The interest shown by international actors in the important contribution that protected areas make to solving global sustainability issues – biodiversity conservation, carbon storage, and climate change mitigation – has grown considerably since the adoption of the Convention on Biological Diversity. The importance of protected areas and their inclusion on the agenda in global government circles have led many states, to some degree voluntarily, to adopt policies to enlarge these areas, often under pressure from various external actors, including international development agencies and transnational civil society organisations. In Central Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has set itself the target of extending the total surface area of protected areas to 17 per cent of the national territory, beyond the existing 12 per cent. However, the majority of existing protected areas in DRC are struggling to achieve their biodiversity conservation objectives. Based on a case study of the Okapi Wildlife Reserve, this chapter offers a contextualised analysis of the issues of power and transnational conflict which influence biodiversity governance in the protected areas of DRC. The aim of this chapter is also to provide an empirical examination of a reality, rarely considered in the scientific literature, in which there are close links between the management of protected areas and the dynamics of privatisation of these lands by insurgencies seeking training grounds, rear base camps or continuously renewable sources to supply war economies.

The interest shown by international actors in the important contribution that protected areas make to solving global sustainability issues – biodiversity conservation, carbon storage, and climate change mitigation – has grown considerably since the adoption of the Convention on Biological Diversity. The importance of protected areas and their inclusion on the agenda in global government circles have led many states, to some degree voluntarily, to adopt policies to enlarge these areas, often under pressure from various external actors, including international development agencies and transnational civil society organisations. In Central Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has set itself the target of extending the total surface area of protected areas to 17 per cent of the national territory, beyond the existing 12 per cent. However, the majority of existing protected areas in DRC are struggling to achieve their biodiversity conservation objectives. Based on a case study of the Okapi Wildlife Reserve, this chapter offers a contextualised analysis of the issues of power and transnational conflict which influence biodiversity governance in the protected areas of DRC. The aim of this chapter is also to provide an empirical examination of a reality, rarely considered in the scientific literature, in which there are close links between the management of protected areas and the dynamics of privatisation of these lands by insurgencies seeking training grounds, rear base camps or continuously renewable sources to supply war economies.