Summary

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Western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) are present in Mengame Gorilla Sanctuary.
The population size is unknown.
The gorilla population trend is unknown.
The site has a total size of 1,300 km².
The main threats to gorillas in the site is poaching.
Conservation activities have focused on capacity building and raising conservation awareness.

Site characteristics

Mengame Gorilla Sanctuary is located in southern Cameroon, bordering Gabon. The sanctuary was established in 2001 for the protection of Western lowland gorillas. The site protects 15 other primate species (African Conservation Foundation).

Table 1. Basic site information for Mengame Gorilla Sanctuary

Species	Gorilla gorilla gorilla
Area	1,300 km²
Coordinates	Lat: 2.333975 , Lon: 12.280413
Type of site	Protected area (Wildlife Sanctuary)
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 Mengame Gorilla Sanctuary

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
Gorilla gorilla gorilla						Mengame Gorilla Sanctuary

Sampling methods Analytical frameworks

Threats

Table 3. Threats to apes reported for Mengame Gorilla Sanctuary

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Description	Year of threat
5 Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	High (more than 70% of population affected)	Poaching is the main threat to gorillas in the area (WWF 2005, ACF).	Ongoing (2005)

Threats

Conservation activities

The sanctuary was established by the government of Cameroon, together with the logging company, SOFOPETRA, which initially ran the sanctuary. It was later taken over by Cameroon's Ministry of the Environment and Forestry (MINEF). In 2002, MINEF signed an agreement with the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) to fund a project to promote trans-boundary conservation of the lowland gorilla in Mengame. The Environment Ministry also signed an agreement with the Jane Goodall Institute in 2002 to carry out scientific studies that would provide information for the proper management of the sanctuary. In 2004, MINEF signed another agreement with WWF to provide technical assistance (WWF 2005).

Table 4. Conservation activities reported for Mengame Gorilla Sanctuary

Category	Specific activity	Description	Implementing organization(s)	Year of activity
5 Protection & restoration	5.2 Legally protect ape habitat	The site is a protected area.		Ongoing (2023)
4 Education & awareness	4.1 Educate local communities about apes and sustainable use	The African Conservation Foundation conduct a Capacity Building and Education project (ACF).		Unknown

Conservation activities

Challenges

Table 5. Challenges reported for Mengame Gorilla Sanctuary

Challenges	Specific challenges	Source	Year(s)
2 Resources and capacity	2.3 General lack of funding	WWF 2005

Challenges

Enablers

Table 6. Enablers reported for Mengame Gorilla Sanctuary

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

Documented behaviours

Table 7. Behaviours documented for Mengame Gorilla Sanctuary

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. subm. 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 (see Kiribou et al. subm. for details).

Table 8. Estimated past and projected climatological characteristics in Mengame Gorilla Sanctuary

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]	24.1	25.3	25.2	25.5	26.5
Annual precipitation [mm]	2493	2577	2582	2639	2656
Max no. consecutive dry days (per year)	22.5	10.2	9.7	8.6	11.6
No. days with heavy precipitation (per year)	6.7	8.6	8.7	8.9	10

Table 9. Projected exposure of apes to extreme climate impact events in Mengame Gorilla Sanctuary

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	3	0	4.5	0.01	3.5	0	14	0.01
Drought	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Heatwave	1	50	0.5	50	3	50	4.5	100
River flood	1.5	0.77	2.5	6.25	1.5	3.79	4.25	2.82
Tropical cyclone	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Wildfire	29.75	0.25	30	0.28	29	0.27	29	0.3

External links

References

WWF. (2005). Anti-poaching patrol saves gorilla in Cameroon. Online: https://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/?21899/b-Africa-Update-BBRAnti-poaching-patrol-saves-gorilla-in-Cameroon

Page created by: APES Atlas Team Date: 2023-06-02