About us

"ARTEMIS" is the ancient Greek goddess of wild nature, hunting and childbirth. Artemis Africa is an environmental organisation founded in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2019,dedicated to promoting conservation and sustainable development in the region. 

ARTEMIS AFRICA was founded in 2019 by a group of Congolese and French environmentalists and humanitarians. Their aim was to unite their efforts on the international stage in order to maximise the impact of their actions to reduce poverty and deforestation around Congolese protected areas in particular.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, Artemis Africa, an association governed by law no. 004/2001 of 20 July 2001, sets up sustainable income-generating activities for indigenous peoples and disadvantaged communities to support environmental conservation efforts and considerably reduce the effects of climate change.It also supports emergency humanitarian actions and sustainable development projects aimed at making the world a fairer and greener place. These actions are carried out in collaboration with local partners and volunteers around the world.
Artemis Africa is made up of volunteers involved on a daily basis, solidarity shops and a network of people committed to combating the effects of climate change and the inequalities at the root of poverty around protected areas in particular !

Our team is made up of passionate individuals who are committed to making a positive impact on the environment and the local communities. Through our various projects and initiatives, we aim to preserve the natural resources of Congo and empower the people who depend on them.

Methodology

With 155 million hectares of forest cover, the DRC contains more than half the forests of the Congo Basin, the second largest tropical massif on the planet after the Amazon. But according to the FAO, the country loses 500,000 hectares of forest every year. Artemis Africa and its team of volunteers are taking action to tackle this problem.
To combat deforestation and preserve biodiversity, Artemis Africa organises training courses in clay ball making and marketing, the production and sale of organic honey from our forests, certification courses in the environment and entrepreneurship, and ecotourism activities to promote the sites and other emblematic products of the region.
The income from these activities helps to protect the environment and the people who depend on it.

• The Pygmies of Congo

The term "Pygmy" encompasses various ethnic groups scattered along the equator in many Central African states, including the Baka, the Aka, the Mbuti (with whom Artemis Africa works in Congo), the Babongo, the Babinga and the Efe. Pygmies share a traditional way of life based on hunting and gathering forest products, and a common culture that places great importance on music and dance.

In all indigenous Pygmy ethnic groups, the basic social unit is the camp, generally made up of 30 to 70 individuals living in a dozen or so huts. Individuals are generally closely related or linked by marriage. The composition of the groups changes regularly, and they maintain strong relations between neighboring groups.

Pygmy society, based on immediate return (as opposed to deferred return, i.e. with an exchange of money as a stage), is one of the most egalitarian in existence. There is no hierarchy within the camps, even for group activities.Today, these hunter-gatherer-fishermen groups are facing increasing precariousness, and their culture is under threat. Many groups have become sedentary.

Some players, whether or not they belong to this group, consider the word "Pygmy" to be pejorative or even insulting, and prefer to use designations such as "indigenous populations" or "forest peoples", or use the names of the ethnic groups concerned directly.

From an anthropological point of view, the term "Pygmy" refers to populations, often hunters, living in the equatorial forests of Africa, characterized by their small size, estimated at between 1.20 m for the smallest and 1.50 m for the largest. Indigenous peoples number 370 million worldwide, including 600 in various provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

As with other indigenous peoples, the pygmies living in South Kivu in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo face a number of challenges, including discrimination, malnutrition and other infringements of their fundamental rights, forcing them to abandon their lands, cultures and identity, and to deforest national reserves that are home to certain species on the IUCN Red List of Critically Endangered Species.

Indeed, these national parks are home to the last remaining mountain gorillas, and the threats to their natural habitat continue to grow at an exponential rate; it was with this in mind that the Artemis Africa organization was born, to work in particular with those who know our forests best: the indigenous peoples!

With a decade of experience working with indigenous peoples, the Artemis Africa team has a wealth of knowledge and experience in the field! Pygmy peoples recognize each other as pygmies and are recognized as such by non-pygmies.

Pygmies traditionally practice a form of nomadism. They move between temporary camps set up for a hunting season, each hosting an extended family. These camps are made up of a series of "mongulu", huts built of marantaceous leaves assembled on a trellis anchored to the ground and forcibly arched in the shape of an arbour. The leaves are laid like tiles, stapled together by their incised petioles. These huts are built by women.

Since they were chased out of the forest, the Congo pygmies we work with have been chased out of the forest (creation of national parks) and forced to become sedentary on land that isn't even theirs! Today, they are one of the most impoverished communities in the DR Congo, and are often forced to return to the forest, now a National Park, to harvest certain tree species, animals and even minerals, often at the risk of their lives!

During these activities, which are now considered illegal, the pygmies are hunted down by forest rangers, and this tension has led to dramatic outcomes on both sides, making the two communities very hostile towards each other.

Pygmies hunt with bow and crossbow, assegai and net. While bow (or crossbow) hunting is carried out individually, net hunting may involve individuals from several camps. Hunting techniques vary not only according to the type of game available, but also according to ethnic group. They are renowned for elephant hunting. They fish using temporary fish-holding devices, or basketry pots. In addition to fruits and tubers, they harvest honey and caterpillars for food. The proceeds of the hunt are systematically shared between the hunters for their families, while the fruits of the harvest are distributed only if there is a surplus.

The most commonly eaten animals are rodents (porcupines and Gambian rats), hylochera and duikers. Small pieces of meat, offal and tubers can be stewed or boiled in sauces by the women in the camps. These sauces vary according to the season and the availability of accompaniments. The cooking practiced by men during hunting expeditions is faster, with meats being grilled. A traditional plant-based pharmacopoeia is used to treat the wounds and illnesses inherent to life in the forest.

As pygmies possess extensive material knowledge of the forest, they are often employed as guides by NGOs, timber companies or hunting societies. These talents are recognized (sometimes considered almost magical) by their farming neighbors.

Although considered to be hunter-gatherers, forest peoples manage the forest better than any other community, with a sharp, traditional sense of ecological practices that have enabled them to use ecosystem services without depleting them.

Founded in 2O21 in Bukavu (Democratic Republic of Congo) and Paris (France), the international organization Artemis Africa works to meet the vital needs of the indigenous populations, mainly in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and its natural resources, in order to virtuously and sustainably preserve our shared world heritage at risk.

• The Gorillas

Considered an "umbrella" species by ecologists, the Gorilla gorilla, thanks to its international reputation and the conservation efforts that have been put in place from Dian Fossey to today's primatologists and conservation organizations, represents a veritable protective shield for endangered fauna and flora, as almost all projects geared towards the survival of endangered gorillas also help to preserve the entire forest, the biodiversity it abounds in and the communities that depend on it.

One of Africa's three largest countries, and one of the two most forested, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) boasts nine national parks (NPs): Virunga, Maiko, Garamba, Kahuzi-Biega, Kundelungu, Mangrove Marine Park, Salonga, Upemba and Lomami.

Only the Salonga National Park is located in the west of the country, and four of these natural parks are classified as World Heritage Sites in Danger by UNESCO: Parc des Virunga, Kahuzi-Biega, Salonga and Garamba (as well as the Epulu Okapi Wildlife Reserve). The government is also planning to open new protected areas in the coming years. This is the case with the latest addition: the Lomami National Park, which was officially created in early 2012.

These different parks are home to a variety of animal species, including gorillas, which are found especially in the Virunga, Maiko and Kahuzi-Biega parks, as well as in the Reserve.

• Itombwe Natural Reserve (RNI).

We thus distinguish two large groups of gorillas: the Mountain Gorillas and the Mountain Gorillas.

Eastern lowland gorillas (Grauer's gorillas), which we suggest you discover with us in the DR Congo National Parks.

The Grauer's gorilla's historic range covers an area of approximately 52,000 km², from the Albertine Rift escarpment in the east to Punia in the west, and from the Lindi River in the north to the Itombwe massif in the south.

Currently, four broadly defined population nuclei are recognized: Maiko (including Maiko National Park and adjacent forests), Tayna-Usala (including Tayna Nature Reserve, Kisimba-Ikobo Nature Reserve, and Usala Forest), Kahuzi-Kasese (including the lowland sector of Kahuzi-Biega National Park and adjacent forest to the west in Punia Gorilla Reserve), and the Itombwe Massif (including Itombwe Nature Reserve).

Additional isolated populations are present in Masisi and in the high-altitude sector of Kahuzi-Biega National Park, and on Mont Tshiabirimu in Virunga National Park. Gorillas were also present south of Itombwe in the bamboo forests of the western rift escarpment, and a WCS inventory found some signs of gorillas remaining in the area in 2014, but which were the target of hunting activities. All the protected areas in which Grauer's gorillas are found have been created specifically, or in part, to protect this subspecies, with Kahuzi-Biega and Maiko National Parks considered the sites with the largest populations.

The mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei), on the other hand, is distributed in two different populations.

on three countries: the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda.

Both populations live almost entirely in national parks. The first is located around the extinct volcanoes of the Virunga Massif (450 km²), which forms a single contiguous area of mountain gorilla habitat on the three borders.

These gorillas are officially protected by the Virunga National Park in the DRC, the Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda and the Mgahinga Gorilla National Park in Uganda.

The second population is mainly found in south-western Uganda, in the Bwindi-Impenetrable Forest National Park (331 km²), on the border with the DRC.

In the Virungas, the mountain gorilla lives between 2000m and 3600m altitude, with occasional excursions up to 4100m, while the Bwindi gorilla lives between 1160m and 2600m!

In 2001, an estimated 183 mountain gorillas were present in the DRC, i.e. around half of the Virunga gorilla population.

The range of the distinct Bwindi mountain gorilla population is largely confined to the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park in Uganda, but also includes part of the DRC.

The Virunga mountain gorilla population has been studied for over 40 years, and has been monitored since the 1970s, making it one of the best-monitored great ape populations. In contrast, there is little data available on the status and trends of the Bwindi mountain gorilla.

Current data show a clear increase in the number of gorillas in Virunga, thanks to the efforts of forest rangers and local communities supported by the Artemis Africa organization.

• The African Bees

Slightly more yellow, slightly less hairy and slightly smaller, the African bee morphologically resembles the European bee. Like the European bee, it is vegetarian and belongs to the same species of bee, Apis mellifera.

Present on Earth for over 60 million years, the bee, at the heart of the ecosystem, is indispensable to human survival. A sacred animal for many civilizations, it is, for example, an emanation of sunlight for the Incas, or a tribal totem in Africa and Australia.

For a number of reasons, and over the last thirty years, this insect has been disappearing on a massive scale all over the world. While some species have been officially recognized as being on the brink of extinction, the African bee is holding up better.

The Congolese forest bee is a forager with a strong character, bringing with it the hope of substantial income. It plays an essential role in our ecosystem, contributing 80% of the pollination of flowering plants. These insects are also sources of employment.

Potential exists on the continent. Nigeria, for example, only meets 10% of its honey requirements, while Ethiopia, the continent's leading honey producer, exports less than 1,000 tonnes out of an annual production of 45,000 tonnes.

The price of honey in Côte d'Ivoire is 15 euros a liter, and a little over 10 euros in the Congo, where the Artemis Africa association, aware of the challenges of the beekeeping sector, trains the Congolese population in the sector and uses the income from its beekeeping activities (sale of natural forest honey, training, hives...) to organize training sessions for remote and marginalized indigenous communities living around protected areas, with the aim of introducing them to other income-generating activities to combat poverty and preserve the environment.) to organize training sessions for remote and marginalized indigenous communities living around protected areas, with the aim of introducing them to other income-generating activities to combat poverty and preserve the environment (virtuous and sustainable exploitation of resources). By practicing beekeeping, these communities find a means of subsistence and are spared the illegal activities that jeopardize the survival of Congo's forests.

 Artemis Africa is setting up a program to distribute equipment to pygmies and other communities, so that beekeeping can make a lasting contribution to the diversification of the Congolese economy.

In 2021, the African beekeeping platform Artemis Africa called for the structuring, development and sustained support of the beekeeping sector, but unfortunately these insects are not immune to danger. Every year, around 30% of bee colonies disappear, victims of pesticides.

In Africa, certain practices jeopardize the survival of bees, such as the transgenic cultivation of cotton in Burkina Faso, and the production of local fruit-based wines in villages near national parks in the East.

Apis mellifera is thought to be descended from an ancient honey bee species that arrived from Asia and then rapidly spread to Europe and Africa. There are currently 20,000 species of bee on the planet, including around 2,000 in Europe and almost 1,000 in France.

Native to Namibia in southwest Africa, the African bee has the same morphology as the various European bee species, but is more resistant to disease. It can fly in difficult climatic conditions and is more fertile. More productive than European bees and with a lower mortality rate, the African bee is reputed to be aggressive...

They produce little honey, but honey with exceptional nutritional properties. It was European settlers who introduced bees of European origin to develop beekeeping and produce wax for Church rituals.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, beekeeping has always been considered a small investment sector, which is why beekeeping practices have remained very secular.

Some 60% of Africans live in rural areas and depend exclusively on agriculture. For them, beekeeping is often a secondary activity, with the sale of honey remaining local. The development of beekeeping and honey production could be a way of eradicating poverty among farmers, by creating jobs and providing a significant additional income.

In some regions, honey is still collected wild from trees, in which case the tree is felled. There is also traditional beekeeping, where hives are handcrafted from natural materials such as tree trunks and mixtures of straw and earth. These hives are less profitable, and local beekeepers use practices that kill thousands of bees with each harvest, threatening the survival of this sector; at Artemis Africa we practice totally ecological beekeeping, where the honey is partially harvested to preserve the bees during the difficult conditions they face.

Our programs to support sustainable beekeeping in our region aim to develop international trade, which is still in its infancy.

Today, the majority of honey produced is consumed on the continent, with only 2.74% being exported. To achieve this, we need to invest and modernize the industry. Traditional technology produces 5 to 8 kilograms per hive, whereas a modern apiary can yield up to 20 kg of quality honey.

A sacred nectar with medicinal virtues, pure honey has been respected by all peoples since ancient times, and is considered a precious and expensive product.

The African bee, more resistant and more productive, has not suffered the same disturbances as on other continents. Many beekeepers have introduced non-native species to combat over-mortality in their herds. However, within a single hive, the selection of bee varieties reduces genetic diversity, and consequently their capacity for resistance.