Gorilla Guardians Gain Momentum
Faced with the challenge of improving the monitoring of unprotected Cross
River gorilla sites in Cameroon, the Gorilla Guardian community-based
monitoring network was established at the end of 2008 (see Gorilla
Journal 37). With a focus on the most vulnerable but important unprotected
Cross River gorilla sites, our initial planning basically consisted of
identifying villages with traditional forest rights over these sites;
working with traditional authorities to identify Gorilla Guardians from
each of the 6 villages identified in this way, and then building the capacity
and understanding of the 6 selected Guardians in relation to basic gorilla
ecology, monitoring and national wildlife laws through training at the
Kagwene Gorilla Sanctuary.
The Gorilla Guardians started monitoring their gorillas in the Mbulu forest,
Mawambi Hills and northern Mone Forest Reserve in January 2009 and since
then, 3 WCS-led monitoring trips have visited each of these areas to work
with the Guardians and local hunters to review the information that has
been collected.
Two of the key initial expectations for the community-based Gorilla Guardian
network were that 1) more regular basic monitoring data (status and distribution)
would be generated in a more cost-effective manner and 2) the Guardians
should act as informants in relation to threats to gorillas in each site.
A further expectation is that over time, as the role of the Guardians
becomes increasingly accepted within their communities, improved protection
of their gorillas would also be achieved. I am happy to report that progress
has been made in relation to both of these expectations.
Historically, our monitoring of gorilla presence in sites like the Mawambi
Hills, northern Mone and the Mbulu forest has been restricted to periodic
recce-style surveys. Organised remotely and at significant cost, these
forest were only visited by trained field teams a few times in the last
decade, normally with a number of years between visits. For example, the
Mawambi Hills (just south of Takamanda National Park) were surveyed by
Groves in 2001, Bergl in 2003 and Ekinde and Warren in 2007 and in total,
data from 33 nest sites were collected during these visits. Thanks to
the work of Gorilla Guardians Ferdinand Eyong and Simon Essa Ncha from
Awuri and Takpe villages adjacent to the Mawambi Hills, working in collaboration
with local hunters, 42 nest sites with a total of 269 nests were located
and visited by WCS monitoring teams from the first 8 months of Gorilla
Guardian monitoring alone. Records from the other two Gorilla Guardian
sites for the same period follow a similar positive pattern with 34 nest
sites having been located in northern Mone Forest Reserve (previous database
total was 41 nest sites) and 43 nest sites in the Mbulu forest (previous
database total was 48 nest sites).
The fact that Gorilla Guardians are helping generate significantly more
nest site location data is important because it is helping further define
the areas being used by Cross River gorillas at these different unprotected
sites. This has implications in terms of improving our ecological understanding
of Cross River gorilla distribution over time and space, may provide an
improved picture of connectivity between different sites and will also
help us plan further conservation action, including protection of the
gorillas in these areas.
We have also achieved some progress in relation to our second expectation
related to gaining a better understanding of the threats faced by gorillas
at different unprotected sites. We have often promoted the fact that the
hunting of Cross River gorillas has not taken place in recent years as
a result of increased community sensitization and greater conservation
presence in sites like Kagwene and Takamanda. But, reports from Gorilla
Guardians now confirm that such statements may not be entirely accurate
and that a small number of gorillas are still being killed by poachers
in unprotected sites in Cameroon. A good example of this was the report
received from one Guardian that a gorilla had been recently killed in
the northern part of Mone Forest Reserve. Further investigations revealed
that this was indeed the case and that a male gorilla (undetermined age)
was shot in November 2008 by a local hunter. Although an investigation
team was unable to secure the physical evidence needed to secure the effective
prosecution of the alleged hunter, this has focused our attention on a
number of villages that may still be actively involved in gorilla hunting.
If not for the Guardian network, it seems less likely that this information
would have reached us.
In subsequent issues, we hope to share more about the evolution of the
Gorilla Guardian network. Thanks must be extended to the Margot Marsh
Biodiversity Foundation and US Fish and Wildlife Service for
their support to this programme.
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Peter Tipa, Moses Takia and hunter Prince Ebole with a gorilla nest Photo: WCS Takamanda-Mone Landscape Project, Cameroon |
Aaron Nicholas
Aaron Nicholas is the Director of
the Wildlife Conservation Society's Takamanda-Mone Landscape Project,
with the core focus of conserving the Cross River gorilla in Cameroon.
References
Groves, J. L. (2002): Report on the status and distribution of the Cross
River gorilla population of the Takamanda and Mone Forest Reserves and
the Mbulu forest, SW Province, Cameroon. Unpublished report to the Wildlife
Conservation Society, the Whitley Foundation and Margot Marsh Biodiversity
Foundation
Bergl, R. A. (2006): Conservation Biology of the Cross River Gorilla
(Gorilla gorilla diehli). Ph.D. thesis, City University of New York
Ekinde, A. & Warren, Y. (2007): The Proposed Takamanda National Park:
Cross River Gorilla surveys February-May 2007. Unpublished report to the
Wildlife Conservation Society and KfW. Report 1 in the July 2007 series.
Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) - Takamanda Mone Landscape Project,
Limbe, Cameroon