The Ituri Forest, in the eastern DRC, is home to some of the most extraordinary biodiversity in the Congo Basin. Covering some 63,000 km2, it is a stronghold for about 3,500 okapi and as many as 1,500 forest elephants, as well as 17 species of primates and 10 species of forest antelope. The Ituri has 333 species of birds, over 500 species of butterflies and some 2,500 species of plants, including 75 commercially valuable timber species. The Ituri is also home to about 500,000 people, of whom about 350,000 are Bantu farmers, and 150,000 are Mbuti and Efe hunter-gatherers.

The Ituri forest lies at the edge of the most densely populated region in DRC and is seen as a settlement frontier by land and resource hungry families. Poor unemployed immigrants are doing almost anything to make a living. Some are killing elephants for their ivory, hunting wildlife for sale in bushmeat markets, felling trees for timber, and mining rivers and streams for gold and other precious metals. Traditionally, farmers in this area practice swidden agriculture. While rotating land-use from forest, to crops, to fallow forest and back to crops is a long-standing practice and sustainable at low population densities, in the context of high rates of immigration by farmers fleeing poverty and violence elsewhere, these practices are either abandoned or were never known. As a result, farmers tend to cut down and burn trees in an area, farm for several years, until soil fertility and crop production declines, then move on to cut down new areas of old-growth forest, never returning to their fallow fields. Projected population growth and continuing immigration will only increase forest clearing in the future.

To reduce the current wave of deforestation, WCS is working with local farmers to stabilize farming systems, by introducing agroforestry techniques that are wildlife and forest-friendly. These combine fast-growing, nitrogen-fixing tree species with shade-grown cacao. The trees improve soil fertility, sequester carbon, and provide fuelwood and construction poles. Cacao is a relatively high-value cash crop that contributes to household incomes and provides farmers with a source of capital to invest in tools and inputs to increase farm productivity while providing work for individuals who would otherwise take part in logging, mining or charcoal production.

Participating farmers benefit from technical training and mentorship from professional agronomists, and access to international markets. To participate in the program farmers must confine their agricultural activities to forest fallows and degraded lands. Participating farmers are able to join a producer cooperative, named the Union of Cacao Producers of the Congo, which is able to secure better prices through quality control and higher volume sales. Since 2012, 3,500 farmers received training and have started cultivating shade-grown cacao as their primary economic activity.