A Landscape-Based Approach to the restoration of Degraded Forests in RFO: Analysis causes, impacts, and sustainable strategies tailored local conditions

The environmental assessment report under review addresses the issue of systemic degradation of forest landscapes in the southeastern sector of the Okapis Wildlife Reserve (RFO), located in the northeastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This scientific and operational study, grounded in the academic standards of the Regional Postgraduate School for Integrated Management of Tropical Forests and Territories (ERAIFT), offers a critical assessment of the ecological and socioeconomic dynamics affecting this World Heritage site, while formulating a restoration strategy based on an integrated landscape approach. Assessment of Degradation Dynamics: The initial assessment highlights an alarming fragmentation of vegetation cover and structural degradation of the region's ferrallitic soils. This degradation is the direct result of the convergence of two major anthropogenic factors: artisanal and semi-industrial mining, as well as the expansion of shifting cultivation. The abandonment of orphaned mining sites without prior rehabilitation measures has led to the creation of "artificial lakes."