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Narrator: The second-largest country in Africa lies

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in the heart of the continent. Known as the DRC, the Democratic Republic

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of the Congo suffered civil war between 1997 and 2003.

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Perhaps the only good thing to come of the civil wars are

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the country's vast, untouched forests, which weren't logged because war was

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bad for business. But what will happen to this vital resource

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now that stability is returning to the DRC? And how can local communities

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take ownership of this, their home, and secure a better future?

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[Music]

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The DRC

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has not had any formal system of land tenure. I've been working

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with the African Wildlife Foundation. And we've been working with them to lend

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our spatial data expertise, remote sensing

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capabilites, analysis of satellite imagery to help them with

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their on-the-ground zoning activities, which they're

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formalizing with the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo for

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land rights and for land-use planning with local communities.

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Narrator: Spatial data expertise, remote sensing capabilities.

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What do these words mean exactly? For over 10 years this

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satellite has been orbiting the Earth. It's called Landsat 7.

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And with every loop it takes around our planet it collects information about the Earth's surface,

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which people like Janet can then interpret. So we can feed

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information derived from Landsat imagery into a variety of models

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for land-use planning in this landscape. And one thing, one way

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we've been using it is to identify the areas of highest conservation priority.

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[Music]

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So we've been working in Moringa Lopori Wamba landscape, which I sometimes call

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MLW. It's in northern DRC; it's a bit--

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about the size of South Carolina, and it's

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full of tropical moist forest. They're using Landsat imagery.

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We are able to zoom in on this particular forested area connecting

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two protected area in the east central part of MLW landscape.

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And it's an important corridor for the migration of Bonobos between the protected

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areas, as well as other terrestrial species. Narrator: Once the

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AWF identified this critical area for conservation it began working with

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the government and local communities on mapping the region.

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The mapping process has a dual benefit of preserving biodiversity

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and helping local villagers to secure their own land-use rights.

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Narrator: During the DRC war, humans

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hid in the forest to escape violent conflict. It was their refuge.

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And still now the forest provides them with food, air and shelter.

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With the help of Landsat imagery this vital resource can be