Badiar National Park

West Africa > Republic of Guinea > Badiar National Park

SITE UNDER PROGRESS

Summary

• Western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) are present in Badiar National Park.
• There is no estimate of chimpanzee abundance for this site.
• The chimpanzee population trend is unknown.
• This site has a total size of 382 km².
• Key threats to chimpanzees are logging and agricultural activities.
• The following conservation activities were conducted by the responsible park authority in corporation with local villages: law enforcement.
• Badiar National Park is transboundary with the Niokolo-Koba National Park in Senegal.

Site characteristics

Badiar National Park (also referred to as Badiar Nord) is located in northern Guinea directly at the border to Senegal. It lies in the prefecture Koundara, just north of the town Koundara. Badiar was designated a National Park in 1985 (IUCN Category II) and is contiguous with Niokolo-Koba National Park in Senegal (UNEP-WCMC & IUCN 2019). It was initially created in an effort to reduce transboundary poaching (Brugière & Kormos 2009). Badiar National Park is part of the Badiar Biosphere Reserve that has a total area of 2,843km2 and was established in 2002 (UNESCO MAB 2011). The biosphere reserve consists of three areas: Badiar National Park, Badiar South Classified Forest and N’Dama Classified Forest, as well as a buffer area and transition zone (UNESCO MAB 2011). The reserve provides refuge for 80 mammal species, 330 bird species as well as reptiles and fish (UNESCO MAB 2011). Badiar lies at the transition between savanna and forested areas characterized by a mosaic of savanna, wooded savanna, open forests and gallery forests (WCF 2012, UNESCO MAB 2011). Two main rivers run through the area, the Koulountou and the Mitji. Areas around the rivers are occasionally inundated (BirdLife International 2019). Along parts of the rivers areas of palm trees can be found (BirdLife International 2019, WCF 2012). The average annual rainfall at the site is 1,000–1,500 mm (BirdLife International 2019). An inventory of the flora and fauna of Badiar National Park found several plant and animal species listed by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, including leopard, lion, hippo, African wild dog, python and Nile crocodile (Bailo et al. 2009). A biodiversity survey of Badiar in 2010 found a high density of ungulates, including harnessed bushbuck and kob, as well as a relatively high density of signs of carnivores, for example jackal and leopard (WCF 2012). Primate species that have been confirmed present in the park in addition to western chimpanzees include baboons, patas monkey, diana monkey, spot-nosed monkey, and western red colobus (Bailo et al. 2009, Brugière & Kormos 2009, WCF 2012). Badiar is also classified an important bird area (BirdLife International 2019).

Table 1: Basic site information for Badiar National Park

Area:	382 km²
Designation:	National Park
Habitat types:	Dry savanna, subtropical/tropical dry shrubland, subtropical/tropical dry forest, permanent rivers, marshes

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

Ape status

In the nationwide survey by Rebecca Kormos the presence of chimpanzees in Badiar National Park was confirmed based on questionnaire survey (Ham 1998). In 2010 the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation surveyed the area, but found not enough signs of chimpanzees to be able to estimate total chimpanzee abundance (WCF 2012).

Table 2: Great ape population estimates in Badiar National Park

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	District Madina	questionnaire survey	Ham 1998
Western chimpanzee	2010			0.03 nests/km	Badiar NP	transect survey	WCF 2012	Total survey effort: 72km. Only two signs of chimpanzees were found which was too low to calculate chimpanzee densities.

Threats

Anthropogenic pressure is relatively high as there are people living in the park and using the area for agricultural activities, grazing of domestic animals, fishing, collection of wood and medicinal plants, and palm sap harvesting (Bailo et al. 2009, BirdLife International 2019, Sambou et al. 2002, WCF 2012). The report by the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation mentioned grazing by domestic animals as the most prevalent anthropogenic threat (WCF 2012). Compared to all sites surveyed by the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation in Guinea, Badiar had the highest density of signs of wood collection (WCF 2012). There was also a high prevalence of agricultural activities with fields even in the center of the park (WCF 2012). However, there were only few signs of hunting, and no signs of commercial hunting (WCF 2012). In contrast, other sources suggested that hunting might be rather prevalent but it was not clear how this was quantified (Bailo et al. 2009, BirdLife International 2019). There were also reports of trafficking of live chimpanzees from the park (GALF 2012).

Table 3: Threats to great apes in Badiar National Park

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Description	Year of threat
1. Residential & commercial development	1.1. Housing & urban areas	low	sign of villages [10]	on-going
2. Agriculture & aquaculture	2.1. Annual & Perennial Non-Timber Crops	high	fields also in the center of the park [10]	on-going
	2.3 Livestock Farming & Ranching	high	domestic animals grazing in the park and using water sources [2, 10]	on-going
3. Energy production & mining		absent
4. Transportation & service corridors	4.1. Roads & railroads	medium	highest encounter rate of all anthropogenic signs [10]	on-going
5. Biological resource use	5.1. Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	medium	few signs of hunting, no signs of commercial hunting found by WCF [9], but other sources stated hunting pressure as a more prevalent threat [1, 2]; trafficking of live chimpanzees [4]	on-going
	5.2. Gathering terrestrial plants	medium	collection of medicinal plants [1], harvesting of palm sap from wild palms [2,7]	on-going
	5.3. Logging & wood harvesting	high	high rate of wood collection compared to other sites in Guinea, second most prevalent threat at this site [9]	on-going
	5.4. Fishing & harvesting aquatic resources	unknown	fishing in the rivers [2], effect on chimpanzees is indirect due to presence of humans in the park	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 responsible park authority is conducting patrols in corporation with village surveillance committes of adjacent villages (METT 2009). From 1995 to 2005 the European funded AGIR project (Programme Régional d’Appui à la Gestion Intégrée des Ressources Naturelles des Bassins du Niger et de la Gambie) implemented a management plan in collaboration with government officials and supported law enforcement within the park (METT 2009). When funding ceased government authorities were lacking the financial, logistical and technical means to continue these efforts at the same level (METT 2009). As part of the AGIR project there were regular environmental awareness raising programs via the radio, but since the end of the project those are aired only sporadically (METT 2009).

Table 4: Conservation activities in Badiar National Park

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	5.6. Conduct regular anti-poaching patrols	anti-poaching patrols by park authorities in coorperation with local villagers [6]	unknown
6. Human intrusion & disturbance	absent
7. Natural system modifications	absent
8. Invasive & other problematic species, genes, diseases	absent
9. Pollution	absent
10. Education & Awareness	10.4. Regularly play TV & radio announcements to raise primate conservation awareness	as part of the AGIR program [6]	until 2005
11. Habitat Protection	11.2. Legally protect primate habitat	designated as national park since 1985 [8]	since 1985
12. Species Management	absent
13. Livelihood; Economic & Other Incentives	absent

Conservation activities list

Impediments

Lack of financial, logistical and technical means to enable an efficient monitoring and law enforcement throughout the park (METT 2009).

Research activities

Surveys of flora and fauna as well as anthropogenic pressure have been conducted by Bailo et al. (2009) and the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation (WCF 2012).

Documented behaviours

Chimpanzee behavior has not been studied at this site.

Relevant datasets

A.P.E.S Portal

References

[1] Bailo, D.S., Alphonse, N. and Gu, Y. (2009) An inventory of biodiversity in the Badiar National Park, Guinea Conakry: implications for conservation. Research Journal of Biological Sciences 4 (8): 948-951
[2] BirdLife International (2019) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Badiar. Online: www.birdlife.org
[3] Brugière, D. & Kormos, R. (2009) Review of the protected area network in Guinea, West Africa, and recommendations for new sites for biodiversity conservation, Biodiversity and Conservation, 18:847
[4] GALF (2012) Wildlife Law Enforcement in Guinea. March - November 2012 Report. Online: www.wara-enforcement.org
[5] Ham (1998) Nationwide chimpanzee census and large mammal survey Republic of Guinea.
[6] METT (2009) Management Effectiveness Evaluations – Parc National du Badiar. Online: papaco.org
[7] Sambou, B. et al. (2002) Palm wine harvesting by the Bassari threatens Borassus aethiopum populations in north-western Guinea. Biodiversity and Conservation 11: 1149-1161
[8] UNEP-WCMC and IUCN (2019) Protected Planet: The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA), Cambridge, UK: UNEP-WCMC and IUCN Online: www.protectedplanet.net
[9] UNESCO MAB (2011) UNESCO MAB Biosphere Reserve Directory. Haut Niger. Online: www.unesco.org
[10] 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: www.wildchimps.org

Page completed by: A.P.E.S. Wiki Team Date: 29/5/2019