Gorilla Journal 10, June 1995

Cross-Border Rain Forest Conservation in Central Africa

The destruction of rain forests does not stop at national borders. Therefore various organizations are cooperating in a joint program to protect the rain forests where the borders of Congo, the Central African Republic, and Cameroon meet. Among many endangered species, this area is also inhabited by lowland gorillas. Their number can hardly be estimated. While no conservation project has been established yet in Cameroon, national parks have been set up successfully in the other two countries.

Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park

On 31 December 1991, WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) agreed with the Congolese government on the setting-up of the Nouabalé-Ndoki Reserve in northwestern Congo. It has an area of 3,866 km². The government of Congo and WCS, jointly responsible for this conservation project, installed Michael Fay and Marcellin Agnagna as directors. Two years later the reserve was gazetted a national park.
Some construction work has already been completed. In addition, it is planned to install solar power stations, to construct houses and various facilities for project staff, rangers and researchers, and to build an airstrip and schools for the neighbouring communities. Furthermore, the borders of the national park are to be demarcated and more rangers are to be employed.

Research

Platforms for researchers observing gorillas and other large mammals are to be set up at various locations in the park. The animals can be seen especially well in large clearings or bais that are probably kept clear from dense vegetation by the animals themselves. Tree observation platforms have already been built in such places. In this way, elephants have been observed for some time in Mokele and gorillas in Mbeli, a swampy clearing of 0.4 km². These studies are to be intensified in the future.
The most important subject of the gorilla research is the documentation of social behaviour and social structure. Preliminary data suggest that the social structure of western lowland gorillas is more flexible than that of the eastern populations.
One important task is the inventory and monitoring of mammal and flowering plant populations. The floristic inventory will provide baseline data for an ecological classification of plant societies.

Threats to the Forest in Northeastern Congo

The forests in northern Congo are mainly threatened by the work of logging companies. Each year 200-300 km² of forest are destroyed there. The allocation of concessions is mainly a question of political connections. Often logging companies work with unsuitable methods and do not follow the rules of the national forestry management plan, because compliance with the law is not controlled.
Today, 89,847 km² of harvestable forest remain in northern Congo. This is split up into 21 forestry units. Logging companies are allowed to exploit ten of these units, 43,559 km² in all. Only selective logging is permitted, but nevertheless 7% of the forest is cleared and approximately 20% of the stand is destroyed or damaged in the process.
When a logging company starts to work in a new area, the exploitation of natural resources increases dramatically. Hunting pressure becomes much more dangerous, and game numbers are reduced considerably. It is not known what this will mean in the long term.
The logging company CIB (Congolaise Industrielle des Bois; an enterprise of the German company Feldmeyer) is expanding its activities more and more and has set up a big camp right on the bank of the Ndoki river. This camp is already contributing significantly to the increased hunting pressure in the area. Hunting has been recorded even in immediate proximity to the national park borders. Currently, the employees of the Ndoki safari camp are the only people preventing the hunting activities of CIB employees and poachers from spreading further. Other areas are threatened by CIB, too, as the company intends to extend its work to an area adjacent to the park.
Uncontrolled hunting, which is the villagers' most important source of income, is generally a serious problem. The numbers of elephants and bongos are being reduced continually through hunting for ivory and trophies. Gorillas, whose meat is much sought after, also fall prey to the hunters. Their young are sold to dealers. Transport is facilitated considerably by roads built by the logging companies.
American scientists conducted a survey of the gorilla population in the years 1989/90. They found that the population density was much lower in the proximity of logging concessions because the animals there were under severe hunting pressure.

Conservation and Sustainable Use

Surveys on the markets along the river and in Ouesso, the biggest town in northern Congo, will document the extent of hunting, the trade routes and the economic importance of bush meat. Additional information will be provided from interviews. At the same time, surveys of ungulate ageing and population structure will be conducted in the forest to determine to what extent game can be harvested in the national park without putting too much pressure on the populations. In addition, safari tourism is to be introduced. The establishment of ecotourism would not be very successful because of the bad visibility in the forest.
The scientists in the Nouabalé-Ndoki project are trying to formulate methodologies for monitoring the impact of logging on the forest and particularly on the two main timber species sapelli (Entandrophragma cylindricum) and sipo (Entandrophragma utile). This method is to provide a reliable basis for a sustainable use management plan.
Sipo and sapelli trees grow very tall and occur at a density of less than one usable tree per hectare. According to a study in a concession close to the national park, medium sized trees are missing nearly completely. In some preliminary carbon dating checks, the age of wood cores was estimated at 400-900 years. So far there is no evidence that Entandrophragma trees regenerate from the stump after logging. There is no evidence that sustainable forestry based on sipo and sapelli trees is possible.
For some time now, logging companies have been passing on data on the traits of usable trees, the building of roads, the damage done to the environment, etc, to the government. These data are to be analyzed within the framework of a research project. The four most important companies working in the North Congo have agreed to cooperate.
The socioeconomic and ecological development in a logging concession will be studied in detail to determine the impact of forest exploitation by a logging company. The goal of this study is to give recommendations for the use of forest resources that keeps damage as low as possible and increases the profit at the same time.
The impact of logging and the infrastructure linked to it on settlement in the rain forest is will determined through satellite photographs and regular observations from planes, among other techniques.
It has already become obvious that even the conservation project has a negative impact on the forest. It is improving the economic situation of its numerous staff considerably, and consequently, more money is spent on luxury goods, the men take additional wives with whom they sire more children, and thus the population density increases in the surroundings of the park.

Division of Responsibilities

After the national park had been established, the roles of the organizations involved were re-defined: while WCS was to concentrate on research and park management, GTZ (developmental aid organization of the German government), which has been working there since September 1992, took over the buffer zone management. This is directed by Philippe Hecketsweiler. The goal of GTZ is the sustainable use of natural resources in the park's surroundings in order to offer alternative sources of income to the local population and thereby protect the national park. The inhabitants of the surroundings zone are involved in the planning and realization of the activities. In the long term, they should become independent of commercial hunting and farming in the forest through these activities. In addition, GTZ wants to secure the economic viability of the logging industry as the most important source of income for the state. To this end, studies are planned to investigate the regenerative ability of various tree species.
To date, GTZ has supported the improvement of the infrastructure, the establishment of a research camp, research and the construction of a schoolhouse, among other things.
In addition to WCS and GTZ contributions, the World Bank has made GEF funds available. One of this organization's goals is the support of forestry and safari hunting.
In 1987, Japanese zoologists together with Congolese scientists started to study gorillas and chimpanzees. Up to now, the following subjects were of primary concern: population density, food plants, utilization of various types of vegetation, tool use (in chimpanzees) and competition between the two ape species. In the future, the Japanese primatologists want to increase the training of promising young Congolese scientists for research on apes in the forest. In doing this, they also hope to improve their colleagues' awareness for the necessity of conservation of the ecosystem and therefore the protection of the national park.

Dzanga-Sangha Nature Reserve

The last primary forests of the Central African Republic are situated in the southernmost tip of this country. Between 1987 and 1989, a group of scientists found that lowland gorillas live in this area. To conserve the endangered forests, a reserve was set up in 1990. It covers an area of 4,569 km² and consists of a national park that is divided into two separate parts, Dzanga and Ndoki (1,220 km² altogether), and a special reserve which will be divided into various zones that are exploited in various ways - for safari tourism, traditional hunting of the local population, forestry, agricultural development and game farming. 98% of the total area are covered by forest, mostly primary forest.
The nature reserve has been directed by the WWF Dzanga-Sangha project since 1988. It receives additional funding from USAID, the World Bank, GTZ and other organizations. In the first phase the WWF concentrated on the protection of the park, but in the future measures towards rural development, environmental education, support of self-help and the development of tourism will be increased with financial aid of GTZ, USAID and the World Bank. Regional authorities and the local population demand the establishment of schools, hospitals and wells as well as a general improvement of living conditions. This is one of the tasks of GTZ. In addition, GTZ wants to create alternative opportunities for work and sources of income. One of the activities in which GTZ plays a major role is the establishment of tree nurseries in the village of Bayanga and various developmental projects in the surroundings of the park.
Locally produced food can not fulfill the nutritional demands of the population adequately, and the fields are often damaged by elephants. GTZ is therefore trying to improve agricultural methods.
Just as in the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park, there are clearings in the forest in the Dzanga-Sangha Nature Reserve, where animals can be observed especially well. A study of elephants has already been conducted there. In cooperation with the research project in the Congo, identified animals' migrations within the cross-border reserve will be documented. Besides, since two years gorillas are studied on a clearing.

Hunting and Poaching

Pygmies (Bayaka) also inhabit the region. They hunt in the nature reserve in their traditional way, i.e. with nets, crossbows and spears, and sell about a third of their prey. These methods hardly damage the animal populations. However, this is illegal: a high fee per kill has to be paid according to the hunting law. This fee is much higher than the value of the meat.
Much more dangerous for animal populations is hunting with snares and firearms, as it is practised by the rest of the population. Dealers buy the animals that have been killed and take them to the markets. Even elephants, bongos and gorillas are hunted although they are completely protected by law. Elephant poachers use large-calibre guns. They are united in a organization similar to the Mafia. The tusks are taken from the CAR via Cameroon to Douala, Kinshasa and South East Asia, where they are processed. About 10-30 elephants a year fall prey to this type of poaching in the nature reserve.

Logging

There are hardly any opportunities to earn money in the region. Only a few workers find jobs in the mining of diamonds (outside the reserve) and in the timber industry. People are ready to move to where the jobs are, and different ethnic groups settle in these places.
The logging industry causes the biggest problems for nature conservation. For 25 years a Slovene company has been extracting timber in the Bayanga region. Sipo and sapelli trees account for 90% of that timber. Currently, Sylvicole Bayanga (as it is called today) extracts 1,500-1,700 m³ a week. The remaining harvestable volume of these two species of trees is estimated at 1.8 million m³ in the nature reserve. In addition, another 0.7 million m³ of other commercially exploitable timber trees exist there. However, the exploitation of the additional species is more expensive. As the fixed costs of the company have decreased considerably since the CFA (Franc de la communité financière Africaine) was devalued in 1994, it is to be feared that the company will extend logging to these species and will thereby damage the forest more severely in the long term.
Most of the 3,076 km² which Sylvicole Bayanga may currently exploit (70% of which is in the reserve), has already been exploited, and the remainer should keep them going for another 9 years. Sustainable use of the natural resources is not possible with the methods that are currently employed.
As the operators of Sylvicole Bayanga feared that their work could be threatened by the WWF project, they tried to prevent the establishment of a reserve. Although they did not succeed in that, the two organizations are fighting a legal battle.
A French logging company, SESAM, has been operating in the region since 1991. This company has agreed to cooperate with the conservation project.

Alternative Exploitation

Promising sources of income are ecotourism and safari hunting, which use the high population densities of animals in the Dzanga-Sangha Nature Reserve. Because of the high hunting pressure and the dense vegetation it is very difficult to habituate gorillas. Gorilla tourism will therefore not be established before long.
Up to now, approximately 1,000 tourists a year visit the area, still well below the capacity. Improvement of the infrastructure and coordination as well as advertising could promote tourism. WWF has already developed detailed proposals for the exploitation of the park through tourism.
Two organizations are permitted to offer hunting safaris in certain areas of the nature reserve. About 30 hunters a year visit these areas with the sole purpose of hunting bongos. According to estimates, only 20-25 animals a year should be killed to avoid placing the population at risk. Most of the income from safari hunting goes straight to the treasury and certain political circles even demand that the region should not to receive any part of it.

Angela Meder

Dr. Angela Meder observed the behaviour and development of captive lowland gorillas for 10 years. A major aim of her various studies was the improvement of the management, rearing and housing of gorillas in zoos. Today she works as a book editor. Since 1992 she has been part of the Board of Directors of Berggorilla & Regenwald Direkthilfe.

Rain forest overview

Homepage