Mont Fouari

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Summary

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• Central chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) are present in Mont Fouari.
• The population size is unknown.
• The chimpanzee population trend is unknown.
• The site has a total size of 156 km².
• Key threats to chimpanzees are hunting, logging, and agricultural expansion.
• Conservation activities have focused on raising awareness in local communities.

Landscape at Mont Fouari © Clement Inkamba Nkulu

Site characteristics

The site is located in southwestern Republic of Congo, bordering Gabon, in the Department of Niari, Nyanga district. Wildlife species inhabiting the area include forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis), buffalos (Syncerus caffer nanus), sitatungas (Tragelaphus spekei), Defassa waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus defassa), Harnessed bushbucks (Tragelaphus scriptus), red river hogs (Potamochoerus porcus), six duiker species (Cephalophus sp.), wild cats and diurnal monkeys (e.g., Cercopithecus nictitans, C. cephus and Miopithecus ogouensis) (Inkamba Nkulu pers. comm. 2022).

Table 1. Basic site information for Mont Fouari

Species	Pan troglodytes troglodytes
Area	156 km²
Coordinates	Lat: -2.765613 , Lon: 11.686915
Type of site	Unknown
Habitat types	Subtropical/tropical moist lowland forest, Savanna
Type of governance

Types of sites Governance types Habitat types

Ape status

Table 2. Ape population estimates reported for Mont Fouari

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	2005		0.07			Mont Fouari	Reconnaissance walk		WCS 2007 as cited by Inkamba Nkulu pers. comm. 2022

Sampling methods Analytical frameworks

Threats

The main threats at the site include poaching for consumption and bushmeat trade, and destruction of habitat due to logging and agricultural expansion (Inkamba Nkulu pers. comm. 2022).

Table 3. Threats to apes reported for Mont Fouari

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Description	Year of threat
2 Agriculture & aquaculture	2.1 Annual & perennial non-timber crops	Present (unknown severity)	Presence of agricultural fields (Inkamba Nkulu pers. comm. 2022).	Ongoing (2022)
4 Transportation & service corridors	4.1 Roads & railroads	Present (unknown severity)	Presence of roads from Madanda to the west of the Mont Fouari reserve and from Dolisie to Ngongo village, which is the border of Gabon (Inkamba Nkulu pers. comm. 2022).	Ongoing (2022)
5 Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	Present (unknown severity)	Poachers are hunting chimps in the area for bushmeat consumption and trade (Inkamba Nkulu pers. comm. 2022).	Ongoing (2022)
5 Biological resource use	5.3 Logging & wood harvesting	Present (unknown severity)	Presence of a bulldozer destined for logging, from a Gabonese operator (Inkamba Nkulu pers. comm. 2022).	2005

Threats

Conservation activities

WCS and CNIAF organised an ecological survey in 2005 in several protected areas and protection zones in order to assess the conservation status of these sites (Inkamba Nkulu pers. comm. 2022).

Table 4. Conservation activities reported for Mont Fouari

Category	Specific activity	Description	Implementing organization(s)	Year of activity
2 Counter-wildlife crime	2.10 Inform hunters of the dangers (e.g., disease transmission) of handling ape meat	Community members are asked not to hunt and consume chimpanzees because primates in general may transmit Ebola (Inkamba Nkulu pers. comm. 2022).		Ongoing (2022)
4 Education & awareness	4.1 Educate local communities about apes and sustainable use	Communications to the public for the protection of primate habitats (Inkamba Nkulu pers. comm. 2022).		Ongoing (2022)
5 Protection & restoration	5.2 Legally protect ape habitat	The site is a protected area (Inkamba Nkulu pers. comm. 2022).		Ongoing (2022)

Conservation activities

Map of Mont Fouari © Clement Inkamba Nkulu

Challenges

Table 5. Challenges reported for Mont Fouari

Challenges	Specific challenges	Source	Year(s)
2 Resources and capacity	2.2 Lack of staff	Inkamba Nkulu pers. comm. 2022
2 Resources and capacity	2.3 General lack of funding	Inkamba Nkulu pers. comm. 2022
4 Institutional support	4.1 Lack of law enforcement	Inkamba Nkulu pers. comm. 2022

Challenges

Enablers

Table 6. Enablers reported for Mont Fouari

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

Research activities

The only known study at the site is the 2005 inventory conducted by WCS and CNIAF with the objective to investigate wildlife conservation status and human impact on the protected area in this region (Inkamba et al. 2007).

Documented behaviours

Table 7. Behaviours documented for Mont Fouari

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 Mont Fouari

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]	25.1	26.2	26.1	26.3	27.4
Annual precipitation [mm]	2104	2164	2093	2148	2077
Max no. consecutive dry days (per year)	81.3	50.5	45.8	50.2	43.7
No. days with heavy precipitation (per year)	6.1	8.1	6.8	7.6	7.4

Table 9. Projected exposure of apes to extreme climate impact events in Mont Fouari

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	6	0.3	6	0.31	3.5	0.3	12.5	0.32
Drought	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Heatwave	14	67.86	14.5	79.17	11	74.17	17	90.44
River flood	0.5	0.31	1.5	0.8	2	0.65	5.25	2.12
Tropical cyclone	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Wildfire	30	0.14	30	0.14	29	0.14	29	0.14

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  Precipitation anomaly in Mont Fouari

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  Temperature anomaly in Mont Fouari

References

Inkamba, N. C., Nganga, I., Diahouakou, R. et Moussoukou Mpemba, E. (2007). Sondage écologique des mammifères dans quelques aires protégées dans le district de Nyanga. Rapport WCS-CNIAF, 37p.

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: Clement Inkamba Nkulu, Principal investigator for WCS Bateke plateau Date: 2022-04-04