Suitoro Classified Forest

West Africa > Côte d'Ivoire > Suitoro Classified Forest

Summary

Loading map...

{"minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"mappingservice":"leaflet","width":"300px","height":"200px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"zoom":5,"defzoom":14,"layers":["OpenStreetMap","OpenTopoMap"],"image layers":[],"overlays":[],"resizable":false,"fullscreen":false,"scrollwheelzoom":false,"cluster":false,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clustermaxradius":80,"clusterspiderfy":true,"geojson":"","clicktarget":"","imageLayers":[],"locations":[],"imageoverlays":null}

• Western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) are present in Suitoro Classified Forest.
• The population size is unknown.
• The chimpanzee population trend is decreasing.
• The site has a total size of 435.03 km².
• Key threats to chimpanzees are hunting, cattle herding, family farming, and road construction bordering the site.
• Conservation activities have focused on habitat protection and patrolling.

Site characteristics

Suitoro Classified Forest is a relatively small protected area that has the Comoé river as its eastern limit. It is dominated by savanna, with multiple dry forest islands, many of which are degraded by illegal farms of subsistence crops. Besides the chimpanzees, this CF is also used by forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) that come seasonally from CNP and Mont Tingui. Besides illegal crops and old illegal logging (2003-2006), there are artisanal gold miners, poachers and cattle herders regularly entering.

Table 1. Basic site information for Suitoro Classified Forest

Area	435.03 km²
Coordinates
Designation	Classified Forest
Habitat types	Subtropical/tropical dry forest, dry savanna, moist savanna

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

Ape status

There is a low density of chimpanzees confirmed by the INFF in 2021 and but this population may be important for being in contact with that of MontTingui and CNP and could have continuity in unprotected areas to the south. In 2022, the CCCP confirmed the chimpanzee presence in several forest islands through indirect signs (nests, dung, tools) along reconnaissance walks and camera trapping.

Table 2. Ape population estimates in Suitoro Classified Forest

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	2021			Present	Suitoro Classified Forest	Index survey (reconnaissance walk) and camera trap	CCCP	Four camera traps installed for preliminary survey
Pan troglodytes verus	2022			Present	Suitoro Classified Forest	Index survey (reconnaissance walk) and camera trap	INFF	Transects without Distance method

Threats

Family farming or subsistence crops inside forest island, abandoned after some years of exploitation and artisanal illegal gold-mining, with camps inside the CF degrading chimpanzee habitat and displacing them. Poaching with shotgun and snares of all fauna, both savanna and forest pose a direct threat by killing the chimpanzees. National (dirt) road makes the northern limit of the CF and there is a project to enlarge and pave it and to construct a bridge to cross Comoé river in the near future, which will increase the human flow in the area and the speed of the evacuation of bushmeat and forest resources.

Table 3. Threats to apes in Suitoro Classified Forest

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Quantified severity	Description	Year of threat
1. Residential & commercial development		Unknown
2. Agriculture & aquaculture	2.1 Annual & perennial non-timber crops	High		Family farming or subsistence crops inside forest island, abandoned after some years of exploitation.	2019, 2022
	2.3 Livestock farming & ranching	High		Cattle herders roam the savanna across the whole classified forest	2019, 2022
3. Energy production & mining	3.2 Mining & quarrying	Medium		Artisanal illegal gold mining, with camps inside the CF.	2019, 2022
4. Transportation & service corridors	4.1 Roads & railroads	High		National (dirt) road makes northern limit of the CF and there is a project to enlarge and pave it and to construct a bridge to cross Comoé river in the near future.	Ongoing (2022)
5. Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	High		Poaching with shotgun and snares of all fauna, both savanna and forest.	2019, 2022
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

SODEFOR rangers patrol the CF sometimes and chased away farmers installed in camps inside the CF recently, with the support of other armed forces.

Table 4. Conservation activities in Suitoro Classified Forest

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	11.2. Legally protect primate habitat	SODEFOR rangers patrol the CF sometimes and chase away farmers installed in camps inside the CF recently.	2019
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 Suitoro Classified Forest

Challenge	Source
Not reported

Research activities

Documented behaviours

Table 6. Ape behaviors reported for Suitoro Classified Forest

Behavior	Source
Not reported

References

Page completed by: A.P.E.S. Wiki team Date: 30/01/2023