Protected Areas and Local Communities: Ten Years of Governance Around Lomami National Park in the Democratic Republic Congo (2016-2025)

This study aims to demonstrate that the buffer zone is a governance space in its own right, where a balance is negotiated between conservation, the rights of local communities, and sustainable development, and that it can serve as a model for other national parks.The creation of Lomami National Park in the DRC introduced a buffer zone designed to regulate the interactions between strict conservation and the activities of local communities. Between 2016 and 2025, this zone has become a strategic space where issues of governance, community rights, and ecological sustainability are at stake. The main objective of this study is to analyze the participatory and sustainable governance of the Lomami National Park buffer zone in order to reconcile biodiversity conservation with the socioeconomic needs of local communities and institutional stability.The main focuses of this research are to examine the legal and institutional framework, assess the degree of involvement of local communities in decision-making and resource management, and evaluate the balance between biodiversity protection and meeting socioeconomic needs.