Messok Dja

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Summary

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• Central chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) and western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) are present in Messok Dja.
• It has been estimated that 2,938 chimpanzees and gorillas occur in the site.
• The great ape population trend is stable.
• The site has a total size of 1,500 km².
• Key threats to great apes are poaching, the spread of artisanal and semi-industrial mining, and illegal logging.
• Conservation activities have not been documented.
• Messok Dja is part of the Tri-National Dja-Odzala-Minkebe (TRIDOM) landscape.

Site characteristics

The site is located in northwestern Republic of Congo. Messok Dja is part of the Tri-National Dja-Odzala-Minkebe (TRIDOM) landscape, one of the most intact forest blocks remaining in the Congo Basin. A biodiversity survey by WWF found the dense forest in Messok Dja to be an important migration corridor for animals between National Parks in Cameroon and Republic of Congo (WWF 2018). Indigenous people, especially the Baka, depend on the Messok Dja forest for food, medicine, housing, and more. Messok Dja forest is currently part of two commercial logging operations (WWF 2018).

Table 1. Basic site information for Messok Dja

Species	Pan troglodytes troglodytes, Gorilla gorilla gorilla
Area	1,500 km²
Coordinates	Lat: 2.029165 , Lon: 14.532618
Type of site	Non-protected area
Habitat types	Subtropical/tropical moist lowland forest
Type of governance

Types of sites Governance types Habitat types

Ape status

Table 2. Ape population estimates reported for Messok Dja

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	2016				2938.0	Messok Dja forest	Line transects		N'Goran 2017
Pan troglodytes troglodytes	2013			0.39 (0.23-0.65)	595.0	Messok Dja forest	Line transects & recces	Distance sampling	Mantsila 2013
Gorilla gorilla gorilla	2013		0.4	0.7 (0.50-1.22)	1.17	Messok Dja forest	Line transects & recces	Distance sampling	Mantsila 2013
Pan troglodytes troglodytes & Gorilla gorilla gorilla	2013				2190.0	Messok Dja forest	Line transects		N'Goran 2017

Sampling methods Analytical frameworks

Threats

Poaching, the spread of artisanal and semi-industrial gold mining and illegal logging are important threats in the Messok Dja forest. The discovery of iron deposits across the region and the planned development of the Chollet hydropower dam in the Dja river also pose additional pressures (WWF 2019).

Table 3. Threats to apes reported for Messok Dja

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Description	Year of threat
3 Energy production & mining	3.2 Mining & quarrying	Present (unknown severity)	Artisanal and semi-industrial gold mining (WWF 2019).	Ongoing (2019)
5 Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	Low (up to 30% of population affected)	Low hunting pressure was recorded exclusively in the Messok-Dja forests. On average, approximately three signs of human activity were detected per kilometer walked, while one sign of hunting was observed every two kilometers (N’Goran 2017).	2013-Ongoing (2017)
5 Biological resource use	5.3 Logging & wood harvesting	Medium (30-70% of population affected)	The indicators of human presence found in the area are mainly related to forestry activities (counting and logging) rather than hunting (Mantsila 2013).	Ongoing (2013)

Threats

Challenges

Table 5. Challenges reported for Messok Dja

Challenges	Specific challenges	Source	Year(s)
1 Site management	1.1 Need for improved leadership	Mantsila, 2013	Ongoing (2013)
2 Resources and capacity	2.1 Lack of capacity/training	Mantsila, 2013	Ongoing (2013)
2 Resources and capacity	2.3 General lack of funding	Mantsila, 2013	Ongoing (2013)
2 Resources and capacity	2.6 Lack of biomonitoring/survey data	Mantsila, 2013	Ongoing (2013)
4 Institutional support	4.3 Lack of protected area status	Mantsila, 2013	Ongoing (2013)

Challenges

Enablers

Table 6. Enablers reported for Messok Dja

Enablers	Specific enablers	Source	Year(s)
1 Site management
2 Resources and capacity
3 Engaged community
4 Institutional support
5 Ecological context
6 Safety and stability

Enablers

Documented behaviours

Table 7. Behaviours documented for Messok Dja

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 Messok Dja

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]	24.2	25.6	25.4	25.8	26.9
Annual precipitation [mm]	1427	1494	1500	1512	1497
Max no. consecutive dry days (per year)	19.1	19.4	21.9	16.2	20.1
No. days with heavy precipitation (per year)	6.5	7.5	8.1	7.7	9.3

Table 9. Projected exposure of apes to extreme climate impact events in Messok Dja

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	9	0	7	0	8.5	0	20.5	0
Drought	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.25	25
Heatwave	3.5	100	1	100	6	100	8.5	100
River flood	0	0	0	0	1	0.01	0.75	1.48
Tropical cyclone	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Wildfire	30	0.54	30	0.59	29	0.42	29	0.58

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  Precipitation anomaly in Messok Dja

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  Temperature anomaly in Messok Dja

References

Mantsila, G. M. (2013). Recensement et distribution des grands mammifères de la forêt Messok-Dja (Sembé-Nord Congo). Ministère de l'Economie Forestière et de l'Environnement (Congo); WWF Projet de Conservation Inter-zone.

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. (2018). Decoding conservation: How the lands and ecosystems that wildlife and communities depend upon are protected. Retrieved from https://wwf.panda.org/discover/our_focus/forests_practice/forest_publications_news_and_reports/?339714/Decoding-Conservation-How-the-lands-and-ecosystems-that-wildlife-and-communities-depend-upon-are-protected

WWF. (2019). Republic of Congo: Engaging communities in the future of Messok Dja. Retrieved from https://wwf.panda.org/discover/our_focus/forests_practice/forest_publications_news_and_reports/?356639/Republic-of-Congo-Engaging-communities-in-the-future-of-Messok-Dja

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), 1-19. doi:10.1371/journal.pclm.0000345

Page created by: APES Atlas Team Date: 2020-12-06

Page updated by: Diorne Zausa Date: 2024-11-30