Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature

The Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN), meaning "Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation", is the institution responsible for managing protected areas in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its mandate is established by Ordinance-Law No. 75-023 of 22 July 1975, as revised by Law No. 78-190 of 5 May 1978.^[1] Headquartered in Gombe, Kinshasa,^[2] the ICCN operates as a public institution with a technical and scientific mandate, working under a paramilitary structure while having legal personality and administrative independence. Its organization is governed by Law No. 08/099 of 7 July 2008 and Decree No. 09/012 of 24 April 2009,^[1] and it operates under the authority of the Ministry of Environment, Sustainable Development, and the New Climate Economy (Ministère de l'Environnement, Développement durable et de la Nouvelle économie du climat; MEDD-NEC).^[3]

The ICCN's primary mission is to guarantee the coordinated and effective management of protected areas in order to preserve biodiversity in the DRC.^[1] Key responsibilities include the conservation and management of ecosystems and biodiversity within protected areas such as national parks, nature reserves, and hunting domains; the promotion of biodiversity through scientific research and tourism in strict compliance with conservation principles; and the management of wildlife breeding and capture facilities located within and outside protected areas.^[1][4][5] The ICCN works with various national and international NGO partners.^[6]

The ICCN has its origins in 1929, during the colonial era, when it was founded as the Institute of National Parks of the Belgian Congo (Institut des Parcs Nationaux du Congo Belge; IPNCB).^[7] The institution was created to safeguard natural environments, support scientific research, and encourage tourism, provided it did not conflict with conservation and research objectives, all under the direction of a Brussels-based governing body.^[8] Earlier, in 1900, the Eala Botanical Garden in Mbandaka and the Kisantu Botanical Garden in Kongo Central Province had already been established, and later, on 21 April 1925, Albert National Park (now Virunga National Park) in North Kivu Province was created following the discovery of the mountain gorilla, which was a species that was previously unknown to science. Driven by the efforts of American naturalist Carl Akeley and King Albert I of Belgium, two reserves for hunting regulation and gorilla protection were created, which later formed the foundation of the park.^[8][9] From the outset, the park was organized into two zones: a strictly protected natural reserve, where flora and fauna were fully safeguarded for scientific purposes, and surrounding annex territories that served as a buffer zone between the reserve and neighboring lands.^[8] Its territorial structure was initially designed by Akeley and later significantly expanded by zoologist Jean-Marie Derscheid, while administrative control was exercised from Brussels by King Albert I and Victor Van Straelen, director of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences.^[8]

In 1934, the Institute of National Parks (Institut des Parcs Nationaux) was officially established. From its founding until independence, it pursued a well-defined mission that included supporting conservation policies, expanding the network of protected areas, and seeking greater independence from colonial authorities.^[8] This strategy was successful and resulted in the creation of several parks, such as Akagera National Park (1934), developed from an existing hunting reserve in Ruanda; Garamba National Park (1938), established from the Aka-Dungu reserve in Haut-Uélé; and Upemba National Park (1939), formed from the Lualaba-Kitama zoological and forest reserve. After the Democratic Republic of the Congo gained independence in 1960, the Institute came under national control and was placed under the Ministry of Agriculture, where it assumed responsibility for managing the country's national parks.^[8][10] In 1967, it was reorganized and renamed the Institut National pour la Conservation de la Nature (INCN), a change further formalized in 1969 by Ordinance-Law No. 69-041 of 22 August, which established the Institute for the Conservation of Nature in the Congo (Institut de la conservation de la nature au Congo; ICNC) under the leadership of Jacques Verschuren and introduced a State Commission for the Environment. Belgian scientific collaboration continued through a cooperation agreement.^[10][8]

A significant institutional reform ensued in 1975 with Ordinance-Law No. 75-023 of 22 July, which created the Institut Zaïrois pour la Conservation de la Nature (IZCN). This framework was strengthened by Law No. 78-190 of 5 May 1978, which granted the institution public enterprise status. However, the end of Belgian–Congolese cooperation in 1991, along with subsequent political instability and armed conflicts, negatively affected conservation programs and biodiversity.^[10][8] Following the country's transition from Zaire to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1997, the institution adopted its current name, the Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN). In 2010, the ICCN underwent additional institutional reform following its merger with the former Institute of Botanical and Zoological Gardens of Congo (Institut des Jardins Zoologiques et Botaniques du Congo; IJZBC).^[10] This restructuring converted it into a public establishment, as defined by Decree No. 10/15 of 10 April 2010, which clarified its legal status and mandate. The ICCN now operates under the general legal provisions applicable to public institutions, as stipulated in Law No. 08/099 of 7 July 2008.^[10]

In recent years, the ICCN has carried out a range of programs and initiatives with the support of technical and financial partners. These include revising the National Biodiversity Conservation Strategy (Stratégie nationale de conservation de la biodiversité), originally adopted in 2005,^[10][11] with the assistance of international partners such as the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), developing legal instruments aligned with international environmental conventions, and publishing national strategies for community-based conservation. Additional efforts have focused on management planning, conservation tools, and continuous program evaluation.^[10]

• Official website
• http://www.fieldmuseum.org/congo/insticcn.html Archived 2009-03-17 at the Wayback Machine
• The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund