Goin-Débé Classified Forest

West Africa > Côte d'Ivoire > Goin-Débé Classified Forest

Summary

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• Western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) are present in Goin-Débé Classified Forest.
• It has been estimated that 27 (CI: 13-57) individuals occur at the site.
• The chimpanzee population trend is decreasing.
• This site has a total size of 1,366 km².
• Key threats to chimpanzees are deforestation and illegal bushmeat hunting.
• The following conservation activities were conducted: certifying for sustainable logging.
• Goin-Débé forest is now completely degraded.

Site characteristics

Goin-Débé is a Classified Forest in southwestern Côte d’Ivoire directly neighboring Cavally Classified Forest. In the past ten years the forest has been almost entirely degraded and has been replaced by cocoa plantations. Biodiversity surveys in 2007 and 2009/2010 confirmed the presence of ungulates such as bongo (Tragelaphus eurycerus) and bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus), birds, including hornbills (Buceros sp.) and turacos (Tauraco sp.), red river hog (Potamochoerus porcus), pygmy hippopotamus (Choeropsis liberiensis), and primates, such as Campbell’s monkey (Cercopithecus campbelli), sooty mangabey (Cercocebus atys), Diana monkey (Cercopithecus diana, Normand 2010). With the recent forest destruction, the current state of biodiversity and western chimpanzees specifically is unknown. Because of the presence of the endangered bird species Gola malimbe (Malimbus ballmanni) Cavally and Goin-Débé are designated as Important Bird Areas (BirdLife International 2019). Goin-Débé is listed as “Classified Forest Name Unknown (CIV) No.58” in the World Database of Protected Areas (UNEP-WCMC and IUCN 2019).

Table 1. Basic site information for Goin-Débé Classified Forest

Area	1,366 km²
Coordinates	6.29, -7.74
Designation	Classified Forest
Habitat types	Plantations, subtropical/tropical moist lowland forest

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

Ape status

A survey by the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation (WCF) found a strong decline in western chimpanzee numbers between 2007 and 2010 mainly driven by large-scale deforestation (Normand 2010). While high chimpanzee densities were found in the first survey, with densities even higher than in Taï National Park, it was estimated that the chimpanzee population declined from more than 200 individuals to less than 40 individuals (Normand 2010). An analysis by Kühl et al. 2017 also found a significant population decline. With the large-scale forest degradation in the past years the current status of the western chimpanzee population is unknown.

Table 2. Ape population estimates in Goin-Débé 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	2007	213 (86-525)	0.235 (0.095-0.580)	0.179 (Eastern part), 0.872 (Central part)	Eastern and central part of Goin-Débé	Line transects (Distance)	Normand 2010	Total survey effort: 165 km
Pan troglodytes verus	2009-2010	27 (13-57)	0.026 (0.013-0.055)	0.103 (Western part), 0.109 (Central part)	Western and central part of Goin-Débé	Line transects (Distance)	Normand 2010	Total survey effort: 197 km

Threats

The monitoring surveys conducted by the WCF encountered mostly plantations in the eastern and western part of Goin-Débé in 2007 (Normand 2010). During that survey the central part was still forested and hardly any agricultural activities were encountered. However, prevalence of agricultural activities strongly increased since the dry season 2008/2009 (Normand 2010). Signs of hunting were recorded across the entire area (Normand 2010). While deforestation was the most prevalent anthropogenic pressure encountered during 2007 survey, agricultural activities were the most prevalent activity recorded in the 2010 survey, most of them cocoa plantations. This highlights the dynamic of deforestation being followed by expansion of agricultural areas. The WCF concluded that the entire forest is now degraded (WCF 2016), while SODEFOR (Society for the Forest Development, the government agency managing classified forests) in a recent survey of the area concluded that 80% of the forest are severely degraded (IDH 2018).

Table 3. Threats to great apes in Goin-Débé Classified Forest

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Quantified severity	Description	Year of threat
1. Residential & commercial development		Absent
2. Agriculture & aquaculture	2.1 Annual & perennial non-timber crops	High	> 0.2 signs of agriculture/km (Normand 2010)	agricultural activities widespread (Normand 2010)	Ongoing (2010)
3. Energy production & mining	3.2 Mining & quarrying	Low		signs of artisanal mining for gold during 2007 survey (Normand 2010)	Unknown
4. Transportation & service corridors	4.1 Roads & railroads	Medium		roads used to access plantations but also for wood extraction (Normand 2010)	Ongoing (2010)
5. Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	High			Ongoing (2010)
	5.3 Logging & wood harvesting	High		especially high prevalence in 2007 survey (Normand 2010)	Ongoing (2010)
6. Human intrusions & 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

IUCN Threats list

Conservation activities

Since 2005 the WCF cooperated with SODEFOR (Society for the Forest Development, the government agency managing classified forests) and OIPR (Office for Reserves and National Parks) to establish and monitor sustainable logging practices in the classified forests of Goin-Débé and Cavally (Normand 2007). The WCF implemented monitoring activities and with its presence wanted to deter illegal agricultural activities (Normand 2007, WCF 2011). With the lack of law enforcement during the post-election crisis 2010/2011 deforestation pressure increased strongly and the WCF seems to have now ceased its conservation activities due to the large-scale degradation of the forest (WCF 2016). In 2018, SODEFOR implemented a survey of Goin-Débé forest and conducted sensitization events of the local population and illegal farmers (IDH 2018).

Table 4. Conservation activities in Goin-Débé Classified Forest

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	5.35. Certify forest concessions and market their products as ‘primate friendly’	WCF cooperates with SODEFOR and OIPR to establish and monitor sustainable logging practices (Normand 2007, WCF 2012)	2005-2012
6. Human intrusions & disturbance	Absent
7. Natural system modifications	Absent
8. Invasive & other problematic species, genes, diseases	Absent
9. Pollution	Absent
10. Education & Awareness	10.1. Educate local communities about primates and sustainable use	SODEFOR conducted sensitization events with local population and illegal farmers (IDH 2018)	2018
11. Habitat Protection	11.2. Legally protect primate habitat	designated as classified forest (Normand 2007, 2010)	Unknown (2010)
12. Species Management	Absent
13. Livelihood; Economic & Other Incentives	Absent

Conservation activities list (Junker et al. 2017)

Challenges

As part of their work to establish and monitor sustainable logging practices the WCF noted that civil unrest and the lack of law enforcement impeded conservation activities (WCF 2012).

Table 5. Challenges reported for Goin-Débé Classified Forest

Challenge	Source
Civil unrest	WCF 2012
Lack of law enforcement	WCF 2012

Research activities

Beyond the monitoring activities mentioned in the section ‘Ape Status’ no further research activities have been reported.

Documented behaviours

Table 6. Great ape behaviors reported for Goin-Débé Classified Forest

Behavior	Source
Not reported

References

IDH. 2018. SODEFOR half-way the full census of the Goin-Débé forest reserve. www.idhsustainabletrade.com
Kühl HS et al. 2017. The critically endangered western chimpanzee declines by 80%, American Journal of Primatology, 79:e22681
Normand E. 2007. Protection of two high priority classified Forests in Côte d’Ivoire (Cavally and Goin-Débé): Improved management plan and bio-monitoring of logging operations. Unpublished report, Wild Chimpanzee Foundation
Normand E. 2010. Rapport de suivi écologique dans les forêts de Goin-Débé et de Cavally (2007-2010). Unpublished report, Wild Chimpanzee Foundation
UNEP-WCMC, IUCN. 2019. Protected Planet: The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA), Cambridge, UK: UNEP-WCMC and IUCN Online: www.protectedplanet.net
WCF. 2011. Annual report of the activities undertaken by the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation to improve the protection of wild chimpanzees and their habitat in West Africa, Year 2011. Online: Wild Chimpanzee Foundation
WCF. 2012. Annual report 2012 – activities of the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation for improved conservation of chimpanzees and their habitat in West Africa. Online: Wild Chimpanzee Foundation
WCF. 2016. Annual report 2016 – activities of the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation for improved conservation of chimpanzees and their habitat in West Africa. Online: Wild Chimpanzee Foundation

Page completed by: A.P.E.S. Wiki Team & Julia Riedel Date: 22/11/2019