Cape Three Points Forest Reserve

West Africa > Ghana > Cape Three Points Forest Reserve

Summary

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• Western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) may be present in Cape Three Points Forest Reserve.
• No chimpanzees were recorded in the last survey.
• The chimpanzee population trend is decreasing.
• The site has a total size of 51 km².
• Key threats to chimpanzees are hunting, logging, and forest loss due to agricultural expansion.
• Conservation activities are not documented.

Site characteristics

Cape Three Points Forest Reserve (CTP) is a small forest fragment in southern Ghana, representing one of the few patches of Atlantic forest remaining along the coast (Gatti 2009). Despite its small size, the reserve holds a rich diversity of plants, which led to its designation as a GSBA (Gatti 2009). The site was also declared as an Important Bird Area in 2001, as the site supports an interesting avifauna, including the Yellow-casqued hornbill (BirdLife International 2022).

Table 1. Basic site information for Cape Three Points Forest Reserve

Area	51 km²
Coordinates	4.846039, -2.041636
Designation	Forest Reserve
Habitat types	Subtropical/tropical moist lowland forest

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

Ape status

A rapid survey was conducted at the site in 2009 in the context of the Wildlife Wood Project in Ghana, which aims to assist logging companies in improving wildlife management in concession areas (Gatti 2009). No signs of chimpanzees were recorded.

Table 2. Ape population estimates in Cape Three Points Forest Reserve

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	2009			0	Cape Three Points Forest Reserve	Index survey (reconnaissance walk)	Gatti 2009	survey effort: 16.55 km

Threats

The reserve is surrounded by rural settlements and extensive rubber plantations of the GREL (Ghana Rubber Estates Limited Company) (Gatti 2009). Wildlife resources are under severe threat from the surrounding human population (BirdLife International 2022).

Table 3. Threats to apes in Cape Three Points Forest Reserve

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Quantified severity	Description	Year of threat
1. Residential & commercial development	1.1 Housing & urban areas	High		The reserve is surrounded by rural settlements and is under significant pressure from the surrounding populations (Gatti 2009).	Ongoing (2009)
2. Agriculture & aquaculture	2.1 Annual & perennial non-timber crops	High		Seven admitted farms within the reserve boundaries. In the absence of clear demarcation, the farms have slowly extended, causing forest loss (Gatti 2009).	Ongoing (2009)
3. Energy production & mining	3.2 Mining & quarrying	Unknown whether the threat category is present		Evidence of past gold-mining activity, including prospecting pits and small abandoned mines (BirdLife International 2022).	Ongoing (2022)
4. Transportation & service corridors		Unknown
5. Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	High	2.597 hunting signs/km in 2009 (Gatti 2009).	High hunting pressure in the reserve (Gatti 2009).	Ongoing (2009)
	5.3 Logging & wood harvesting	Present, but threat severity unknown		Illegal felling of trees for canoes and wood construction in local fishing villages (Gatti 2009).	Ongoing (2009)
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

IUCN Threats list

Conservation activities

Table 4. Conservation activities in Cape Three Points Forest Reserve

Category	Specific activity	Description	Year of activity
1. Residential & commercial development	Not reported
2. Agriculture & aquaculture	Not reported
3. Energy production & mining	Not reported
4. Transportation & service corridors	Not reported
5. Biological resource use	Not reported
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	Not reported
11. Habitat Protection	Not reported
12. Species Management	Not reported
13. Livelihood; Economic & Other Incentives	Not reported

Conservation activities list (Junker et al. 2017)

Challenges

Table 5. Challenges reported for Cape Three Points Forest Reserve

Challenge	Source
Not reported

Research activities

Documented behaviours

Table 6. Ape behaviors reported for Cape Three Points Forest Reserve

Behavior	Source
Not reported

References

BirdLife International (2022) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Cape Three Points Forest Reserve. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 15/03/2022.
Gatti, S. (2009). Mammal surveys and capacity building for the Wildlife Wood Project - Ghana. Unpublished report to the WWP-Ghana.

Page completed by: A.P.E.S. Wiki team Date: 18/03/2022