Rumpi Hills Forest Reserve

Central Africa > Cameroon > Rumpi Hills Forest Reserve

Summary

• Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes ellioti) & Cross river gorillas (Gorilla gorilla diehli) are present in Rumpi Hills Forest Reserve.
• The population sizes are unknown.
• The great ape population trend is unknown.
• The site has a total size of 455 km².
• Key threats to great apes are human encroachment, agricultural expansion, collection of NFTPs and hunting.
• Conservation activities have focused on community forest monitoring.

Site characteristics

Rumpi Hills Forest Reserve (RHFR) is situated in western Cameroon, to the north of Mount Cameroon and south of Korup National Park. The site includes a number of peaks over 1,000 m, the highest of which is Mount Rata at 1,768 m (Mukete et al. 2018). RHFR was created in 1941; previously it was known as the Rumpi Hills Native Administration Forest Reserve. The site is composed of land belonging to the Ngolo, Bima, and Balue ethnic groups (Mukete et al. 2018). RHFR comprises an area of mid-altitude forest, part of which has been degraded by logging and agricultural encroachment. Mount Rata has more intact forest than the surroundings. Coastal evergreen and semi-evergreen forest elements are also found at the reserve, as well as many permanent watercourses (BirdLife International 2001). The site is designated as an Important Bird Area (BirdLife International 2001) and a Key Biodiversity Area (Key Biodiversity Areas Partnership 2020). Over 198 bird species have been recorded at the site, including the endangered white-throated mountain-babbler (Kupeornis gilberti), white-necked pigeon (Columba albinucha) and green-breasted bush-shrike (Malaconotus gladia-tor). Additionally, a number of tropical montane mammal, reptile and amphibian species such as the endangered mandrill (Mandrillus leucophaeus), forest shrew (Myosorex rumpii), crested porcupine (Hystrix cristata) and hairy frog (Trichobatrachus robustus) have been identified at RHFR (Mukete et al. 2018, BirdLife International 2001).

Table 1. Basic site information for Rumpi Hills Forest Reserve

Area	455 km²
Coordinates	4.909959 N, 9.153059 E
Designation	Forest Reserve
Habitat types	Subtropical/tropical moist montane forest, Permanent rivers/streams/creeks (includes waterfalls), Subtropical/Tropical Heavily Degraded Former Forest, Arable Land

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

Ape status

Table 2. Ape population estimates in Rumpi Hills 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
Gorilla gorilla diehli & Pan troglodytes ellioti

Threats

During the 14-year-period between 2000 and 2014, the major land cover changes observed at RHFR were a decrease in dense forest cover and increase in areas under farmlands and secondary forest (Mukete et al. 2018). This change occurred mostly around villages in lower altitudes along the southern and western borders of the RHFR. In the eastern and northern borders, a majority of the villages are located on hilly terrain; since these topographical conditions do not favor agricultural expansion, the households are mainly involved in hunting, NTFPs and wood collection (Mukete et al. 2018).

Table 3. Threats to apes in Rumpi Hills Forest Reserve

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Quantified severity	Description	Year of threat
1. Residential & commercial development	1.1 Housing & urban areas	High	Settlements increased from 744.6 hectares (ha) in 2000 to 2,893.4 ha in 2014 (Mukete et al. 2018).		Ongoing (2018)
2. Agriculture & aquaculture	2.1 Annual & perennial non-timber crops	High	Farmlands increased from 9400.4 ha to 11117.16 ha (approximately 18.25%) between 2000 and 2014 (Mukete et al. 2018).	Agro-industry farming (Key Biodiversity Areas Partnership 2020). Between 2000 and 2014, the main land cover change consisted of a decrease in dense forest cover and increase in farmland and secondary forest (Mukete et al. 2018).	Ongoing (2020)
3. Energy production & mining		Unknown
4. Transportation & service corridors		Unknown
5. Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	High		High hunting pressure (BirdLife International 2001). Villages on the eastern and northern borders are more involved in hunting, since the terrain does not favor agricultural expansion (Mukete et al. 2018).	Ongoing (2018)
	5.2 Gathering terrestrial plants	High		NTFPs collected include bush mango (Irvingia gabonsensis), bitter cola (Garcinia cola), njansang (Ricinodendron heudelotii), country onion (Afrostyrax lepido-phyllus), bush pepper (Piper guineense), land snails (Archachatina marginata) and a variety of mushroom species (Mukete et al. 2018).	Ongoing (2018)
	5.3 Logging & wood harvesting	High		The reserve has been open to logging concessions; much of the forest has been logged or is in a poor state (BirdLife International 2001).	Ongoing (2001)
6. Human intrusion & disturbance	6.3 Work & other activities	Medium		Work and other activities (Key Biodiversity Areas Partnership 2020)	Ongoing (2020)
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

A project was implemented with the aim of establishing effective community forest monitoring by integrating Global Forest Watch (GFW) data and Participatory 3-Dimensional Mapping (P3DM) in the Western Cameroon Highlands Ecoregion. The African Conservation Foundation (ACF) and the Environment and Rural Development Foundation (ERuDeF), supported by the Waterloo Foundation and Global Forest Watch conducted this project (ACF).

Table 4. Conservation activities in Rumpi Hills 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 Rumpi Hills Forest Reserve

Challenge	Source
Not reported

Research activities

Documented behaviours

Table 6. Ape behaviors reported for Rumpi Hills Forest Reserve

Behavior	Source
Not reported

External links

Relevant datasets

A.P.E.S Portal

References

BirdLife International (2001) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Mount Rata and Rumpi Hills Forest Reserve. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 05/01/2022.
Key Biodiversity Areas Partnership (2020) Key Biodiversity Areas factsheet: Mount Rata and Rumpi Hills Forest Reserve. Extracted from the World Database of Key Biodiversity Areas. Developed by the Key Biodiversity Areas Partnership: BirdLife International, IUCN, American Bird Conservancy, Amphibian Survival Alliance, Conservation International, Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, Global Environment Facility, Global Wildlife Conservation, NatureServe, Rainforest Trust, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, World Wildlife Fund and Wildlife Conservation Society. Downloaded from http://www.keybiodiversityareas.org/ on 05/01/2022.
Mukete, B., Yujun, S., Etongo, D., Saeed, S., & Mannan, A. (2018). Assessing the drivers of land use change in the Rumpi hills forest protected area, Cameroon. Journal of Sustainable Forestry, 37(6), 592-618.

Page completed by: A.P.E.S. Wiki team Date: 10/01/2022