From 14 to 18 August 2024, a prospecting mission to the Luki Biosphere Reserve (RB-Luki) was organised by the ERAIFT team in charge of implementing the activities of the project "Evaluation of the value of ecosystem services in the Luki Biosphere Reserve (EVASE_RBL)". This project, led by the ERAIFT-INERA-University of Liège (Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech) consortium with funding from CIFOR-ICRAF, has the main objective of providing robust insight into the economic value of ecosystem services in the Luki Biosphere Reserve (RBL), in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This project is part of the programme called: "Applied research in ecology and social sciences of forest ecosystems in Central Africa (RESSAC)", with funding from the European Union (EU).

The main objective of this mission was to prepare the ground for the next data collection missions. Specifically, it was a question of (i) obtaining written or verbal authorizations for access to the various villages in the study area from local authorities, (ii) contacting resource persons, (iii) identifying the villages that will be concerned by the surveys and (iv) collecting information for the establishment of data collection sheets during the next missions. On behalf of the members of the consortium, ERAIFT thanks the EU and CIFOR-CRAF for the resources made available for the implementation of this project. The school also expresses its gratitude and finally thanks the communities living near the Luki Biosphere Reserve for their cooperation and availability.