Sub-project 1: Biodiversity and  Climate change

Summary

The Miombo ecoregion supports the livelihoods of over 100 million rural people and 50 million urban dwellers, making its conservation critical. 

However, balancing the provision of ecosystem services—such as food security, wood energy, and poverty alleviation—with biodiversity conservation, water resource management, and mitigation of extreme weather events and land degradation, is increasingly challenging due to population growth in the region. This sub project aims to establish research priorities and strengthen UNILU's leadership in promoting sustainable conservation of Miombo woodlands to support societal well-being. Specifically, the project seeks to understand: 

(i) how water availability influences Miombo woodland recovery

(ii) how termite community composition and functioning change during the recovery process

(iii) how land-use change affects soil and biomass properties and wildlife populations, aiming to develop indicators to monitor Miombo ecosystem health in the region. 

To date, significant progress has been made. In the "Territoire de Sakania," 25 permanent monitoring plots (PMPs) have been established to track Miombo woodland recovery, with research focusing on biomass regeneration, soil carbon dynamics, tree diversity, water balances, and termite community composition and functioning. In the second year, termite sampling, dendrometric measurements, forest inventories, and soil sample collection were completed.  The installation of sensors for water balance studies is ongoing. Additionally, satellite imagery for the Kolwezi region has been acquired and pre-processed. Laboratory and data analyses are in progress, and PhD students have received training at Ghent University and Gembloux to enhance their research capabilities.

The study sites are located in two provinces:

-       In Haut-Katanga Province, within the "Territoire de Sakania," along a Miombo regeneration chronosequence.

-          In Lualaba Province, near the city of Kolwezi.

Currently 3 PhDstudents are supported by this subproject:

•       Trésor Kisimba Ngobola (Ghent University)

•      Gabriel Teteka Mutondo (Ghent University)

• Franco Muamba Kalenda ( Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech)