Grand Kru-River Gee Proposed Protected Area

West Africa > Liberia > Grand Kru-River Gee Proposed Protected Area

Summary

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• Western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) are likely to be present in Grand Kru-River Gee Proposed Protected Area at low densities.
• The population size is unknown.
• The chimpanzee population trend is unknown.
• This site has a total size of 1351 km².
• Key threats to chimpanzees are hunting, large-scale mining and commercial logging.
• Grand Kru-River Gee Proposed Protected Area spans three Key Biodiversity Areas: Grand Kru Southwest, -Northwest-, and the -Northeast forest blocks.

Site characteristics

This area preserves the only remaining location in Liberia that preserves an undeveloped corridor connecting the coastal environment with the interior wet evergreen forest (mix of primary and secondary forest and coastal marshes). It contains an important section of the upper Dugbe River watershed and tributaries (Yaza and Sinoe Creeks). The area contains approximately 40 kilometers of Atlantic Ocean coastline, and estuaries. It is known to support important populations of the vulnerable forest elephant Loxodonta africana, zebra duiker Cephalophus zebra, and pygmy hippopotamus Hexaprotodon liberiensis, as well as the endangered Upper Guinea red colobus Piliocolobus badius (Johnson 2015).

Table 1. Basic site information for Grand Kru-River Gee Proposed Protected Area

Area	1351 km²
Coordinates	4.87 , -8.54
Designation	Proposed Protected Area
Habitat types	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland Forest, Subtropical/Tropical Mangrove Forest Vegetation Above High Tide Level

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

Ape status

No information about surveys in this area could be found. Tweh and colleagues (2014) surveyed two line transects in Grand-Kru River Gee Proposed Protected Area, however, they did not find chimpanzee nests or other signs of their presence (Junker unpubl. data). The nationwide chimpanzee abundance model published by Junker et al. (2015) suggests that chimpanzees probably only occur at (very) low densities in this area. Further analysis of the nationwide dataset revealed that Grand Kru-River Gee Proposed Protected Area was not located in a conservation priority area in terms of chimpanzee density, and mammal and tree diversity (Junker et al. 2015). Interview surveys showed that many villages near Grand Kru-River Gee Proposed Protected Area do not practice taboos against the killing or eating of chimpanzees (Junker unpubl. data).

Table 2: Great ape population estimates in Grand Kru-River Gee Proposed Protected Area

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	2010-2012			Likely to be present	Grand Kru-River Gee Proposed Protected Area	Model estimate	Junker et al. 2015	Only 2 line transects surveyed, estimate based on a nationwide chimpanzee abundance model

Threats

During the nationwide chimpanzee and large mammal survey, teams surveyed two line transects and recces inside Grand Kru-River Gee Proposed Protected Area and encountered high amounts of hunting signs. The teams also did not find any large mammal tracks, except of humans Homo sapiens. They also found signs of artisanal mining (Junker unpubl. data). A considerable part of the proposed protected area is covered by Mineral Exploration Licenses (MEL), Mineral Exploration Agreements (MEA), and Mineral Development Agreements (MDA) by various companies (Johnson 2015). It is unclear if/when mining activities will commence in the area. Grand Kru-River Gee Proposed Protected Area overlapped with illegally issued Private-Use Permits (PUPs) for commercial logging. Private Use Permits were a type of logging licence 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). Additionally, the site also overlaps with a Proposed Forestry Concession (Junker et al. 2015). However, it is not clear if/when logging activities will commence.

Table 3. Threats to great apes in Grand Kru-River Gee Proposed Protected Area

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		Mining for gold and other minerals (Johnson 2015), artisanal mining (Junker unpubl. data)	Ongoing (2015)
4. Transportation & service corridors		Unknown
5. Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	High		Nationwide survey teams found many empty cartridges and snares and no large mammal tracks except of humans (Junker unpubl. data)	Ongoing (2012)
	5.3 Logging & wood harvesting	High		Area overlapped with Private-Use Permits, which have been withdrawn and with a Proposed Forestry Concession	Ongoing (2015)
6. Human intrusions & 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		Unknown

IUCN Threats list

Conservation activities

No conservation activities have been reported for the site.

Table 4: Conservation activities in Grand Kru-River Gee Proposed Protected Area

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 intrusions & 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 Grand Kru-River Gee Proposed Protected Area

Challenge	Source
Not reported

Research activities

Documented behaviours

Table 6. Great ape behaviors reported for Grand Kru-River Gee Proposed Protected Area

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.
Tweh C, Lormie M, Kouakou CY, Hillers A, Kühl HS, Junker J, et al. 2014. Conservation status of chimpanzees Pan troglodytes verus and other large mammals in Liberia: a nationwide survey. Oryx: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0030605313001191.
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.

Page completed by: A.P.E.S. Wiki Team Date: 23/10/2019