Ankasa Conservation Area
West Africa > Ghana > Ankasa Conservation Area
Summary
- Western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) may be present in Ankasa Conservation Area.
- Chimpanzees have not been documented in the area since 2016.
- The chimpanzee population trend is unknown; possibly absent.
- The site has a total size of 509 km².
- Key threats to chimpanzees are agricultural encroachment and hunting.
- Conservation activities have focused on education, patrolling, and preventing further degradation from farming activities.
Site characteristics
Ankasa Conservation Area (National Park and Resource Reserve) is located in the South Western part of Ghana, borderingIvory Coast. The Park is one of the few remnants of undisturbed Tropical Rainforest in Ghana. It was created in 1976. The site is very rich in biodiversity including forest elephants, bongos, leopards, olive colobus, black and white colobus, mangabey and other monkeys, yellow backed duikers and other duikers, pangolins, over 200 species of birds recorded, over 600 species of butterflies etc. The area is one of the known World Bird Areas and a Key Biodiversity Area (Ofori-Amanfo, R. pers. comm. 2023).
Table 1. Basic site information for Ankasa Conservation Area
| Area | 509 km² |
| Coordinates | 5.252710, -2.583665 |
| Designation | Conservation Area and Resource Reserve |
| Habitat types | Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland Forest |
IUCN habitat categories Site designations
Ape status
Chimpanzees have not been documented in the area since 2016.
Table 2. Ape population estimates in Ankasa Conservation Area
| Species | Year | Abundance estimate (95% CI) | Density estimate [ind./ km²] (95% CI) | Encounter rate (nests/km) | Area | Method | Source | Comments | A.P.E.S. database ID |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pan troglodytes verus | 2016 | 0 | Ankasa Conservation Area | Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2016 |
Threats
There are poaching camps, which the park’s staff has encountered, as well as temporary farm houses in encroached areas, but efforts are being made to clear all these in the park (Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2023).
Table 3. Threats to apes in Ankasa Conservation Area
| Category | Specific threats | Threat level | Quantified severity | Description | Year of threat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Residential & commercial development | Unknown | ||||
| 2. Agriculture & aquaculture | 2.1 Annual & perennial non-timber crops | Medium | About 50 ha of farmland within the site (Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2023). | The community members are predominantly farmers, embarking on cocoa and rubber plantations affecting the surroundings of the park and the entire landscape (Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2023). | Ongoing (2023) |
| 3. Energy production & mining | Unknown | ||||
| 4. Transportation & service corridors | Unknown | ||||
| 5. Biological resource use | 5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals | Low | Communities surrounding the Park (Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2023). | 2016 - 2020 | |
| 6. Human intrusion & disturbance | Unknown | ||||
| 7. Natural system modifications | Unknown | ||||
| 8. Invasive & other problematic species, genes, diseases | Unknown | ||||
| 9. Pollution | Unknown | ||||
| 10. Geological Events | Absent | ||||
| 11. Climate change & severe weather | Unknown | ||||
| 12. Other options | Absent |
Conservation activities
The Wildlife Division of Forestry Commission is the main organization that protects the Ankasa Conservation Area. Forest Research Institute and some Universities in the country carry out research in the Park and give some recommendations regarding management of some of the species and information on some species in the Park for conservation and management purposes.
Table 4. Conservation activities in Ankasa Conservation Area
| Category | Specific activity | Description | Year of activity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Residential & commercial development | Not reported | ||
| 2. Agriculture & aquaculture | 2.8. Prohibit (livestock) farmers from entering protected areas | Farmers and all unauthorised people are not allowed to enter into the reserve by intensive patrols within the area (Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2023). | Ongoing (2023) |
| 2.11. Farm more intensively and effectively in selected areas and spare more natural land | Old cocoa and rubber farms are being cleared (since 2016) to plant new hybrid to yield more products to increase farmers income rather than clearing more land for cultivation (Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2023). | Ongoing (2023) | |
| 3. Energy production & mining | Not reported | ||
| 4. Transportation & service corridors | Not reported | ||
| 5. Biological resource use | 5.6. Conduct regular anti-poaching patrols | Field staff undertake day patrols, over night patrols and long/sleeping patrols in the Park to control poaching and for field data collection (Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2023). | Ongoing (2023) |
| 5.11. Provide training to anti-poaching ranger patrols | Staff are trained in, how take field data on animals and how to manage the animal species causing human animals conflict and others (Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2023). | Ongoing (2023) | |
| 6. Human intrusion & disturbance | Not reported | ||
| 7. Natural system modifications | Not reported | ||
| 8. Invasive & other problematic species, genes, diseases | Not reported | ||
| 9. Pollution | Not reported | ||
| 10. Education & Awareness | 10.1. Educate local communities about primates and sustainable use | Local communities are educated on the need to conserve the resources in the Park since the 1990s (Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2023). | Ongoing (2023) |
| 11. Habitat Protection | 11.2. Legally protect primate habitat | Ongoing | |
| 12. Species Management | Not reported | ||
| 13. Livelihood; Economic & Other Incentives | Not reported |
Conservation activities list (Junker et al. 2017)
Challenges
Inadequate equipment and financial resources make protection of the Park difficult. The communities’ expectation is very high; that serves as disincentive to them no matter the efforts put in to support them (Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2023).
Table 5. Challenges reported for Ankasa Conservation Area
| Challenge | Source |
|---|---|
| Lack of financial means | Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2023 |
| Lack of logistical means | Wildlife Division and PADP II, 2010 |
| Lack of human resources | Wildlife Division and PADP II, 2010 |
| Lack of trust and support from local communities | Wildlife Division and PADP II, 2010 |
Research activities
Documented behaviours
Table 6. Ape behaviors reported for Ankasa Conservation Area
| Behavior | Source |
|---|---|
| Not reported |
Table 6b. Ape behaviors reported for Ankasa Conservation Area
| Behavior category | Behavior type | Tool use type | Tool use source | Target resource | Target scientific name | Observation type | Frequency | Effort (hours) | Last observation | Seasonality | Coordinates | Subspecies |
| e.g., foraging | e.g., tortoise smashing | e.g., projectile, anvil, stick, etc. | e.g., wood, stone, vegetation, etc. | e.g., tortoise | e.g., Kinixys erosa | e.g., camera trap |
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 2°C. RCP 6.0 is a scenario with medium emissions in which global temperatures would likely rise up to 3°C 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 7. Estimated past and projected climatological characteristics in Ankasa Conservation Area
| 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] | 27.2 | 28.2 | 28.1 | 28.4 | 29.3 |
| Annual precipitation [mm] | 1649 | 1583 | 1674 | 1625 | 1711 |
| Max no. consecutive dry days (per year) | 24.4 | 24.6 | 26.3 | 23.5 | 29.4 |
| No. days with heavy precipitation (per year) | 7.1 | 8.8 | 8.6 | 8 | 10.4 |
Table 8. Projected exposure of apes to extreme climate impact events in Ankasa Conservation Area
| 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 | 3.5 | 2.06 | 3.5 | 1.5 | 1 | 0.87 | 2 | 2.4 |
| Drought | 1.75 | 100 | 1.25 | 100 | 0.25 | 25 | 1.75 | 50 |
| Heatwave | 18 | 100 | 15.5 | 100 | 21.5 | 100 | 17.5 | 100 |
| River flood | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4.59 |
| Tropical cyclone | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.5 | 2.29 |
| Wildfire | 30 | 0.39 | 30 | 0.36 | 29 | 0.39 | 29 | 0.37 |
External links
References
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.
Wildlife Division and PADP II (2010) Ankasa Conservation Area, Management Plan, Ankasa Conservation Area Quarterly reports (Unpublished)
Page completed by: Richard Ofori-Amanfo Date: 14/08/2023