Zanaga

Central Africa > Republic of the Congo > Zanaga

Summary

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• Central chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) and western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) are present in Zanaga.
• The population size is unknown.
• The population trend is unknown.
• The site has a total size of 25,570 km².
• Key threats to apes are illegal logging, hunting and mining activities.
• Conservation activities are not documented.

Site characteristics

The site is part of the Birougou-Batéké-Zanaga landscape, which has been identified as a priority landscape for western lowland gorilla and central chimpanzee conservation (IUCN 2014). The site overlaps with one of the largest iron ore deposits in Africa, located in a strip 47 kilometres long and three kilometres wide in the Republic of the Congo, bordering Gabon. A core section of the GuineoCongolian Forest is found over this vast mineral deposit, where endangered species like western lowland gorillas, chimpanzees, and forest elephants are found. Moreover, adjacent to the deposit lies the Ogooué River, one of Africa’s largest rivers by discharge (Stiles 2014).

Table 1. Basic site information for Zanaga

Area	25,570 km²
Coordinates	-2.468761, 13.627850
Designation	Mining concession
Habitat types	Subtropical/tropical moist lowland forest

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

Ape status

Table 2. Ape population estimates in Zanaga

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 troglodytes					Zanaga
Gorilla gorilla gorilla					Zanaga

Threats

Zanaga Iron Ore Company Limited is an iron ore exploration and development company, incorporated in the British Virgin Islands. The Company listed on AIM in November 2010 and trades under the symbol “ZIOC”. The logging companies operating in the area have already done a great deal of damage to the ecosystem diversity and composition of the forests surrounding the mine (Sitles 2014).

Table 3. Threats to apes in Zanaga

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Quantified severity	Description	Year of threat
1. Residential & commercial development		Unknown
2. Agriculture & aquaculture		Unknown
3. Energy production & mining	3.2 Mining & quarrying	High		Presence of a large scale iron ore mine project ([ https://www.zanagair on.com/project/ Zanaga Iron Ore Project]) .	Ongoing (2023)
4. Transportation & service corridors		Unknown
5. Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	High		Commercial hunting is the biggest threat to wildlife in the area (IUCN 2014).	Ongoing (2014)
	5.3 Logging & wood harvesting	High		Three Asian logging companies operating in overlapping parts of the mine concession. Loggers are principally interested in exploiting and exporting Okoumé (Aucoumea klaineana), a hardwood used for plywood (Stiles 2014).	Ongoing (2014)
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

Table 4. Conservation activities in Zanaga

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 Zanaga

Challenge	Source
Not reported

Research activities

Documented behaviours

Table 6. Ape behaviors reported for Zanaga

Behavior	Source
Not reported

References

IUCN (2014). Regional Action Plan for the Conservation of Western Lowland Gorillas and Central Chimpanzees 2015–2025. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN SSC Primate Specialist Group. 56 pp.
Stiles, D. (2014). The Zanaga iron ore mine – a test of best laid plans for preserving wildlife. Retrieved February 27, 2023 from Mongabay. https://news.mongabay.com/2014/10/the-zanaga-iron-ore-mine-a-testof-best-laid-plans-for-preserving-wildlife/

Page completed by: A.P.E.S. Wiki team Date: 24/02/2023