Wise Ancestors

Swipe through to learn how we co-developed our Indigenous Led Tree Planting and Sequencing for Food Security in Congo Basin project in partnership with the Indigenous Peoples of Botsike Village in Équateur province, Democratic Republic of Congo and a DRC-based nonprofit organization, Association of Indigenous Peoples for Environmental Management in the Congo (APAGEC-RDC).

From now until July 21st, your donation could be matched up to 45 times thanks to Ma Earth’s quadratic funding model. All donations will support Indigenous food systems, forest restoration, and breakthroughs in genomic science. 🧬 🐛🌳

To learn more about this project or make a donation, please visit our link in bio!

We greatly appreciate a donation of any size. Thanks to Ma Earth’s quadratic funding model, even a dollar or two can be matched up to 45x and make a huge difference.

Let us know if you have any questions about this post in the comments.

🚨Commercial logging is an issue across the Congo Basin (pictured here), and has significantly impacted access to the Bosenge tree and the caterpillars who rely on it for habitat — particularly for the Indigenous Peoples of Botsike Village in Équateur province, Democratic Republic of Congo.

Botsike Village community members describe having to devote significant portions of their day to travel much further to find Bosenge trees and collect caterpillars, which are vital to their food security and income opportunities. 🐛🌳

There are 8 days left to have your gift multiplied to our project that will help restore Bosenge trees in the Congo Basin, and generate a reference genome enabling further study of the species. 🧬

Mardoche Bokonga, Coordinator at Kinshasa-based NGO Association of Indigenous Peoples for Environmental Management in the Congo (APAGEC-RDC) is one of our project partners for our project, “Indigenous Led Tree Planting and Sequencing for Food Security in Congo Basin,” that’s a part of Ma Earth’s Funding Round 3.

This project was selected out of 800 community led regeneration initiatives, and is one of 100 projects that’s a part of Ma Earth’s Funding Round 3. Donations made before July 21st will not only be matched and multiplied, but they will help unlock funds to other regeneration initiatives.

Donations of any size — even $2 — can make a huge difference and help us reach our goal of raising $27,319.

We’d greatly appreciate your support. Whether you can donate or help us spread the word by resharing this post, it all matters! 

Click our link in bio to donate to our Ma Earth project!

This photo is of the Congo Basin rainforest, particularly the Dzanga-Ndoki National Park in Central African Republic. Although it doesn’t depict the exact area our project is occurring, it gives you an idea of what the outer region can look like. Photo credit: Peter Prokosch / in the GRID-Arendal resources library.

The Democratic Republic of Congo, where our latest Conservation Challenge is located, is one of six countries that share the Congo Basin, home to the world’s second largest rainforest and one of the planet’s most important carbon sinks after the Amazon rainforest.

Global Forest Watch data indicate that as of 2025 11% of the year 2000 tree coverage was lost, which is the equivalent of 14 gigatons of CO2 emissions.

From now until July 21st, donations to our project, “Indigenous Led Tree Planting and Sequencing for Food Security in Congo Basin,” can be matched up to 45x thanks to Ma Earth and their philanthropic partners.

Visit our link in bio to learn more and donate!

This project was developed with Indigenous Peoples of Botsike Village, Équateur province, Democratic Republic of Congo and centers around the Bosenge Tree (Uapaca guineensis). Bosenge is an important host tree for several species of edible caterpillars which are a vital food and income source for the community. Commercial logging, an issue across the Congo Basin, has significantly impacted access to this tree and the caterpillars. Community members describe having to devote significant portions of their day to travel much further to find Bosenge trees and collect caterpillars. In the face of industrialization and climate change, food insecurity is a primary concern.

Every donation is greatly appreciated, and will help us reach our goal of fundraising $27,000 for this initiative. Within a year of reaching our funding goal, we’ll deliver an annotated reference genome for conservation planning as forest restoration begins.

Caterpillars play a key role in Indigenous food systems in the Congo Basin, yet the host trees for them are increasingly disappearing due to deforestation.

Tap through to learn more about the community and species at the center of our first conservation project in Africa, which is a part of Ma Earth’s (Ma Earth) Funding Round 3.

Now through July 21st, your donation could be matched up to 45x thanks to Ma Earth and their philanthropic partners!

Can you help us reach our goal of fundraising $27,000 for this initiative?

Every donation matters, and with Ma Earth’s unique quadratic funding model, the amount of donors matters more than the donation amount. So even giving a couple dollars can make a huge difference!

If you’ve already given, we’re extremely grateful for your support. Please engage with this post so others may see it.

To learn more our project, “Indigenous Led Tree Planting and Sequencing for Food Security in Congo Basin,” and donate please visit our link in bio!

Four days into Ma Earth’s Round 3 and our project has 26 donors with $1,592 raised and estimated matching funds up to $7,400!

We’re so thankful to each and every one of our donors for taking the time to give to our project, “Indigenous-Led Tree Planting and Sequencing for Food Security in Congo Basin.”

Can you help us get to 50 donors by the end of the week? 👀🙏

Your gift could be multiplied up to 45x because Ma Earth uses a quadratic fundraising model, so even a few dollars can make a huge difference!

100% of your donation will go towards restoring biodiversity in the second largest rainforest in the world, supporting Indigenous food systems, and generating breakthrough genomic research.

More specifically, this project will:
🧬 Generate the first reference genome for the Bosenge tree (Uapaca guineensis), an essential host species for edible caterpillars and key resource supporting local livelihoods in Botsike Village in Ingende Territory, Équateur Province, Democratic Republic of Congo;

🐛 Plant 100 Bosenge trees closer to Botsike Village, supporting food security,  economic opportunities, and restoring habitat;

📈 Increase understanding of the genus Uapaca as this will be the first reference genome generated for the genus, which is essential for future studies on the species, such as population genomics and comparative analyses.

Your donation will be multiplied thanks to Ma Earth and their philanthropic partners including: GainForest.Earth, Biome Trust, Naia Trust, One Earth, Earth Repair Fund, Regenerosity, Restor, and Commonweal.

Let us know if you have any questions in the comments below!

The last day to donate is Tuesday, July 21st.

If you’ve already donated, you can still help us reach our goal by resharing this post or tagging a friend!

Desde ahora y hasta el 21 de julio, las donaciones a nuestro proyecto Ma Earth —centrado en generar un genoma de referencia para el árbol Bosenge (un huésped clave para orugas comestibles) y en plantar 100 árboles— ¡podrían multiplicarse hasta 45 veces!

Las rondas de financiación colectiva de Ma Earth no son como otras campañas que hayas visto: cada colaborador que conseguimos desbloquea más fondos de contrapartida, no solo para nosotros, sino para todos los proyectos de naturaleza de esta ronda. Tu apoyo ayuda a que todos avancen.

Nuestro objetivo es conseguir el mayor número posible de donantes, ¡ya que unos pocos dólares pueden marcar una gran diferencia!

¿Te animarías a ser uno de nuestros primeros colaboradores? Incluso una pequeña donación (equivalente al precio de una taza de café) marca una diferencia real, y contar con tu apoyo significaría mucho para nosotros.

¡Etiqueta a un amigo en los comentarios y ayúdanos a difundir la iniciativa! Juntos podemos proteger los ecosistemas y fomentar la salud personal y planetaria.

🎉 Big news! Our Bosenge tree 🐛🌳 reference genome & tree planting project with the Indigenous Peoples of Botsike Village in Democratic Republic of Congo is a part of Ma Earth’s Round 3 crowdfunding campaign!

Ma Earth will match funds now through July 21st using an innovative system called quadratic funding. Our goal is to get as many individual donors as possible because, with quadratic funding, the number of supporters matters more than the size of donations. The more people who back a project, the larger its share of the pool. The pool for this round is $1M USD, and this project is one of 100 and was selected out of 800 applicants!

How you can help:
🐛 Donate any amount  — the more people who donate the more money the project will receive! 
🐛 Share this message with 3 people who care about regeneration, food security, and supporting the second largest rainforest in the world!

Every contribution matters, and it means so much to all of us at Wise Ancestors to have your support. With your help, we can generate breakthrough genomic research, and support biodiversity and food security.