Small-scale market gardeners' knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding the use of chemical pesticides in the Kabare territory (South-Kivu) in Eastern D.R. Congo.

Damage caused by pests and diseases is one of constraints on crop production for food security. Based on the use of questionnaire and interviews that were conducted in Kabare territory (South-Kivu), this study was carried out to (i) assess farmers practices, attitudes, and knowledge about pesticides use, and (ii) assess the human health and physical environment effects using pesticides. Data was collected from 300 small-scale farmers in study area. Results showed that majority of our respondents were men (59 %) rather than women (41 %) and local knowledge of pesticide use was low (60 %). Education level had a significant influence (p < 0.01) on level of knowledge about pesticide use, time and dose of treatment, method of control, and persistence time. In addition, education level influence significantly farmers' attitudes before and after pesticide treatment (p < 0.05). Pest management control, time of pesticide application, and packaging management method varied significantly with level of local knowledge (p < 0.01). Pesticides use by small-scale farmers has an effect on water, soil, and air quality. It also causes human pathologies such as vomiting, eye irritation, and even loss of life in event of heavy exposure. Inhalation and dermal exposure are main and most dangerous routes of pesticide exposure in our study area, which lacks protective strategies. Finally, use of pesticides disrupts biodiversity through the disappearance of pollinators, predators, parasitoids, and soil microorganisms. Therefore, broad continuity of this study with integration of other scientific aspects would effectively contribute to the improvement of environmental quality.

Protected areas in tropical Africa: assessing threats and conservation activities.

Numerous protected areas (PAs) have been created in Africa to safeguard wildlife and other natural resources. However, significant threats from anthropogenic activities and decline of wildlife populations persist, while conservation efforts in most PAs are still minimal. We assessed the impact level of the most common threats to wildlife within PAs in tropical Africa and the relationship of conservation activities with threat impact level. We collated data on 98 PAs with tropical forest cover from 15 countries across West, Central and East Africa. For this, we assembled information about local threats as well as conservation activities from published and unpublished literature, and questionnaires sent to long-term field workers. We constructed general linear models to test the significance of specific conservation activities in relation to the threat impact level. Subsistence and commercial hunting were identified as the most common direct threats to wildlife and found to be most prevalent in West and Central Africa. Agriculture and logging represented the most common indirect threats, and were most prevalent in West Africa. We found that the long-term presence of conservation activities (such as law enforcement, research and tourism) was associated with lower threat impact levels. Our results highlight deficiencies in the management effectiveness of several PAs across tropical Africa, and conclude that PA management should invest more into conservation activities with long-term duration.