection of bonobos, this will only be possible
if the necessary human, technical and financial resources can be guaranteed over the long-term.
The sustainability of funding is therefore a central element to ensuring the survival of bonobos.
Until now, funding for bonobo conservation has come from bilateral and multilateral cooperation,
international and national NGOs, private foundations, research institutes and the Congolese state.
These funds are generally linked to cycles that are specific to each donor and which are often
short-term. This makes it difficult to establish programmes where activities can proceed without
interruption over the long-term. Furthermore, with respect to bilateral and multilateral cooperation,
biodiversity conservation often takes second place to more immediate and visible needs faced in
the DRC (humanitarian, social, political, institutional).
The emergence of new funding mechanisms, such as debt-for-nature swaps, REDD+, Payment
for Ecosystem Services and biodiversity offsets, opens new prospects for achieving sustainable
funding. However, these mechanisms are relatively new and details of how they will operate are
still under study.
Strategy 5: Sustainable funding
Strategic objectives Priority actions
Priority level
Moderate
ê
High
êê
Very high
êêê
S5/O1
By 2022, sustainable
sources of funding
for bonobo
conservation
effectively support
PA management, and
other programmes
and initiatives
securing bonobo
conservation*
Evaluate bonobo conservation funding needs. This will
require drawing up business plans for PAs and buffer
zones in the bonobo range, and evaluating the costs
of activities outside the bonobo range (e.g., awareness
building, lobbying)
êêê
Undertake studies to evaluate the potential for forests in
the bonobo range to access different funding mechanisms
(e.g., biodiversity offsets, carbon markets, PES, REDD+)
êê
Undertake a feasibility study for the establishment of a
sustainable funding mechanism; this study should take
into consideration the different initiatives currently being
explored in the DRC
êê
Elaboration and submission of funding proposals
(favouring partnerships between conservation
organizations, government agencies and development
and/or health agencies)
êêê
* in accordance with the Goal of this plan
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4.6 Monitoring Plan
A monitoring plan provides the framework for following up on implementation of a conservation
strategy and assessing the effectiveness of the actions undertaken. A clear monitoring framework
will need to be drawn up for the species as a whole and for each site, including specific, measur-
able targets for bonobo population size and distribution, threat levels (based on signs recorded in
the field, remote sensing and disease indicators) and interventions (especially law enforcement).
The framework will include the types of data to collect, the method by which they should be col-
lected, and the timing of data collection. Normally the framework will include a regular (at least
every five years) cycle of population surveys, annual landscape-wide threat monitoring, annual (if
possible) or at most every three years surveys of habitat integrity (e.g., remote sensing) and collec-
tion of human impact data in the most threatened parts of the bonobo's range during year-round
antipoaching patrols. Disease monitoring will require collaboration with key partners in wildlife and
human health, and should focus on both health monitoring of bonobos themselves and on identify-
ing emerging epidemics that could impact bonobos (especially Ebola and Marburg).
The A.P.E.S. Portal
7
is developing composite indices to measure great ape population status,
threats to great apes and conservation actions. These indices combine information from different
sources, can be calculated for any time period, and are directly comparable. They can be set to a
starting value (e.g., 1) for Year 1 of the plan, and can be used to improve the quality and relevance
of the monitoring plan. It is likely that for law enforcement monitoring, the SMART tool
8
(or the
MIST
9
tool, later shifting to SMART
10
) will be used to assess effectiveness of law enforcement, and
triangulation will be done through the population and distribution data held in the A.P.E.S. data-
base. All new bonobo survey data will be archived with the A.P.E.S. database.
7 http://apesportal.eva.mpg.de/
8 http://www.smartconservationsoftware.org/Home/WhatsSMART.aspx
9 http://www.ecostats.com/software/mist/mist.htm
10 http://www.smartconservationsoftware.org/Home/HowcanSMARTworkforyou.aspx
Strategy 1: Strengthening institutional capacity and monitoring progress towards targets
Indicator
Type
(performance,
progress,
impact)
Method
Existing
data
Organisation
responsible
Date or frequency
Where
Cost
(low,
medium,
high)
S1/O1
By 2022, poaching within PAs is significantly reduced and bonobo densities are stable or increasing, compared to baseline surveys
Bonobo density is maintained or increased
from 2014 levels
Progress
Standard line transects
carried out, data analysed
and reported on
Partial (site
dependant)
ICCN and partners Full surveys of PAs
implemented every
four years
All sites
Medium
Bonobo distribution throughout the region is
maintained or increased from 2012
Progress
All georeferenced data
from surveys, recces
and antipoaching patrols
collated and analysed in
occupancy framework
Partial (site
dependant)
ICCN and partners Data collection
continuous, analysis
every year, if
possible
All sites
Medium
Frequency of bonobo poaching incidents
detected per patrol per year is reduced by
80% compared to 2013
Performance
Law enforcement. Enter
data into MIST or SMART
Partial
ICCN and partners Continuous
In PAs
Medium
Poaching-free area of PAs increases to 85%
of PAs or more
Impact
Law enforcement. Enter
data into MIST or SMART
Partial
ICCN and partners Continuous;
monthly reports
by patrol staff and
annual reports
with full site maps
produced
In PAs
Medium
S1/O2
By 2022, the network of PAs shelters 90% of bonobos and the full range of their known ecological diversity
PAs within bonobo range cover the full suite
of ecological conditions and correct relative
proportions
Performance
Surveys
Remote sensing analyses
Incomplete
ICCN and partners Continuous
Priority sites
Medium
PA dimensions/number are increased to fulfil
the 90% target by 2022
Performance
Government changes shape
of, or extends boundaries,
or creates new, PAs
Incomplete
ICCN and partners Continuous
All sites
Low
Proportion of bonobos in PAs increases
from 2012 onwards
Impact
Bonobo population survey
data from outside PAs are
compared with survey data
from inside PAs
Incomplete
ICCN and partners 4-yearly surveys
of both PAs and
the areas outside
PAs that contain
bonobos
Priority sites
Medium
Table, Strategy 1, continued on next page