Description
SYGIAP is a research project aimed at creating a spatial information system of the five World Heritage Sites in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It is a collaborative effort of UNESCO's World Heritage Center, the Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN), Ghent University, K.U. Leuven and a large number of conservation organizations (NGOs).
The spatial information system should include topographic, environmental and socio-economic data and produce up-to-date base maps of the five sites which are indispensable for managing and monitoring activities. Supplementary, zones with severe conservation problems, like the massive deforestation in the southern part of Virunga National Park in 2004, are monitored and the regeneration progress of earlier deforestation is mapped using remote sensing techniques. Another important aim is to organize capacity building activities in DRC.
