River Fwa (201305)
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the, Africa

Site overview

KBA status: confirmed

Global KBA criteria: B3b

Year of last assessment: 2024

National site name: River Fwa

Central coordinates: Latitude: -5.7262, Longitude: 23.3629

System: freshwater, terrestrial, subterranean, freshwater

Elevation (m): 458 to 472

Area of KBA (km²): 17.80417

KBA classification: Global

Legacy site: No

Site details

Site description: The river Fwa is in Africa in the heart of the D.R. of Congo at the border between the province of Kasaï Oriental and Kasaï Central, at 100 kilometres Northwest from the Town of Mbuji-Mayi, the river is at border of the territory of Dimbelenge and Kabeya Kamwanga. The river is situated in a small valley laying in the savanna. It is surrounded by a gallery forest with tall trees and the banks covered with pandanus plants. The water has an incredible visibility as the water emerge from the ground after being filtered by passing through calcar galleries. The quantity of aquatic flora and fauna is impressive and incredible to see. the aquatic fauna has multiple endemic species of fish. The area has a tropical climate with two seasons, from April to August dry season and from September to March the rainy season.

Rationale for qualifying as KBA: Fwa River KBA is a unique ecosystem in Democratic Republic of Congo. The geographical restriction of assemblage of species is the first reason to classified this as KBA. One of the other reason is that there is a big potential to find new species of fishes, insect, amphibians that might be endemic. River Fwa has endemic species of fish, such as Cichlids (5 confirmed species). This high endemism of fish has been confirmed by multiple studies (latest by Robert and Kullander in 1994 "Endemic cichlids of the river Fwa Zaïre"). Few scientific studies have been conducted beside the identification of cichlids. The KBA status is triggered by seven LC fishes that meet B3b KBA criterion. All of them are restricted to the tropical and subtropical floodplain rivers and wetland complexes bioregion. These species are the following : Thoracochromis brauschi, Cyclopharynx schwetzi, Thoracochromis callichromus, Micralestes fodori, Schwetzochromis neodon, Cyclopharynx fwae and Brycinus fwaensis."

Additional biodiversity: Locals have given the informations that the monkey Colobus vellerosus lives in the forest along the river. The 9th of November 2024 Thomas Minesi have heard the scream of that monkey, but no physical information. we have observed the vulture Trigonoceps occipitalis on the 8th of November 2024. Other interesting birds have been observed during the November 2024 fieldwork, like the Musophaga violacea (Touraco Violet). The local populations say also that big antilopes lives around the river, but we have never observed it.

Manageability of the site: The site would be managed by "Congo Nature EUP" with the authorization of the "Institut Congolais pour Conservation de la Nature" (ICCN) the only national institution that manage all the PA in the country. Congo Nature is already very well "introduced" in this institution. Congo Nature would also have access to high level consultants in different field and would benefit also from the technical support from another existing PA in DR Congo. The member of the board of that organism have also experience in protected area creation.

Supersedes another site: None

Other site values: The site is used by population mainly for fishing and water consumption, we don't know yet if the population use the site for customary rituals or other similar.

Delineation rationale: The delineation is following the river path on land. We have chosen to delineate 500 metres from each side of the river. As this is the main part that have influence on the river itself.

Habitats

Summary of habitats in KBA: River Fwa is karstic system, with water emerging from underground calcar galleries. The river flows from west to east, with a total length of 15 kilometres. The river is surrounded by a forest gallery. The aquatic flora is important covering more than 70% of the rivers bed, the aquatic fauna is very dense with endemic species of fishes. The water is crystal clear due the filtration through calcar galleries. This is a unique site in DR Congo with unique features.

Land use: The local population uses the land to produce small quantities of corn, for local consumption. Small artisanal production of palm oil with the palm trees growing along the river. Of course, they use the river as their first source of protein by fishing. The fishing is not intensive and is still done the traditional way.

IUCN Habitat	Coverage %	Habitat detail
Wetlands(Inland)	70	Wetlands (inland) – Permanent rivers/streams/creeks (includes waterfalls)
Forest	15	Forest – Subtropical/tropical dry
Savanna	15	Savanna - Dry

Threats

Summary of threats to biodiversity at KBA: The threats that face the site is deforestation, people living around the river have no access to electricity and they use wood and charcoal as the main source of energy, to cook and light themselves. The population cut the trees on small areas 200m X 100m, then set fire and produce charcoal, then after clearing the area they plant corn, after harvest they abandon the area for a new one. So, a lot of small rectangular cleared patches can be seen. From 2018 to 2023 the pace of deforesting was very impressive. This deforestation also has another impact. By cutting the trees, the soil is less stable, and rains creates big erosions on the slopes of the valley. The forest is not in a condition, but actions can be taken to change things. The river itself is threatened by the artisanal production of palm oil. These productions asphyxiate the aquatic plants in front of production site by rejecting the hard shell of the palm nuts in the water or lower the Ph of the water where they reject unused palm foam produce during the process of extracting this foam is very acidic. These two factors have a negatives impact on juvenile fishes that live in these plants along the shore. Another threat is the introduction of new technics of fishing, like fishing with mosquitos’ nets. This technic kills the juvenile that used to be the future adults that the population consumes, creating a lack of adults for the future generation. But this technic is very new on the river and rarely use.

Threat level 1	Threat level 2	Threat level 3	Timing
Biological resource use	Logging & wood harvesting	Intentional use: subsistence/small scale (species being assessed is the target) [harvest]	Ongoing
Biological resource use	Fishing & harvesting aquatic resources	Intentional use: subsistence/small scale (species being assessed is the target) [harvest]	Ongoing
Agriculture & aquaculture	Annual & perennial non-timber crops	Shifting agriculture	Ongoing
Agriculture & aquaculture	Wood & pulp plantations	Small-holder plantations	Ongoing
Human intrusions & disturbance	Work & other activities		Ongoing
Human intrusions & disturbance	Recreational activities		Only in the future

Additional information

References: Roberts, T. R., & Kullander, S. O. (1994). Endemic cichlid fishes of the Fwa River, Zaire: Systematics and ecology. Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters, 5(2), 97–154.