Summary

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Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes ellioti) are present in Southern Bakundu Forest Reserve.
The population size is unknown.
The chimpanzee population trend is decreasing.
The site has a total size of 181 km².
Key threats to chimpanzees are hunting, agricultural activities and exploitation of NTFPs.
Conservation activities are not documented.

Site characteristics

Located in eastern Cameroon, the Southern Bakundu Forest Reserve covers an area of 18,100 ha and is located in the Meme Division of the South West Province (Eno Nku 2004). It is limited to the north by the Kumba-Ekondo Titi road, to the South by the CDC rubber and palm plantations, the Kumba-Buea highway to the East and the Ekombe Mbonji-Barombi Kotto road (Eno Nku 2004). The reserve was created in 1939 to protect distinctive flora and fauna with many endemic species such as the Microberlinia bisulcata (Tiger wood), Lophira alata (Iron wood), Nauclea diderichii (Opepe), Gebourtia mannii (Boubinga), Milicia excelsa (Iroko) (ERuDeF).

Table 1. Basic site information for Southern Bakundu Forest Reserve

Species	Pan troglodytes ellioti
Area	181 km²
Coordinates	Lat: 4.516667 , Lon: 9.316667
Type of site	Protected area (Forest Reserve)
Habitat types	Subtropical/tropical moist lowland forest
Type of governance

Types of sites Governance types Habitat types

Ape status

Signs of chimpanzees were not found during a survey in the early 2000s (Eno Nku 2004).

Table 2. Ape population estimates reported for Southern Bakundu Forest 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 ellioti	2004	Absent				Southern Bakundu Forest Reserve	Reconnaissance walk		Eno Nku 2004	Survey effort 25 km

Sampling methods Analytical frameworks

Threats

The populations of wildlife species at the site have declined over the years as a result of the illegal exploitation of forest resources and encroachment from all sides of the reserve (Eno Nku 2004). The absence of research, monitoring and management of the site is a great concern and has contributed to the decline of wildlife. During a survey in the early 2000s, a great number of snares, gun shells and gunshots were reported (Eno Nku 2004).

Table 3. Threats to apes reported for Southern Bakundu Forest Reserve

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Description	Year of threat
2 Agriculture & aquaculture	2.1 Annual & perennial non-timber crops	High (more than 70% of population affected)	Plantations extending into the reserve (Eno Nku 2004).	Ongoing (2004)
5 Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	High (more than 70% of population affected)	Illegal exploitation of wildlife has led to the extinction of many wildlife species, particularly large mammals which are regularly hunted for food and for the bushmeat trade (Eno Nku 2004).	Ongoing (2004)
5 Biological resource use	5.2 Gathering terrestrial plants	High (more than 70% of population affected)	Exploitation of NTFPs (Eno Nku 2004).	Ongoing (2004)

Threats

Conservation activities

Challenges

Table 5. Challenges reported for Southern Bakundu Forest Reserve

Challenges	Specific challenges	Source	Year(s)
2 Resources and capacity	2.2 Lack of staff	Eno Nku 2004
4 Institutional support	4.1 Lack of law enforcement	Eno Nku 2004

Challenges

Enablers

Table 6. Enablers reported for Southern Bakundu Forest Reserve

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 Southern Bakundu Forest 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 Southern Bakundu Forest 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	24.9	25.1	26.2
Annual precipitation [mm]	2529	2616	2663	2660	2625
Max no. consecutive dry days (per year)	43.6	28	29.5	25.5	31.3
No. days with heavy precipitation (per year)	6.2	6	6.7	7.2	6.8

Table 9. Projected exposure of apes to extreme climate impact events in Southern Bakundu Forest 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	5	0.64	4	0.57	3	0.95	6	0.81
Drought	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Heatwave	0	0	0.5	50	1.5	100	3.5	100
River flood	2.25	0.51	0.5	0.03	1.75	1.76	4	1.47
Tropical cyclone	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Wildfire	30	0.41	30	0.42	29	0.41	29	0.44

Precipitation anomaly in Southern Bakundu Forest Reserve
Temperature anomaly in Southern Bakundu Forest Reserve

External links

IUCN Regional Action Plan for the Conservation of the Nigeria-Cameroon Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes ellioti)

References

Eno Nku, M. (2004). Large mammal recoinnassance surveys of Lake Barombi Mbo and Southern Banduku Forests Reserves, SW Province. Report to Wildlife Conservation Society & MINEF.

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: 2022-02-28