Mpameso Forest Reserve

West Africa > Ghana > Mpameso Forest Reserve

Summary

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• Western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) are present in Mpameso Forest Reserve.
• The population size is unknown.
• The chimpanzee population trend is unknown.
• The site has a total size of 329.94 km².
• Key threats to chimpanzees are logging, poaching and bush fires.
• Conservation activities have focused on employment of forest guards to protect the area.

Site characteristics

Mpameso is a gazetted Forest Reserve consisting of semi-deciduous forest near Goaso in the Ahafo Region. The forest is in the middle and western part of Ghana. The forest is Adjacent to Bia Shelterbelt Forest Reserve.The reserve is currently under concession (Ofori-Amanfo, R., pers. obs. 2023).

Table 1. Basic site information for Mpameso Forest Reserve

Area	329.94 km²
Coordinates	6.858302, -2.641882
Designation	Forest Reserve
Habitat types	Subtropical/tropical moist lowland forest

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

Ape status

Local hunters and farmers claim that chimpanzees are present in the forest (Ofori-Amanfo, R., pers. obs. 2023).

Table 2. Ape population estimates in Mpameso 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					Mpameso Forest Reserve

Threats

The threats present in the reserve include poaching, illegal logging and occasional fires (Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2023).

Table 3. Threats to apes in Mpameso Forest Reserve

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Quantified severity	Description	Year of threat
1. Residential & commercial development		Unknown
2. Agriculture & aquaculture		Unknown
3. Energy production & mining		Unknown
4. Transportation & service corridors		Unknown
5. Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	Medium		Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2023	Ongoing (2023)
	5.3 Logging & wood harvesting	Low		Illegal logging (Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2023).	Ongoing (2023)
6. Human intrusion & disturbance		Unknown
7. Natural system modifications	7.1 Fire & fire suppression	Medium		Intermittent bushfires (Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2023).	Ongoing (2023)
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

The entire area is under concession and there are concession guards engaged to protect the area. Forest guards and officers monitor the forest. Periodic community consultations are also held (Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2023).

Table 4. Conservation activities in Mpameso 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	5.6. Conduct regular anti-poaching patrols	Forestry Commission staff periodically patrol the forest and the timber contractors have engaged some guards to protect the forest against illegal logging (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	Not reported
11. Habitat Protection	11.2. Legally protect primate habitat		Ongoing (2023)
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 Mpameso Forest Reserve

Challenge	Source
Lack of technical means (includes lack of infrastructure, transportation, equipment)	Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2023
Lack of human resources	Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2023
Lack of financial means	Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2023

Research activities

Documented behaviours

Table 6. Ape behaviors reported for Mpameso Forest Reserve

Behavior	Source
Not reported

References

Page completed by: Richard Ofori-Amanfo Date: 09/11/2013