Project funded via the Global Botanic Garden Fund: Covid-19 Support Grant.

Project completed: 2021

COVID-19 has impacted all our lives.

One place it has had a particularly negative impact is Kivu, DRC, where a project supported by our Global Botanic Garden Fund is focusing on sustainable recovery from the pandemic.

The project aimed to provide emergency support and tools to field workers in the Jardin Ethnobotanique Kivu (JEBK) located in the Kadjuchu peninsula in the province of South-Kivu (DRC). As well as mitigating the numerous negative impacts of COVID-19 on staff and volunteers, the project also tackled improving water supply, sanitation, hygiene levels, and access to education for school children and the local community.

Not only was significant progress made on these goals, the JEBK also launched a campaign, “Leave No-one Behind, One Child One Tree”, to advocate for the meaningful participation and inclusion of Autochthonous (indigenous) women in JEBK programmes. By improving JEBK’s skills and expertise in the collection of native species for restoration, food security, and traditional medicine, the campaign has helped ensure long-term, sustainable plant conservation in the region.

Through this, and their other conservation projects, the Jardin Ethnobotanique Kivu is building an inclusive, sustainable, and peaceful community in South-Kivu. JEBK has become a centre not just for plant conservation, but also for community dialog about environmental issues in the local rural area.

We’re incredibly proud to have played a role in such an inspiring project, and a great example of conservation that involves local communities, botanic gardens, and researchers working together.