Ngoyla Wildlife Reserve

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Summary

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• Central chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) & western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) are present in Ngoyla Wildlife Reserve.
• It has been estimated that 11,345 individuals occur in the site.
• The great ape population trend is decreasing.
• The site has a total size of 1,566.72 km².
• Key threats to great apes are logging, hunting, mining, and clearing forest for agriculture.
• Conservation activities reported include anti-poaching patrols, ecological monitoring, awareness-raising in local communities, and the promotion of ecotourism activities.

Site characteristics

The Ngoyla Wildlife Reserve is situated in southeastern Cameroon. Located between Nki National Park and Dja Biosphere Reserve, the site is also part of the TRIDOM conservation landscape (WWF). In 2014, the government of Cameroon, in collaboration with WWF and the World Bank, created the reserve. Along with the reserve, five new forestry concessions were created, covering nearly 500,000 ha in the same forest block (Ngoyla Mintom forest block), on the lands belonging to the indigenous Baka and Bantu peoples (FPP 2019). Mammal species inhabiting the site include forest elephants, gorillas, chimpanzees, mandrills, buffalos, bongos, sitatungas, panthers, duikers, water chevrotains; more than 280 bird species and 230 fish species are also found at the site (WWF).

Table 1. Basic site information for Ngoyla Wildlife Reserve

Species	Pan troglodytes troglodytes, Gorilla gorilla gorilla
Area	1,566.72 km²
Coordinates	Lat: 2.657628 , Lon: 13.788269
Type of site	Protected area (Wildlife Reserve)
Habitat types	Subtropical/tropical moist lowland forest, Subtropical/tropical swamp forest
Type of governance

Types of sites Governance types Habitat types

Ape status

Great ape abundance declined between 2011 and 2015 (N'Goran 2017).

Table 2. Ape population estimates reported for Ngoyla Wildlife Reserve

Species	Year	Occurrence	Encounter or vistation rate (nests/km; ind/day)	Density estimate [ind./ km²] (95% CI)	Abundance estimate (95% CI)	Survey area	Sampling method	Analytical framework	Source	Comments	A.P.E.S. database ID
Pan troglodytes troglodytes & Gorilla gorilla gorilla	2015				11345.0	Ngoyla Mintom forests	Line transects		N'Goran 2017
Pan troglodytes troglodytes & Gorilla gorilla gorilla	2011				20076.0	Ngoyla Mintom forests	Line transects		N'Goran 2017

Sampling methods Analytical frameworks

Threats

Table 3. Threats to apes reported for Ngoyla Wildlife Reserve

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Description	Year of threat
2 Agriculture & aquaculture	2.1 Annual & perennial non-timber crops	Present (unknown severity)	Expansion of slash and burn agriculture (WWF n.d.).	Ongoing (2021)
3 Energy production & mining	3.2 Mining & quarrying	Present (unknown severity)	Industrial and artisanal mining (WWF n.d.). The Mbalam Iron mining project was reported active on site (APES Atlas Team pers.comm. 2026).	2021-Ongoing (2026)
4 Transportation & service corridors	4.1 Roads & railroads	Present (unknown severity)	Logging roads facilitate access to the forest and illegal hunting and bushmeat trade (Mbom & Akana 2017).	Ongoing (2017)
5 Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	High (more than 70% of population affected)	Bushmeat poaching (N'Goran 2017, WWF n.d.). In 2026, Poaching activities continued to be reported (APES Atlas Team pers.comm. 2026).	2017-Ongoing (2026)
5 Biological resource use	5.3 Logging & wood harvesting	Present (unknown severity)	Industrial timber exploitation and illegal small scale logging (WWF n.d.). Illegal forest exploitation and deforestation activities continued to be reported in 2026 (APES Atlas Team pers. comm. 2026).	2017-Ongoing (2026)

Threats

Conservation activities

Table 4. Conservation activities reported for Ngoyla Wildlife Reserve

Category	Specific activity	Description	Implementing organization(s)	Year of activity
5 Protection & restoration	5.2 Legally protect ape habitat	The reserve was established in 2014.		2014-Ongoing (2026)
7 Economic & other incentives	7.1 Provide monetary benefits to local communities for sustainably managing their forest and its wildlife (e.g., REDD, alternative income, employment)	Promotion of Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) and REDD + initiatives (WWF n.d.).		Unknown
2 Counter-wildlife crime	2.3 Conduct regular anti-poaching patrols	Anti-poaching patrols activities reported (APES Atlas Team pers.comm. 2026).	Ministère des Forêts et de la Faune (MINFOF)	Ongoing (2026)
2 Counter-wildlife crime	2.11 Implement monitoring surveillance strategies (e.g., SMART) or use monitoring data to improve effectiveness of patrols	MINFOF implements ecological monitoring of flora and fauna, in technical collaboration with conservation partners such as WWF (APES Atla Team pers.comm. 2026).	Ministère des Forêts et de la Faune (MINFOF), World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)	2016-Ongoing (2026)
4 Education & awareness	4.1 Educate local communities about apes and sustainable use	Community outreach and awareness-raising in villages around the reserve (APES Atlas Team pers.comm. 2026).	Ministère des Forêts et de la Faune (MINFOF)	Ongoing (2026)
7 Economic & other incentives	7.2 Provide non-monetary benefits to local communities for sustainably managing their forest and its wildlife (e.g., better education, infrastructure development)	Introduction of ecotourism activities (APES Atlas Team pers.comm. 2026).		Ongoing (2026)

Conservation activities

Challenges

Table 5. Challenges reported for Ngoyla Wildlife Reserve

Challenges	Specific challenges	Source	Year(s)
1 Site management	1.2 Need for improved coordination	APES Atlas Team pers.comm. 2026	Ongoing (2026)
2 Resources and capacity	2.7 Lack of infrastructure	APES Atlas Team pers.comm. 2026	Ongoing (2026)
2 Resources and capacity	2.3 General lack of funding	APES Atlas Team pers.comm. 2026	Ongoing (2026)
2 Resources and capacity	2.5 Lack of equipment/transportation	APES Atlas Team pers.comm. 2026	Ongoing (2026)

Challenges

Enablers

Table 6. Enablers reported for Ngoyla Wildlife Reserve

Enablers	Specific enablers	Source	Year(s)
1 Site management	1.1 Effective leadership	APES Atlas Team pers.comm. 2026	Ongoing (2026)
1 Site management	1.3 Adaptive management practices	APES Atlas Team pers.comm. 2026	Ongoing (2026)
2 Resources and capacity	2.6 External partnerships that add expertise or resources	APES Atlas Team pers.comm. 2026	Ongoing (2026)
2 Resources and capacity	2.5 Sufficient capacity/expertise to advise, design, or implement actions	APES Atlas Team pers.comm. 2026	Ongoing (2026)

Enablers

Research activities

The most recent biological studies were submitted by the Zoological Society of London in 2021. However, these studies have not yet been approved by MINFOF. Consequently, WWF had also conducted its own studies at the sites back in 2016 (APES Atlas Team pers.comm. 2026).

Documented behaviours

Table 7. Behaviours documented for Ngoyla Wildlife Reserve

Category	Behavior	Observation type	Prevalence	Observation dates	Source	Habituation	Species	Comment
	Not reported

Behaviours

Exposure to climate change impacts

As part of a study on the exposure of African great ape sites to climate change impacts, Kiribou et al. (2024) extracted climate data and data on projected extreme climate impact events for the site. Climatological characteristics were derived from observation-based climate data provided by the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISIMIP, www.isimip.org). Parameters were calculated as the average across each 30-year period. For 1981-2010, the EWEMBI dataset from ISIMIP2a was used. For the two future periods (2021-2050 and 2071-2099) ISIMIP2b climate data based on four CMIP5 global climate models were used. For future projections, two Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) were used. RCP 2.6 is a scenario with strong mitigation measures in which global temperatures would likely rise below 2C. RCP 6.0 is a scenario with medium emissions in which global temperatures would likely rise up to 3C by 2100. For the number of days with heavy precipitation events, the 98th percentile of all precipitation days (>1mm/d) was calculated for the 1979-2013 reference period as a threshold for a heavy precipitation event. Then, for each year, the number of days above that threshold was derived. The figures on temperature and precipitation anomaly show the deviation from the mean temperature and mean precipitation for the 1979-2013 reference period.

The estimated exposure to future extreme climate impact events (crop failure, drought, river flood, wildfire, tropical cyclone, and heatwave) is based on a published dataset by Lange et al. 2020 derived from ISIMIP2b data. The same global climate models and RCPs as described above were used. Within each 30-year period, the number of years with an extreme event and the average proportion of the site affected were calculated (Kiribou et al. 2024).

Table 8. Estimated past and projected climatological characteristics in Ngoyla Wildlife Reserve

Value	1981-2010	2021-2050, RCP 2.6	2021-2050, RCP 6.0	2071-2099, RCP 2.6	2071-2099, RCP 6.0
Mean temperature [C]	23.9	25.3	25.1	25.4	26.5
Annual precipitation [mm]	2176	2226	2218	2233	2235
Max no. consecutive dry days (per year)	19.1	14.9	16.9	13.1	15.2
No. days with heavy precipitation (per year)	7	7.3	7.5	7.2	8.5

Table 9. Projected exposure of apes to extreme climate impact events in Ngoyla Wildlife Reserve

Type	No. of years with event (2021-2050, RCP 2.6)	% of site exposed (2021-2050, RCP 2.6)	No. of years with event (2021-2050, RCP 6.0)	% of site exposed (2021-2050, RCP 6.0)	No. of years with event (2070-2099, RCP 2.6)	% of site exposed (2070-2099, RCP 2.6)	No. of years with event (2070-2099, RCP 6.0)	% of site exposed (2070-2099, RCP 6.0)
Crop failure	7	0.01	5.5	0.01	8.5	0.01	20	0.01
Drought	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Heatwave	1.5	100	2.5	50	4	100	7.5	100
River flood	0	0	0.25	0.03	1	0.42	1	0.33
Tropical cyclone	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Wildfire	29.75	0.37	30	0.43	28.75	0.39	29	0.45

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  Precipitation anomaly in Ngoyla Wildlife Reserve

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  Temperature anomaly in Ngoyla Wildlife Reserve

References

FPP. (2019). There’s a long, long way to go: The story of FPIC in Cameroon’s Ngoyla Wildlife Reserve.

Mbom, S., & Akana, D. (2017). The road to destruction? https://infocongo.org/en/the-road-to-destruction/

N’Goran, K. P. (2017). Summary report on WWF biomonitoring activities from 2014 to 2016: Status of forest elephant and great apes in Central Africa priority sites.

WWF. (n.d.). Ngoyla-Mintom Project. https://www.wwf-congobasin.org/where_we_work/cameroon/ngoyla_mintom_/ link

Kiribou, R., Tehoda, P., Chukwu, O., Bempah, G., Kühl, H. S., Ferreira, J., …, & Heinicke, S. (2024). Exposure of African ape sites to climate change impacts. PLOS Climate, 3(2), e0000345. doi:10.1371/journal.pclm.0000345

Page created by: APES Atlas Team Date: 2021-11-14

Page updated by: APES Atlas Team Date: 2026-10-12