Koumbia

West Africa > Republic of Guinea > Koumbia

SITE UNDER PROGRESS

Summary

• Western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) are present in Koumbia.
• It has been estimated that more than 300 individuals occur in the area.
• The chimpanzee population trend is unknown.
• The site is not formally designated and consequently the size is unknown.
• Agriculture and roads are the most prevalent signs of human activities across Koumbia.
• As part of the AGIR project 42 conservation zones to establish community-based forest management were identified.
• Koumbia is transboundary with Guinea-Bissau.

Site characteristics

Koumbia is located in western Guinea in the prefecture Gaoual and is transboundary with Guinea-Bissau. The French colonial government declared Koumbia a National Park in 1933 (WCF 2012), but the site has no formal protective status at this point. Koumbia does not have a designated IUCN category nor is it listed in the World Database on Protected Areas (UNEP-WCMC and IUCN 2018). During a survey of the Koumbia site in 2010 by the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation the presence of chimpanzees, hippos, jackals, servals, mona monkeys, green monkeys, pata monkeys and baboons was confirmed (WCF 2012).

Table 1: Basic site information for Koumbia

Area:	unknown
Designation:	none
Habitat types:	unknown

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

Ape status

In 1997 Rebecca Kormos conducted a transect survey around the village Moyerai which is located to the North of the site Koumbia and concluded that chimpanzees were present in relatively high densities (Ham 1998). In 2010 the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation did a transect survey in Koumbia (survey area was bordered by the Sentha river and Guinea-Bissau in the North and the Kongo river and the Boké-Gaoual in the South) and estimated that 296 individuals (CI: 164-532) occurred in the area (WCF 2012).

Table 2: Great ape population estimates in Koumbia

Species	Year	Abundance estimate (95% Confidence Intervall)	Density estimate (per km2)	Encounter rate	Area	Method	Source	Comments	A.P.E.S. database ID
Western chimpanzee	1997			present	Koumbia village	questionnaire survey	Ham 1998
Western chimpanzee	1997			present	Moyerai (village to the North of Koumbia)	transect survey	Ham 1998	total survey effort: 5.2 km
Western chimpanzee	2010	296 individuals (CI: 164-532)	0.37 individuals/km2 (CI: 0.20-0.67)		area delineated by the river Kongo and the road Boké - Gaoual in the South and the river Sentha and the border with Guinea-Bissau in the North	transect survey, DISTANCE analysis	WCF 2012	total survey effort: 109.87 km

Threats

During the survey by the WCF 27 villages were identified in Koumbia with an estimated total population of 2,600 inhabitants (WCF 2012). The most prevalent threat was agriculture (0.46 signs/km) and the high number of roads shows that the site is strongly used by people (WCF 2012). Based on low encounter rates, the WCF concluded that wood extraction, poaching and human settlements likely pose only a minor threat to the wildlife in Koumbia (WCF 2012). However, it was noted that recently, hunters not belonging to the local villages entered the area to hunt bushmeat commercially for urban markets (WCF 2012).

More recently, the mining company Alliance Mining Commodities started developing a Bauxit mining site west of Koumbia. There are plans to build a road to the mining site and a port at the river Rio Nuñez (Alliance Mining Commodities 2018).

Table 3: Threats to great apes in Koumbia

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Description	Year of threat
1. Residential & commercial development	1.1. Housing & urban areas	low	approximately 2,600 people live at the site but are estimated to pose only a minor threat to chimpanzees [5]	on-going
2. Agriculture & aquaculture	2.1. Annual & Perennial Non-Timber Crops	high	signs of agriculture were the most prevalent sign of anthropogenic activity [5]	on-going
3. Energy production & mining		absent
4. Transportation & service corridors	4.1. Roads & railroads	high	high number of roads was found at the site [5], there are plans to build a new road to the west of the site to a mining site [1]	on-going
5. Biological resource use	5.1.Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	medium	poaching by people living at the site was estimated to pose only a minor threat to chimpanzees, but increasingly people from outside are entering the area for commercial hunting [5], development of a mining site nearby and the associated population increase might increase wild meat demand	on-going
	5.3. Logging & wood harvesting	low	wood extraction was estimated to pose only a minor threat to chimpanzees [5]	on-going
6. Human intrusion & disturbance		absent
7. Natural system modifications		absent
8. Invasive & other problematic species, genes, diseases		unknown
9. Pollution		absent
10. Geological Events		absent
11. Climate change & severe weather		unknown
12. Other options		absent

Threats list

Conservation activities

The European funded AGIR project (Programme Régional d’Appui à la Gestion Intégrée des Ressources Naturelles des Bassins du Niger et de la Gambie) identified 42 conservation zones at this site with the aim of establishing community-based forest management (WCF 2012). AGIR was implemented until 2005 and also encompassed an environmental awareness raising scheme (WCF 2012).

Table 4: Conservation activities in Koumbia

Category	Specific activity	Description	Year of activity
1. Residential & commercial development	absent
2. Agriculture & aquaculture	absent
3. Energy production & mining	absent
4. Transportation & service corridors	absent
5. Biological resource use	absent
6. Human intrusion & disturbance	absent
7. Natural system modifications	absent
8. Invasive & other problematic species, genes, diseases	absent
9. Pollution	absent
10. Education & Awareness	absent
11. Habitat Protection	absent
12. Species Management	absent
13. Livelihood; Economic & Other Incentives	13.2. Provide non-monetary benefits to local communities for sustainably managing their forest and its wildlife (e.g. better education, infrastructure development)	AGIR identified 42 conservation zones to establish community-based forest management [5]	until 2005

Conservation activities list

Impediments

No information on impediments has been documented.

Impediments list

Research activities

From 1996 to 1997 Rebecca Kormos (née Ham) did a nationwide surveys on chimpanzees across Guinea and also surveyed parts of Koumbia (Ham 1998). As part of their nationwide inventory of chimpanzee populations in Guinea the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation surveyed Koumbia in 2010 (WCF 2012).

Documented behaviours

none documented

Relevant datasets

A.P.E.S Portal

References

[1] Alliance Mining Commodities (2018) Koumbia Bauxite
[2] Brugière, D. et al. (2009) Distribution of chimpanzees and interactions with humans in Guinea-Bissau and western Guinea, West Africa. Folia Primatologica, 353-358
[3] Ham, R. (1998) Nationwide chimpanzee census and large mammal survey Republic of Guinea, PhD thesis, 286 p.
[4] UNEP-WCMC and IUCN (2018) Protected Planet: The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA), Cambridge, UK: UNEP-WCMC and IUCN Online: www.protectedplanet.net
[5] WCF (2012) Etat de la faune et des menaces dans les aires protégées terrestres et principales zones de forte biodiversité de Rep. de Guinée. Report. Wild Chimpanzee Foundation, Sangaredi, Republic of Guinea. Online: Wild Chimpanzee Foundation

Page completed by: A.P.E.S. Wiki Team Date: 02/01/2019