Fine-scale human–flood relationships in the Congo Basin: ethnographic perspectives from the Lac Télé Community Reserve
4 affiliations
- 1Department of Anthropology, Yale School of the Environment, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
- 2Department of Biology and Biotechnologies ‘Charles Darwin’, University of Rome La Sapienza, Rome, Italy
- 3National School of Agronomy and Forestry, Marien Ngouabi University, Brazzaville, Congo
- 4Wildlife Conservation Society, Brazzaville, Congo
Abstract
The Likouala-aux-Herbes river and surrounding swamp forests of the northern Republic of Congo are described in scientific literature as a wetland forest system characterized by a bimodal flood pulse and widespread seasonal flooding. Recent climatic and hydrological modelling of the Congo Basin and Cuvette Centrale peatlands, moreover, positions the Likouala region as a rain-fed or ombrotrophic peatland. However, human populations experience and adapt to flooding at a more localized scale. This study presents ethnographic data on flooding and seasonality from six villages within the Lac Télé Community Reserve (LTCR), a protected area in the Likouala swamp forest biome and the country's only Community Reserve. Our findings reveal how spatio-temporally variable flooding produces village-specific cultures, livelihood cycles, adaptations and vulnerabilities—an interconnected gradient of biocultural relationships. Across villages, flood dynamics have changed drastically over the last decades. Climate change, economic transitions and erosion of local knowledge systems are straining long-standing adaptive frameworks within and between LTCR communities. We emphasize the importance of ethnographic data in understanding fine-scale human–environment interactions and suggest that biocultural analysis at this scale—what we term the ‘hydrocultural patch’—is essential for effective landscape governance and policy development in the context of accelerating climate change. A French translation of this abstract is available in the supplementary material.
This article is part of the discussion meeting issue ‘African tropical peatlands: function, value and vulnerability’.
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BibTeX
@article{meier2026finescale,
title = {{Fine-scale human–flood relationships in the Congo Basin: ethnographic perspectives from the Lac Télé Community Reserve}},
author = {Katherine Meier and Milena Beekmann and Tiriel Lokoka Ngoma and Célie-Léoda Moungouya-Moukassa and Bola Madzoke},
journal = {Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.1098/rstb.2024.0491},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2024.0491},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Fine-scale human–flood relationships in the Congo Basin: ethnographic perspectives from the Lac Télé Community Reserve
AU - Katherine Meier
AU - Milena Beekmann
AU - Tiriel Lokoka Ngoma
AU - Célie-Léoda Moungouya-Moukassa
AU - Bola Madzoke
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/20
JO - Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
DO - 10.1098/rstb.2024.0491
UR - https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2024.0491
AB - The Likouala-aux-Herbes river and surrounding swamp forests of the northern Republic of Congo are described in scientific literature as a wetland forest system characterized by a bimodal flood pulse and widespread seasonal flooding. Recent climatic and hydrological modelling of the Congo Basin and Cuvette Centrale peatlands, moreover, positions the Likouala region as a rain-fed or ombrotrophic peatland. However, human populations experience and adapt to flooding at a more localized scale. This study presents ethnographic data on flooding and seasonality from six villages within the Lac Télé Community Reserve (LTCR), a protected area in the Likouala swamp forest biome and the country's only Community Reserve. Our findings reveal how spatio-temporally variable flooding produces village-specific cultures, livelihood cycles, adaptations and vulnerabilities—an interconnected gradient of biocultural relationships. Across villages, flood dynamics have changed drastically over the last decades. Climate change, economic transitions and erosion of local knowledge systems are straining long-standing adaptive frameworks within and between LTCR communities. We emphasize the importance of ethnographic data in understanding fine-scale human–environment interactions and suggest that biocultural analysis at this scale—what we term the ‘hydrocultural patch’—is essential for effective landscape governance and policy development in the context of accelerating climate change. A French translation of this abstract is available in the supplementary material. This article is part of the discussion meeting issue ‘African tropical peatlands: function, value and vulnerability’.
SN - 0962-8436
SN - 1471-2970
ER -