Apes in the Proposed Tri-National de la Sangha Conservation Area
The forests of equatorial Africa are highly significant from a biodiversity
conservation point of view and they are at the same time an important
economic resource for the nations possessing them. Logging and its consequences
are the cause of the loss of almost 4 million hectares per year in the
Congo Basin and the degradation of much more. The opening up of the forest
to hunting and trapping has led to a burgeoning bushmeat trade with important
negative impacts on the biodiversity of the area.
In response to some of these pressures, the idea of a tri-national park
connecting protected areas in Cameroon, Central African Republic and Congo
was first floated in the 1980s. The idea was to create a large and extensive
trans-border protected area surrounded by peripheral zones in which logging
(and other activities) would be carried out sustainably with the goal
of avoiding a number of protected areas surrounded by a sea of degraded
and destroyed forest.
Two great ape species live in this region of the Congo Basin, the western
gorilla, Gorilla gorilla and the robust chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes.
These two species, like other non-human primates, play a vital role within
forest ecosystems as major seed dispersers, and constitute a significant
proportion of the mammalian biomass. Other important functions include
their vital contributions towards the understanding of human evolution
and of human diseases (Goa et al. in Butynski 2001), and they are, for
better or worse, important sources of protein for local populations in
the region.
Description of the Tri-National de la Sangha
The Yaounde declaration was signed by the Heads of State of six Central
African countries on 17 March 1999, and committed these countries to the
creation of trans-border protected areas and to reform of the forest sector
and sustainable forest management. This agreement led to the establishment
of a trans-border conservation initiative known as Tri-National de la
Sangha (TNS) comprising the protected areas of Lobéké in
Cameroon, Dzanga-Ndoki in the Central African Republic and Nouabalé-Ndoki
in the Republic of Congo. Ministers in Charge of Forests of the three
countries signed a formal protocol on TNS in December 2000.
The TNS comprises a core protection zone in which human activities are
either forbidden or controlled and a peripheral zone in which participatory
and sustainable management of wildlife and forest resources is practised.
The core protection zone of the TNS comprises the three protected areas
with a total area covering some 7,750 km². The peripheral zone includes
production forests, sport hunting concessions, community-hunting zones,
agro-forestry areas or any other compatible activity and covers about
21,000 km².
The limits of the TNS are those established by the respective national
legislative acts creating the three protected areas and their respective
peripheral zones. The section of the Sangha River included in the TNS
remains an international boundary and as such is regulated by international
law.
Population Status of Great Apes in the TNS Zone
The forest areas of the TNS region harbour some of the highest densities
of chimpanzees and gorillas. The concentration of chimpanzee and gorilla
populations for the three countries is greater in the protected areas
of the TNS than in the buffer zones. The lack of systematic surveys countrywide
and notably in the forests surrounding the protected areas makes it difficult
to give a very good estimate of numbers, but the protected areas making
up TNS have been widely censused.
Based on these studies, the chimpanzee and gorilla populations within
the entire TNS zone that comprises the national parks (7,750 km²)
and the surrounding buffer zones (21,000 kmē) are estimated at 1,500 and
10,000 individuals, respectively. The multiple-use zones include farmlands,
logging and sport hunting concessions. Logging concessions make up more
than 40% of the multiple-use area with the largest concession being the
one of CIB (Congolaise Industrielle du Bois) close to the Nouabalé-Ndoki
National Park (12,000 km²). Low populations of chimpanzees compared
to gorillas could be attributed to large-scale commercial logging operations
in the region, as chimpanzees are largely primary forest dwellers, whereas
western lowland gorillas prefer secondary or disturbed vegetation types.
In the region, gorillas are also strongly attracted by large forest clearings
known by the Baka name "bais", where they feed on grasses and
sedges. The bais possess enormous potential for eco-tourism development,
especially if the gorillas can be habituated.
Existing Threats to the Ape Populations
Logging. Logging concessions close to the TNS cover more than 35,000 km²
of forest, the largest concessions being those of CIB with 12,000 km².
Commercial logging accounts for a significant amount of the revenues generated
by Central African governments; for example more than 12 billion Euros
is provided for state revenue by timber exports from southeastern Cameroon.
The greatest threat from commercial logging is the opening up of most
forest areas for poaching and destruction of primary forest that represents
a vital habitat especially for chimpanzees.
The opening of hitherto inaccessible forest areas with construction of
roads, transport provided by trucks inevitably encourages settlers, notably
poachers, who hunt great apes and other bushmeat. Timber from CIB and
other logging concessions in the Central African Republic is transited
through the Lobéké region to the port of Douala. This transport
network maintained by logging trucks has strongly encouraged the bushmeat
trade as truck drivers transport meat to neighbouring towns such as Ouesso
in Congo, and Douala and Yaounde in Cameroon. They also furnish the poachers
with snares, cigarettes and other basics for their subsistence.
Hunting and bushmeat trade. According to IUCN classification, the central
chimpanzees and western lowland gorillas are considered "vulnerable".
This category includes taxa whose populations are decreasing because of
over-exploitation, extensive habitat destruction or other environmental
disturbance, taxa with populations that have been seriously reduced and
whose ultimate security has not yet been assured. Throughout their ranges
as reported by Butynski (2001), chimpanzees and gorillas are officially
protected under both national and international law from being hunted,
captured, or moved across international boundaries.
More than 70% of the entire population in logging towns in the region
(Libongo, Kika, and Moloundou for Lobéké in Cameroon, Kabo,
Pokola and Ouesso for Nouabalé-Ndoki in Congo, and Bayanga, Mbebarit
and Nola for Dzanga-Ndoki in the Central African Republic) depend on ape
hunting and the bushmeat trade for income generation. For example, Noss
(1998) reported that local hunters of Dzanga-Sangha earn between US$ 44
and US$ 700 annually from the bushmeat trade; that is far higher than
the annual earnings of a government civil servant. In the CIB concession
area with a resident population of more than 3,000 inhabitants, the proceeds
of the bushmeat trade accounted for about US$ 300 per household per annum
(Wilkie et al. 2000, unpublished report to WWF). The high incomes from
the bushmeat trade make it extremely lucrative. The number of logging
roads and easy access across the largely unmanned borders has also encouraged
trade and illegal trafficking, especially in arms and ammunitions.
In Lobéké the seizure of meat and the arrest of five poachers
by game guards uncovered more than 20 cases of gorilla hunting. There
were fewer cases for chimpanzees - eight cases, with the arrest of one
poacher, in 2001 - probably because of the more restricted distribution
of chimpanzees in the core part of the primary forest area. The numbers
could have been even higher in Lobéké, and an extrapolation
to the entire TNS region could be tenfold what was officially recorded
for Lobéké. No good data exist on great ape hunting within
the entire region; this information would permit a better assessment of
the degree of threat posed by hunting.
Arms proliferation. In most parts of the Republic of Congo and the Central
African Republic there is widespread possession of arms and ammunition.
This has greatly encouraged hunting with guns in these two countries,
notably of great apes. Not only are these weapons cheap but, more importantly,
they can easily be bought in local black markets, notably in Ouesso, where
an automatic rifle (AK47) costs US$ 250. If smuggled across the border
to Cameroon, it is sold at least for twice this price. The long and relatively
unmanned borders between the three countries, and the busy road transport
fuelled by the booming timber business, greatly facilitates illegal trafficking
in arms and ammunition. The truck drivers supply arms and food, and transport
the bushmeat to various destinations and markets.
Pet trade. Commercial trade in baby chimpanzees and gorillas is gradually
gaining ground within the TNS region. Most of the pets confiscated last
year were from Ouesso where there seems to be a ready market for young
orphans whose parents have been killed. There is a regional network in
the sale of pets destined mainly for zoos in Europe and to a lesser extent
the Gulf States. The pets are transported in very inhumane conditions
in little wooden cages with poor aeration and stuffed in between the logs
in timber trucks. Pet trade in great apes is quite organized, with intermediary
agents working with counterparts in Europe and other destinations where
they have been requested.
Future Conservation Measures
The threats facing the great ape populations in the tropical forests of
Africa will continue to worsen if very strong remedial measures are not
taken. One of the fundamental problems is the poor shape of the economy
of most of these countries, coupled with numerous wars that have made
most of the rural people more dependent than ever before on forest products
like wildlife for survival. Butynski (2001) observed that the ultimate
cause of the decline of Africa's apes is the continent's rapidly expanding
population and the related poverty and insecurity.
The international community has a vital role to help support African governments
to address some of the burning issues of poverty alleviation, population
control, health and so on, in order to curb the current trends of natural
resource exploitation. As Butynski stressed, it is especially urgent for
the conservation community, national governments, donors, logging companies,
trade organizations and the public to address the two main threats to
ape populations: hunting and deforestation.
Within the Tri-National de la Sangha Conservation Ares some of the immediate
actions to be taken to redress some of the threats to ape populations
in the region include:
- Carry out systematic surveys, especially in the buffer zones, to ascertain
the size and distribution of the ape populations in order to design better
protection measures;
- Reinforce the existing TNS joint anti-poaching patrols in the three
countries and establish trans-boundary control posts that will ensure
law enforcement and control of various products transported in and out
of the respective countries;
- Develop collaborative partnerships with all commercial logging and transport
companies operating in the region to ensure strict respect for the law
and punishment of lawbreakers, especially those involved in hunting and
the bushmeat trade;
- Compel logging companies to provide matching funds to support conservation
initiatives such as anti-poaching programs, replace bushmeat consumption
within concession areas with cow meat, and construct refrigerated stores
for the sale of beef and fish to their numerous workers, who are the people
largely responsible for hunting and the bushmeat trade;
- Establishment of a long-term funding mechanism, such as a trust fund,
with aid from the international donor community, to secure long-term protection
and management of the TNS national parks system;
- Request the international community to support broad-based landscape
conservation programs, such as the TNS, that seek to protect and ensure
the sustainable management of large trans-boundary forest areas with similar
conservation problems;
- Harmonization of the existing laws and their enforcement by the three
countries, to help to guarantee that more effective control measures are
implemented, notably concerning hunting, illegal timber exploitation and
bushmeat trade under the TNS;
- Establish a reliable communication system, especially at the border
control posts, to ensure efficient coordination, by the protected area
authorities of the respective national parks, of anti-poaching patrols
and the fight against illegal trans-border trafficking such as in great
ape pets, ivory and so on.
Leonard Usongo
References
Butynski, T. M. (2001) Africa's great apes. In: Great Apes and Humans:
The Ethics of Co-existence. Beck, B. et al. (eds.). Washington D. C. (Smithsonian
Institution Press), pp. 3-56.
Carroll, R. W. (1986) The status, distribution and density of the lowland
gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla), forest elephants Loxodonta africana
cyclotis and associated dense forest fauna in southwestern CAR. Unpublished
report, New Haven, Yale University.
Fay, J. M. and Agnagna, M. (1992) Census of gorillas in northern Republic
of Congo. American Journal of Primatology 27: 275-284.
Noss, A. J. (1998) Cable snares and bush meat markets in a Central African
forest. Environmental Conservation 25: 228-233.
Teleki, G. (1991) Action plan for the conservation of wild chimpanzees
and protection of orphan chimpanzees in the Republic of Burundi. Hants,
UK: Jane Goodall Institute. Unpublished report.
Usongo, L. (1998) Conservation Status of Arboreal Primates, Lobéké
Forest, SE Cam-er-oon. Primate Conservation 18: 66-68.
WCS (1996) The Lobeke forest, Southeast Cameroon. Summary of activities
1988-1995. Report submitted to WCS, New York.
Dr. Leonard Usongo has been working with WWF for 6 years; before that he worked with WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society).