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Just over 1,000 mountain gorillas remained in DRC’s Virunga National Park and Bwindi Impenetrable National Park as of 2018. Ebola infection would decimate populations: if just one contracted Ebola, it could “decimate the population,” with less than 20% projected to survive at 100 days post-infection.

As human Ebola cases climb in DRC, critically endangered gorillas are at risk

Kayleigh Long 12 Jun 2026
Bonobos in Salonga National Park, the largest tropical rainforest national park in Africa. Researchers are working to habituate wild bonobos to human presence in an effort to support conservation and scientific research. Photo by Alice Péretié / Chengeta Wildlife.

Four years to earn their trust: Habituating bonobos in DRC’s Salonga National Park

David Akana 11 Jun 2026
“For mothers and young elephants, Dzanga Bai becomes something of a playground and a very safe place,” says Ivonne Kienast, project manager and head researcher of the Dzanga Forest Elephant Project. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

Mongabay Africa’s most-read stories so far in 2026

Mongabay.org 5 Jun 2026

Local indigenous people get more land in a DRC community forest

Mongabay.com 4 Jun 2026
A family of chimpanzees at the Lwiro Primates Rehabilitation Center, located in South Kivu province in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Image courtesy of Itsaso Vélez del Burgo Guinea/ Lwiro Primates Rehabilitation Center.

Confinement and disinfected bedding: An ape sanctuary in DRC responds to Ebola

Yannick Kenné, Aimable Twahirwa 4 Jun 2026

Can deforestation predict Ebola outbreaks? Q&A with CDC’s Carson Telford

Ashoka Mukpo 3 Jun 2026
Gangala Yafali Mangusa Jr. poses for a photo after a community meeting on social cohesion within the Local Community Forest Concession (CFCL). Image by Jéremie Kyaswekera Kakule.

Descendants of people pushed out for DRC national park lead forest conservation efforts

Jérémie Kyaswekera 2 Jun 2026
Aerial view of a peatland forest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Image by Daniel Beltrá/Greenpeace.

World Peatland Day honors a crucial ecosystem in the fight against climate change

Bobby Bascomb 2 Jun 2026
Health workers accompany a child suspected of having Ebola at the disease treatment center in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, on September 9, 2018. For representation only. Image by Al-hadji Kudra Maliro, Associated Press.

‘People kept dying’: Interview with Dr. Macky Mbavugha on DRC’s latest Ebola outbreak

Elodie Toto 29 May 2026
Camera trap image of an adult male and a baby gorilla in Ebo Forest.

Report alleges élite ties behind logging permits in Cameroon’s Ebo Forest

Ashoka Mukpo 29 May 2026
Lee White managed Gabon’s national parks for 10 years before becoming environment minister. Photo taken from his Facebook page.

Carbon cowboys and unpaid pledges: Ex-Gabon environment minister Lee White on conservation in Africa

Elodie Toto 25 May 2026
A miner in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2023. Image by Electronics Watch via Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0).

‘Corporate capture’ of critical minerals risks repeating DRC’s extractive past, warns indigenous leader

David Akana 22 May 2026
Kasereka Valyathire Baraka, left, and Munguakonkwa Mihigo Jacques were the latest Virunga rangers killed in the line of duty. Images courtesy of Virunga National Park.

Gunmen kill two rangers in latest deadly attack in DRC’s Virunga National Park

David Akana 22 May 2026

Ebola outbreak reaches major cities in DR Congo, Uganda amid fears of regional spread

Elodie Toto 21 May 2026
Emmanuel Bahati Lukoo is currently deputy director of Kahuzi-Biega National Park. Image courtesy of Emmanuel Bahati Lukoo.

He survived a deadly attack, now he is calling for better working conditions for rangers in DRC

David Akana 19 May 2026

Tensions rise in DRC mining region as community leaders arrested over protest

Elodie Toto 15 May 2026

At least 65 dead in latest Ebola outbreak in eastern DR Congo

Elodie Toto 15 May 2026

Agriculture drives most tropical peatland loss in Indonesia, Peru and DRC: Study

Bobby Bascomb 12 May 2026

New Congo oil find highlights Africa’s energy paradox amid Hormuz crisis

Elodie Toto 11 May 2026
Indonesian rainforest. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler.

Forests, fires and fragile gains: Interview with WRI’s Elizabeth Goldman

David Akana 8 May 2026

DRC copper exports to US set to surge amid warnings of corruption risk

Elodie Toto 1 May 2026
Children and adults cleaning and washing minerals in Kakanda, DRC. Image by Didier Makal/ Mongabay.

UN report flags disproportionate costs of clean energy transition

Victoria Schneider 30 Apr 2026
The Congo River in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler.

A “good year” for forests changes less than it seems

Rhett Ayers Butler 29 Apr 2026
Fabrice Basile, chargé d’affaires at the European Union Delegation in Kinshasa. Image by David Akana/Mongabay.

‘True success’ is a DRC that no longer needs outside help: Interview with EU envoy Fabrice Basile

David Akana 29 Apr 2026
Kanjonde village, basking in the late afternoon light at the foot of Mount Moco, in January 2024. Image by Ryan Truscott.

Angola’s highest mountain and its unique wildlife are now protected

Ryan Truscott 29 Apr 2026

Tropical forest loss falls in 2025, but world still off track on deforestation goals

Hans Nicholas Jong 29 Apr 2026
Luis Arranza at Dzanga Bai. Photo by Nuria Ortega

What it takes to make conservation work in Central Africa: Luis Arranz’s 46-year journey

Rhett Ayers Butler, David Akana 27 Apr 2026
Mountain gorillas continue to face serious threats as they lose habitat and are stalked by poachers who target them for their meat and body parts, or traffic their infants for zoos and entertainment.

Amid conflict and poaching, tech helps boost mountain gorilla numbers

Aimable Twahirwa 23 Apr 2026
Fabrice, a ranger at Virunga National Park since 2013 and now a Deputy Sector Warden, pauses during a patrol. Virunga has lost more rangers than any other protected area in Africa, illustrating the human cost of conservation and raising the question of whether new conservation models can better protect both biodiversity and those charged with defending it. Image courtesy of Virunga National Park.

Emmanuel de Merode, director of Virunga National Park: “If conservation creates hardships, it won’t work”

David Akana 20 Apr 2026
The proposed Green Corridor would stretch from Kivu, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, all the way to Kinshasa in the west. An aerial view of a village in South Kivu, DRC. Image by MONUSCO via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0).

DRC: Can the Kivu–Kinshasa Green Corridor turn a war economy into one of hope?

David Akana 20 Apr 2026
Ivonne Kienast at Dzanga Bai

Studying the world’s largest gathering of forest elephants with sound and field observation

Rhett Ayers Butler, David Akana 19 Apr 2026
Bags of cobalt powder ready for export from Chemaf’s mines in the DRC. Image by Didier Makal/Mongabay.

Virtus Minerals signs first major deal under US-DRC critical minerals partnership

Ashoka Mukpo 17 Apr 2026

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