Yangambi | |
|---|---|
  Yangambi | |
| Coordinates: 0°46′03″N24°26′29″E / 0.767475°N 24.441404°E Coordinates: 0°46′03″N24°26′29″E / 0.767475°N 24.441404°E | |
| Country |  DR Congo |
| Province | Tshopo |
| Territory | Isangi |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (CAT) |
| Climate | Af |
| National language | Lingala |
Yangambi is a town in Isangi territory of Tshopo province, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Yangambi is on the north side of the Congo River and lies on the R408 road which connects it to Kisangani 100 kilometers to the east. [1] This road is unpaved, rarely used in the rainy season and difficult to use at all times of the year. The roads linking Yangambi to Weko and Isangi are also very poor. The river provides an alternative transport route. The town was once served by the small Yangambi Airport. [2]
Mean annual rainfall is 1,835 millimetres (72.2 in). [3] August is the wettest month and February the driest. The skies tend to be partly cloudy even during the drier seasons.
235,000 hectares of forest around Yangambi were declared a Biosphere Reserve in 1976, [4] part of UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB).
The Yangambi Biosphere Reserve comprises secondary forests with Pycnanthus angolensis and Fagara macrophylla , semi deciduous secondary rain forests, rain forests with Gilbertiodendron dewevrei , climax forests with Brachystegia laurentii and marshland forests. [4]
The site is very important from a biodiversity point of view since it hosts endangered tree species, such as Afrormosia ( Pericopsis elata ). It was also once home to elephants (Loxodonta africana cyclotis), but they have now disappeared locally. [5] In 2018, a study confirmed the presence of Common Chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes ) in the area. [6]
During the colonial era, Yangambi was home to the Institut national pour les études agronomiques du Congo belge (INEAC), one of the world's most important tropical agriculture and forestry research centers.
The INEAC experimental fields and laboratories were built along a road parallel to the north bank of the Congo river, and along a road stretching northward from the river for about 25 kilometres (16 mi). [7] In the 1930s researchers at INEAC found the relationship between the tenera, dura and pisifera oil palms. [3] Oil palms have relatively low yield around Yangambi compared to coastal regions. This appears to be due to the lower night temperatures in the continental interior, which have a mean minimum at Yangambi of around 20 °C (68 °F). [8]
The center developed a number of varieties of soy beans for use in different parts of the country. [9] Early-maturing varieties yielded over 1,200 kg/ha of soybeans. [10] Field trials showed that inoculation could increase yields by 80% to 300%. [11] In the 1950s INEAC researchers discovered the 'Yangambi km 5' (AAA) dessert banana. This variety yields large numbers of small fruit with an excellent taste, is productive even on poor soils and is resistant to black leaf streak disease. [7] There is some evidence that this cultivar may have originated in southern Thailand, introduced to the Kilo-Moto region in northeastern Congo and then brought to Yangambi before World War II. [12]
After independence, the INEAC became the Institute National pour l'Etude et la Recherche Agronomiques (INERA), a Congolese institution. However, decades of conflict and political instability led to a progressive decline of Yangambi's research station.
Since 2017, with funding from the European Union, [13] the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and several international and Congolese partners are conducting efforts to make of Yangambi's landscape a world-class hub for development, science, and conservation. [14] Recent initiatives include restoration of degraded land, [15] new infrastructure, research on endangered flora and fauna, support to local entrepreneurs, and training of local forest experts. [16]
In 2018, the Meise Botanic Garden and INERA renovated Yangambi's herbarium, which has a collection of 150,000 dried plant specimens. [17]
In 2019, the Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA) launched a new wood biology laboratory in Yangambi, the first of its kind in Sub-Saharan Africa. [18]
Since 2020, Yangambi hosts the Congo Basin's first Eddy covariance flux tower, installed by Ghent University. [19]
The Belgian Congo was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960. The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as Congo-Kinshasa and formerly known as Zaire, is a country in Central Africa bordered to the west by the South Atlantic Ocean. By land area, the DRC is the second-largest country in Africa and the 11th-largest in the world. With a population of around 112 million, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the most populous officially Francophone country in the world. The national capital and largest city is Kinshasa, which is also the nation's economic center. The country is bordered by the Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, South Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia, Angola, and the Cabinda exclave of Angola.
Kisangani is the capital of Tshopo province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is the fifth most populous urban area in the country, with an estimated population of 1,312,000 in 2021, and the largest of the cities that lie in the tropical woodlands of the Congo.
The Second Congo War, also known as the Great War of Africa or the Great African War and sometimes referred to as the African World War, began in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in August 1998, little more than a year after the First Congo War, and involved some of the same issues. The war officially ended in July 2003, when the Transitional Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo took power. Although a peace agreement was signed in 2002, violence has continued in many regions of the country, especially in the east. Hostilities have continued since in the ongoing Lord's Resistance Army insurgency, and the Kivu and Ituri conflicts. Nine African countries and around twenty-five armed groups became involved in the war.
The Goualougo Triangle, is a 100-square-mile (260 km2) region on the southern end of the Nouabale-Ndoki National Park, located in the Republic of Congo, in Central Africa. The northern Congo lowland forest ecosystem of the park is one of the most intact fauna habitats of its type in Africa. Populations of several endangered or threatened species are found here, including forest elephants, western lowland gorillas and a high density of common chimpanzees.
The bay duiker, also known as the black-striped duiker and the black-backed duiker, is a forest-dwelling duiker native to western and southern Africa. It was first described by British zoologist John Edward Gray in 1846. Two subspecies are identified. The bay duiker is reddish-brown and has a moderate size. Both sexes reach 44–49 cm (17–19 in) at the shoulder. The sexes do not vary considerably in their weights, either; the typical weight range for this duiker is 18–23 kg (40–51 lb). Both sexes have a pair of spiky horns, measuring 5–8 cm (2.0–3.1 in). A notable feature of this duiker is the well-pronounced solid stripe of black extending from the back of the head to the tail.
The Congo Basin is the sedimentary basin of the Congo River. The Congo Basin is located in Central Africa, in a region known as west equatorial Africa. The Congo Basin region is sometimes known simply as the Congo. It contains some of the largest tropical rainforests in the world and is an important source of water used in agriculture and energy generation.
Islam is a minority religion within the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the large majority of the population is affiliated with various Christian denominations and sects. It was first introduced to the Congo basin from the East African coast during the Arab slave trade in the 19th century and remains largely concentrated in parts of Eastern Congo, notably in Maniema Province. Most Congolese Muslims are Sunni and follow the Shafi‘i and Maliki school of jurisprudence (fiqh). Though estimates vary, it is generally believed that between one and 10 percent of the country's population identify as Muslim.
The Congolese Air Force is the air force branch of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Congo-Kinshasa). From 1971 to 1997, it was known as the Zairian Air Force.
The Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply either Congo or the Congo, is a country located on the western coast of Central Africa to the west of the Congo River. It is bordered to the west by Gabon, to its northwest by Cameroon and its northeast by the Central African Republic, to the southeast by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to its south by the Angolan exclave of Cabinda and to its southwest by the Atlantic Ocean.
Bia National Park is a national park in the Bia district in the Western Region of Ghana. It is also a biosphere reserve with a 563 square kilometer resource reserve. It has some of Ghana's last remnants of relatively untouched forest complete with its full diversity of wildlife. Some of the tallest trees left in West Africa are found in this national park. It constitutes a twin conservation area called the Bia National Park and the Bia Resource Reserve.
The Dzanga-Ndoki National Park is located in the southwestern extremity of the Central African Republic. Established in 1990, the national park is 1,143.26 square kilometres (441.42 sq mi). The national park is split into two non-continuous sectors, the northern Dzanga sector 49,500 ha and the southern Ndoki sector 72,500 ha. Notable in the Dzanga sector is a gorilla density of 1.6/km2 (4.1/sq mi), one of the highest densities ever reported for the western lowland gorilla.
The Turumbu people live in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, mostly in the Isangi Territory of the Tshopo District on both sides of the Congo River. They speak the Lombo language. As of 1971 their population was estimated to be 10,000. A more recent estimate put the population at 32,000.
Constant-Serge Bounda, is a Congolese national and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Representative to the African Union, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the Government of Ethiopia. He has been appointed as the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Representative to the African Union, which he will assume on 1 October 2012.
The Eastern Congolian swamp forests are a fairly intact but underresearched ecoregion of the tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests biome. It is located within the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This is the eastern half of one of the largest areas of swamps in the world.
The National Institute for Agronomic Study of the Belgian Congo was a research facility established in Yangambi in the Belgian Congo, operating from 1933 to 1962.
Massacres of Hutus during the First Congo War refers to the mass killing of Rwandan, Congolese, and Burundian Hutu men, women, and children in villages and refugee camps then hunted down while fleeing across the territory of Democratic Republic of Congo from October 1996 to May 1997.
Congolese nationality law is the nationality law for the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is regulated by the Constitution of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as amended; the Congolese Nationality Code, and its revisions; the Congolese Civil Code; and various international agreements to which the country is a signatory. These laws determine who is, or is eligible to be, a national of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Yangambi Biosphere Reserve is a protected area in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is located in Tshopo province.
The Likouala-aux-Herbes is a river in the Republic of the Congo. It is a tributary of the Sangha River, which in turn is a tributary of the Congo River. It gives its name to the Likouala Department.
Media related to Yangambi at Wikimedia Commons
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
