Democratic Republic of the Congo: Applying ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction in integrated water resource management

Between 2013 and 2016, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the European Commission (EC) supported a pilot demonstration project on Ecosystem-based Disaster Risk Reduction (Eco-DRR) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This project aimed to reduce flood and gully erosion risks and support community livelihoods through applying integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) in the Lukaya River basion, located in the outskirts of the capital Kinshasa.

The project promoted ecosystem-based measures to mitigate hazards, namely gully erosion and floods and address ecosystem degradation, which is a driver of disaster risk in the Lukaya River Basin. The project also served to reduce local vulnerabilities by implementing measures that:

• Diversified local livelihoods and augmented household incomes;
• Developed local and national capacities to undertake Eco-DRR through IWRM implementation, including establishing local risk monitoring systems;
• Informed development policies and planning processes at local and national levels;
• Strengthened partnerships and collaborative initiatives on Eco-DRR.