Effect of construction of natural reserve on the livelihoods and income of local residents around Conkouati-Doulinational Park, Republic Of Congo

This study was conducted in Conkouati-Douli National Park (CDNP) to analyze the effect of CDNP construction on local residents’ livelihoods and income. A survey of questionnaires of 100 households was carried in four villages: Tandou-Ngoma, Nzambi, Ngoumbi and Mpela. Focused groups discussions, field observations and secondary data from different sources were used to collect information. The data were analyzed using SPSS (version 19), Excel and simple descriptive statistics. Local communities livelihoods were assessed using the sustainable livelihood framework; the households’ average monthly income at the village scale was also calculated. The results showed that before the establishment of the CDNP, 45,18,16,10 and 4% of households depend on crop farming, fishing, hunting, trading and formal-employment respectively, while 7% of households were unemployed.  After the establishment of the CDNP, 33, 19, 14, 5 and 1% of households depend on fishing, trading, agriculture, formal-employment and hunting respectively, while 19% of households were unemployed. The households’ average monthly income before and after the establishment of the CDNP was 227.81 USD and 104.97 USD, respectively, with a change rate of -53.69%. The findings also revealed that incomes were distributed unequally over all households and estimated to be 54.61%; this corresponds to a Gini coefficient of 0.54.   Key words: National Park, Conkouati-Douli, livelihoods, households’ incomes, human-wildlife conflicts.