Restoration of threatened metallophyte populations in Katanga (D.R. Congo): lessons learnt.

One of the current major challenges consists in integrating economic activities with environmental integrity and social concerns. One of the world’s largest concentrations of copper and cobalt deposits is located in Katanga (Democratic Republic of Congo) and represents an important source of income for the country. Unique communities and several endemic species are hosted on copper outcrops and are threatened by the extension of mining activities in the area. In theory, translocation or transplantation of structuring and/or endemic species is a suitable substitute to spontaneous succession and a good mean to rescue and conserve the more threatened species. Here we present briefly the global framework developed with a mining company in order to conserve and restore the biodiversity of Cu-Co communities, including, among others, translocation and transplantation of highly threatened species. We recorded low survival of translocated individuals. An alternative was then to produce seedlings of endemic and/or structuring species under nursery conditions for their later transplantation in degraded areas or for conservation purposes. However, the diversity of plant forms and life-forms found in such tropical area limited the production of many species. We highlighted that poor understanding of many of these tropical plants often hampered their regeneration and their use in restoration program. As already noticed, transplantation results are not always reported, especially in case of failure, while such results appear as even more important than successes and have to be presented.