Central Africa > Democratic Republic of the Congo > Salonga National Park (North Block)

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Summary

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Bonobos (Pan paniscus) are present in the north block of Salonga National Park.
In 2006 it was estimated that 7,826 (CI: 3,814-10,618) individuals occur in the site.
The bonobo population trend is unknown.
The site has a total size of 17,000 km².
Key threats to bonobos are poaching and habitat encroachment.
Conservation activities have focused on anti-poaching interventions.
The park was declared a World Heritage Site in 1984 and is the largest expanse of legally protected bonobo habitat.

Site characteristics

Salonga National Park is located in central Democratic Republic of the Congo. The park is formed by a north block and a south block, which are separated by a 45 km wide corridor (BirdLife International 2021). The national park, which is the largest in Africa, was created in 1970 and classified as a World Heritage Site in 1984 (WWF n.d.). Salonga is located in the largest block of intact lowland forest in the Congo Basin and it is only accessible by water or air (WWF n.d.). The north block of the park is directly linked to the Congo river basin (BirdLife International 2021). The park is very rich in biodiversity; in addition to bonobos, elephants, bongos, giant pangolins, and Congo peacocks are found here (WWF n.d.).

Table 1. Basic site information for Salonga National Park (North Block)

Species	'Pan paniscus
Area	17,000 km²
Coordinates	Lat: -1.732344 , Lon: 21.827485
Type of site	Protected area (National Park)
Habitat types	Subtropical/tropical moist lowland forest, Savanna, Subtropical/tropical swamp forest
Type of governance

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

Ape status

Table 2. Ape population estimates reported for Salonga National Park (North Block)

Species	Year	Encounter or vistation rate (nests/km; ind/day)	Abundance estimate (95% CI)	Survey area	Sampling method	Source	Comments
Pan paniscus	2005-2006	2.29		Lomela Block (2,750 km²)	Line transects	Grossman et al. 2008	Survey effort: 95.2 km
Pan paniscus	2005-2006	1.8		Lomela Block (2,750 km²)	Reconnaissance walk	Grossman et al. 2008	Survey effort: 515 km
Pan paniscus	2006		7,826 (3,814-10,618)	Salonga National Park, North Block	Line transects & recces	Grossman et al. 2008

Threats

Despite the park’s apparent inaccessibility, several navigable rivers provide access deep into the park (WWF n.d.). The demand for bushmeat from in the immediate area as well as in urban centres as far as Kinshasa, have driven bushmeat hunting and fishing in the park to critical levels (WWF n.d.). Commercial hunting for bushmeat in the park is intense, in part due to heavily armed poachers coming in search of ivory (IUCN & ICCN 2012).

Table 3. Threats to apes reported for Salonga National Park (North Block)

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Description	Year of threat
10 Geological events		Absent
12 Other threat		Absent
2 Agriculture & aquaculture	2.1 Annual & perennial non-timber crops	High (more than 70% of population affected)	Clearing land for agriculture (Salonga National Park).	Ongoing
4 Transportation & service corridors	12.1 Other threat	High (more than 70% of population affected)	Nearly 85% of the north block is within 15 km of a river navigable by dugout canoe (Grossman et al. 2008).	Ongoing (2008)
5 Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	High (more than 70% of population affected)	Poaching has led to declines of up to 70% in bonobo numbers in some areas of the park. Surveys in the corridor between the two blocks showed that bonobos were rare or absent within 10 km of villages and completely absent in most of the northern part of the corridor (IUCN & ICCN 2012, WWF n.d.).	Ongoing (2012)
1 Residential & commercial development		Unknown
3 Energy production & mining		Unknown
6 Human intrusions & disturbance		Unknown
7 Natural system modifications		Unknown
8 Invasive & other problematic species, genes & diseases		Unknown
9 Pollution		Unknown
11 Climate change & severe weather		Unknown

IUCN Threats list

Conservation activities

WWF has been working in Salonga since 2005, supporting the Congolese park authority ICCN (Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature) in managing the park and engaging with local communities to identify and develop alternative livelihood opportunities (WWF n.d.). Since 2015, WWF is co-managing the park together with the ICCN (WWF n.d.). The site represents the largest existing expanse of legally-protected and intact bonobo habitat; protection of this park and it’s wildlife is therefore of paramount importance (IUCN & ICCN 2012). To control the increase in elephant poaching and the proliferation of military weapons in the region, government armed forces (FARDC) undertook a joint operation with ICCN, called Operation Bonobo, in 2011 (IUCN & ICCN 2012, Mukpo 2019). The operation was said to be successful in returning the ICCN control of the park.

Table 4. Conservation activities reported for Salonga National Park (North Block)

Category	Specific activity	Description	Implementing organization(s)	Year of activity
2 Counter-wildlife crime	2.3 Conduct regular anti-poaching patrols	Eco-guards conduct anti-poaching patrols (WWF n.d.).		Ongoing
2 Counter-wildlife crime	2.11 Implement monitoring surveillance strategies (e.g., SMART) or use monitoring data to improve effectiveness of patrols	Introduction of SMART to support anti-poaching efforts (WWF n.d.).		Ongoing

Conservation activities list (Junker et al. 2017)

Challenges

Table 5. Challenges reported for Salonga National Park (North Block)

Challenges	Specific challenges	Source
1 Site management	1.3 Corruption	WWF n.d.
2 Resources and capacity	2.5 Lack of equipment/transportation	WWF n.d.
2 Resources and capacity	2.1 Lack of capacity/training	WWF n.d.

Enablers

Table 6. Enablers reported for Salonga National Park (North Block)

Enablers	Specific enablers	Source	Year(s)
1 Site management
2 Resources and capacity
3 Engaged community
4 Institutional support
5 Ecological context
6 Safety and stability

Research activities

Documented behaviours

Table 7. Behaviours documented for Salonga National Park (North Block)

Behavior	Source
Not reported

Exposure to climate change impacts

External links

Salonga National Park - UNESCO

Salonga National Park - Official website

Relevant datasets

References

Grossmann, F., Hart, J. A., Vosper, A., & Ilambu, O. (2008). Range occupation and population estimates of bonobos in the Salonga National Park: application to large-scale surveys of bonobos in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In The bonobos (pp. 189-216). Springer, New York, NY.

BirdLife International. (2021). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Salonga National Park. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 11/11/2021.

WWF. (n.d.). Salonga Programme. Online: https://www.wwf-congobasin.org/where_we_work/democratic_republic_of_congo/salonga_programme/

IUCN & ICCN. (2012). Bonobo (Pan paniscus): Conservation Strategy 2012–2022. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group & Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature. 65 pp.

Mukpo, A. (2019, June 12). Did efforts to protect DRC’s elephants and bonobos leave a trail of abuses? Mongabay. https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/did-efforts-to-protect-drcs-elephants-and-bonobos-leave-a-trail-of-abuses/

Page created by: A.P.E.S. Wiki team Date: NA

Salonga National Park (North Block)

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