GORILLA CONSERVATION

GUARDIANS OF DJA

LOCATION: Dja Biosphere Reserve, East Region, Cameroon, Central Africa: a two million hectare (4.9m acre) forested area, comprising forestry management units, community forests, and ~40 villages (~50,000 people). The core 526,000 hectare (1.2m acre) Dja Faunal Reserve is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (1981).

GOAL: To increase the abundance of rare chimpanzees and gorillas in a great ape conservation priority area, the Dja Biosphere Reserve (DBR), Cameroon, and to foster a sustainable coexistence between local people and wildlife.

ACTIONS: In this region there is intense and widespread bushmeat hunting for local consumption and sale, poaching for the national and international illegal wildlife trade, and forest overuse and degradation further threatens remaining chimpanzee and gorilla populations. The DBR is home to central chimpanzees (officially Endangered on the IUCN Red List), western lowland gorillas (Critically Endangered), forest elephants (Critically Endangered), three pangolin species (Vulnerable), plus leopards, buffalo, bongo, many primate and ungulate species, reptiles and birds. 

It is also home to many rural communities of Badjoue and Bantu, classed as ‘poor’ and ‘extreme poor’, living with hand-to-mouth economies and whose traditional livelihoods include hunting and slash-and-burn farming. The north east corner of reserve, where there are 11 villages (~3,000 people), is one of a few key areas recently recognized as warranting extra protection, because great ape abundance is high and human activity not as intense as elsewhere across the faunal reserve. We will initially focus our actions in the villages Malen V, Doumo Pierre, Mimpala, Eschou, Madjuh I, and Doumo Mama, while some of our outreach activities will extend to an additional five villages.

CAMERA TRAP IMAGES FROM THE PROJECT

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