Sapo-Grebo-Krahn corridor

West Africa > Liberia > Sapo-Grebo-Krahn corridor

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Summary

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Leaflet

• Western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) are present in the corridor linking SNP and GKNP.
• It has been estimated that 533 (CI: 248-1,147) individuals occur at the site.
• The chimpanzee population trend is decreasing.
• This proposed corridor after the 2019 survey has a total size of 1260.35 km².
• Key threats to chimpanzees are poaching, mining and logging.
• The area represents a potential corridor to link two highly valuable and fully protected areas in Liberia; it also makes up a significant portion of the Tai-Grebo-Krahn-Sapo (TGKS) corridor complex. The corridor partially falls into the Sapo-Grebo Corridor Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) and the Grebo Important Bird Area (IBA).

Site characteristics

The site is a proposed corridor to link two national parks (Sapo and Grebo-Krahn National Parks). It is located in the south-east of Liberia in River-Gee county. It hosts threatened species, such as the pygmy hippopotamus Hexaprotodon liberiensis and Jentink’s duiker Cephalophus jentinki, (WCF 2015, 2019), as well as the red colobus Piliocolobus badius and the lowland Bongo Tragelaphus eurycerus eurycerus (Junker unpubl. data).

Table 1. Basic site information for Sapo-Grebo-Krahn corridor

Species	'Pan troglodytes verus
Area	1,260.35 km²
Coordinates	Lat: 5.55 , Lon: -7.78
Type of site	Proposed protected area (Wildlife Corridor)
Habitat types	Subtropical/tropical moist lowland forest, Urban areas, Subtropical/tropical heavily degraded former forest, Shrubland
Type of governance

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

Ape status

Two line transect surveys were carried out across the corridor by the WCF in collaboration with the FDA (WCF 2015, 2019). According to the results of these surveys, the chimpanzee density decreased significantly in this area from 2015-2019 (Tweh pers. comm. 2019).

Table 2. Ape population estimates reported for Sapo-Grebo-Krahn corridor

Species	Year	Occurrence	Encounter or vistation rate (nests/km; ind/day)	Density estimate [ind./ km²] (95% CI)	Abundance estimate (95% CI)	Survey area	Sampling method	Analytical framework	Source	Comments	A.P.E.S. database ID
Pan troglodytes verus	2015		3.69	0.401	688 (354- 1,328)	Proposed corridor linking SNP and GKNP	Line transects		WCF 2015	Survey effort was 103.17 km; nests, feeding signs and vocalizations recorded
Pan troglodytes verus	2019		0.78	0.146	533 (248- 1,147)	Proposed corridor linking SNP and GKNP	Line transects		WCF 2019	Survey effort was 145.25 km; nests, feeding signs and vocalizations recorded

Threats

The teams of the nationwide survey (Tweh et al. 2014) found many poaching signs in the south eastern part of the corridor, including used cartridges, snares and poaching trails (Junker unpubl.). It has been observed that wood used for chewing sticks is collected around illegal camps (Tweh pers. obs.). Additionally, a large part of the corridor falls into a ratified logging concession (Junker et al. 2015) and a smaller proportion overlaps with illegally issued Private-Use Permits (PUP) for commercial logging. Private Use Permits were a type of logging license designed to allow private land owners to cut trees on their property, but which were reportedly subject to misuse by commercial logging companies. After investigations by Global Witness (Global Witness 2013) much public outcry and extensive media coverage, PUPs have now largely been rescinded (Johnson 2015). A considerable part of the proposed protected area is covered by Mineral Exploration Licenses (MEL) for gold and other base metals owned by Planet Minerals Ltd. and iron ore owned by Jonah Capital (BVI) Liberia Ltd. (Johnson 2015). MEL’s entail that after a proposed exploration program has been handed to the Minister of Land, Mines, and Energy, the company commences exploration (Wilson et al. 2017).

Table 3. Threats to apes reported for Sapo-Grebo-Krahn corridor

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	Low (up to 30% of population affected)	Human signs include: artisanal mining/gold washing sites, signs of logging, pit sawing, mining prospection holes, hamlet by miners, farming.	Ongoing (2019)
3 Energy production & mining	3.2 Mining & quarrying	Low (up to 30% of population affected)	Human signs include: artisanal mining/gold washing sites, signs of logging, pit sawing, mining prospection holes, hamlet by miners, farming.	Ongoing (2019)
5 Biological resource use	5.3 Logging & wood harvesting	Low (up to 30% of population affected)	Human signs include: artisanal mining/gold washing sites, signs of logging, pit sawing, mining prospection holes, hamlet by miners, farming.	Ongoing (2019)
5 Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	Medium (30-70% of population affected)	Hunting signs include: gunshots, cartridges, traps, poacher’s trails, poacher’s camp.	Ongoing (2019)
1 Residential & commercial development		Unknown
4 Transportation & service corridors		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

No conservation activities have been reported.

Challenges

Table 5. Challenges reported for Sapo-Grebo-Krahn corridor

Challenges	Specific challenges	Source	Year(s)
	Not reported

Enablers

Table 6. Enablers reported for Sapo-Grebo-Krahn corridor

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

Wildlife and human demography and social surveys have been conducted at the site (WCF 2015, 2019).

Documented behaviours

Table 7. Behaviours documented for Sapo-Grebo-Krahn corridor

Behavior	Source
Not reported

References

Global Witness. (2013). Avoiding the Riptide: Liberia must Enforce its Forest Laws to Prevent a New Wave of Illegal and Destructive Logging Contracts. Global Witness.

Johnson S. 2015. Aggregated Biodiversity Offsets: A Roadmap for Liberia’s Mining Sector. Unpublished report by the World Bank Group (WBG) and Program On Forests (PROFOR).

Junker J, Boesch C, Freeman T, Mundry R, Stephens C, Kühl HS. 2015. Integrating wildlife conservation with conflicting economic land-use goals in a West African biodiversity hotspot. Basic and Applied Ecology: doi:10.1016/j.baae.2015.07.002.

WCF 2015, Final report: Survey of wildlife and anthropogenic threats in the Grebo-Krahn Corridor, south- eastern Liberia. Online: Wild Chimpanzee Foundation

WCF 2019, Final report: Survey of wildlife and anthropogenic threats in the Grebo-Krahn Corridor, south- eastern Liberia. Online: Wild Chimpanzee Foundation

Wilson STK, Wang H, Kabenge M, Qi X. 2017. The mining sector of Liberia: current practices and environmental challenges. Environmental Science and Pollution Research 24: 18711–18720.

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