Atewa Range Forest Reserve

West Africa > Ghana > Atewa Range Forest Reserve

Summary

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• Western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) are no longer present in Atewa Range Forest Reserve.
• Chimpanzees have been extirpated from the site.
• The site has a total size of 258 km².
• Chimpanzees were mainly threatened by hunting.
• Conservation activities have focused on patrolling and controlling poaching.

Site characteristics

Atewa Range Forest Reserve is located in southeastern Ghana. The reserve is on a mountain range, which peaks at 842 m a.s.l., (Kusimi 2015). Atewa is unique because of its Upland Evergreen forest, which is an important reservoir of biodiversity. It was established as a national forest reserve in 1926, a Special Biological Protection Area in 1994, a Hill Sanctuary in 1995, as one of Ghana’s 30 Globally Significant Biodiversity Areas (GSBAs) in 1999, and an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International in 2001 (RAP 2007). In 2021, a new frog species was discovered in the site; it was given the common name Atewa Slippery frog, Conraua sagyimase (A Rocha Ghana).

Table 1. Basic site information for Atewa Range Forest Reserve

Area	258 km²
Coordinates	6.170532, -0.600267
Designation	Forest Reserve
Habitat types	Tropical Moist Montane Forest

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

Ape status

No chimpanzees have been found in the reserve. An old chief hunter reported that he has not seen a chimpanzee in the forest since he started hunting over 40 years ago (Ofori-Amanfo pers. comm. 2023). During a 2006 Rapid Assessment Program (RAP) survey of the site, most nearby communities said that chimpanzees were not present; this was in line with the RAP’s transect and recce survey results, which found no evidence of chimpanzees (McCullough et al. 2007).

Table 2. Ape population estimates in Atewa Range Forest Reserve

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	1980-2023	0			Atewa Range Forest Reserve		(Ofori-Amanfo pers. comm. 2023).
Pan troglodytes verus	2006	0			Atewa Range Forest Reserve	Index survey (reconnaissance walk) and line transect survey	McCullough et al. 2007

Threats

Chimpanzees were mainly threatened by the high levels of uncontrolled hunting (Ofori-Amanfo pers. comm. 2023). A study by Kusimi 2015 also found that land cover (especially forest cover) in the reserve declined, while land use increased between 1986 and 2013. Parts of the forest degraded into bushes/shrubs and the peripheral landscape was more affected due to intense human activities such as farming and illegal logging. Other activities such as expansion of settlements and illegal gold mining have also contributed to the negative impacts on the forest cover (Kusimi 2015). Atewa Forest is one of three possible sites where the government of Ghana is seeking to mine bauxite to develop an integrated bauxite-aluminium industry; up to this point it has not been exploited but the risk still exists (Purwins 2022).

Table 3. Threats to apes in Atewa Range Forest Reserve

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Quantified severity	Description	Year of threat
1. Residential & commercial development		Unknown
2. Agriculture & aquaculture	2.1 Annual & perennial non-timber crops	Low		Farmers encroach into the Forest Reserve for illegal subsistence farming (Kusimi 2015, Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2023).	2014-Ongoing (2023)
3. Energy production & mining	3.2 Mining & quarrying	High		Illegal mining can be found in the Forest Reserve, specifically gold mining (Kusimi 2015, Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2023).	2014-Ongoing (2023)
	3.2 Mining & quarrying	High		In June 2019, in the absence of an environmental impact assessment, the Ghanaian authorities started clearing access roads to Atewa Forest to allow test-drilling for bauxite (IUCN Congress 2020). Bauxite deposits have been assessed several other times at the site by prospective companies, but bauxite mining has been so far met with strong opposition (Lindsell et al. 2019).	2019
4. Transportation & service corridors		Unknown
5. Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	High		Poaching of wild animals in the Forest is common (Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2023).	1926-Ongoing (2023)
	5.2 Gathering terrestrial plants	High		The communities around the Forest Reserve enter and collect non timber forest products for domestic and commercial purposes (Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2023).	1926-Ongoing (2023)
	5.3 Logging & wood harvesting	High		Legal logging was permitted between 1966 and 1998 (Lindsell et al. 2019).	1966-1998
	5.3 Logging & wood harvesting	Medium		Illegal logging still goes on in the Reserve, even after the 2003 management plan made no provisions for timber harvesting (Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2023, Lindsell et al. 2019).	2003-Ongoing (2023)
6. Human intrusion & disturbance		Unknown
7. Natural system modifications	7.1 Fire & fire suppression	Medium		The Forest Reserve has a long boundary, where periodic fires occur due to farming practices around the reserve (Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2023).	2016-Ongoing (2023)
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

Some organisations are advocating that the Atewa Forest Reserve should be upgraded to National Park status, including the NGO Ghana A Rocha and the IUCN (Lindsell et al. 2019).

Table 4. Conservation activities in Atewa Range Forest Reserve

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	5.1. Implement no-hunting seasons for primates	Ghana has a closed season from 1st August to 1st December for all wild animals, including primates in Ghana	Ongoing (2023)
5. Biological resource use	5.6. Conduct regular anti-poaching patrols	The Forestry Commission used to carry out patrols in the Forest and has increased the number of Rapid Response Teams (RRT) to undertake regular patrols in important Forest Reserves (Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2023).	1926-Ongoing (2023)
5. Biological resource use	5.8. Inspect bushmeat markets for illegal primate species	The Forestry Commission carries out checks on illegal trade in bush meat (Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2023).	Ongoing (2023)
5. Biological resource use	5.9. Regularly de-activate/remove ground snares	All snares seen in the Reserve by patrol teams and researchers are removed (Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2023).	Ongoing (2023)
5. Biological resource use	5.10. Provide better equipment (e.g. guns) to anti-poaching ranger patrols	New and better weapons have been acquired for the RRT (Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2023).	2023
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	10.1. Educate local communities about primates and sustainable use	NGOs such as A Rocha Ghana, Conservation International etc. undertake conservation education around the Forest Reserve (Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2023).	Ongoing (2023)
10. Education & Awareness	10.2. Involve local community in primate research and conservation management	Local communities are involved in research activities in the Forest Reserve (Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2023).	Ongoing (2023)
11. Habitat Protection	11.2. Legally protect primate habitat	The site has been a Forest Reserve since 1926.	1926-Ongoing (2023)
12. Species Management	Not reported
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)	Communities are provided livelihood support programmes to increase their support for conservation (Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2023).	Ongoing (2023)

Conservation activities list (Junker et al. 2017)

Challenges

The main challenges to conservation include lack of vigorous law Enforcement activities in the Forest Reserve, lack of logistics and low staff (Kusimi 2015).

Table 5. Challenges reported for Atewa Range Forest Reserve

Challenge	Source
Lack of law enforcement	Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2023, Kusimi 2015
Lack of logistical means	Kusimi 2015
Lack of human resources	Kusimi 2015

Research activities

Studies have been carried out in the Forest Reserve on its biodiversity since 2003, for management plans, biodiversity assessments and threat assessments.

Documented behaviours

Table 6. Ape behaviors reported for Atewa Range Forest Reserve

Behavior	Source
Not reported

References

McCullough, J., Alonso, L. E., Naskrecki, P., Wright, H. E., & Osei-Owusu, Y. (2007). A rapid biological assessment of the Atewa Range Forest Reserve, eastern Ghana. RAP Bulletin of Biological Assessment, 47, 1-191.
Kusimi, J. M. (2015). Characterizing land disturbance in Atewa range forest reserve and buffer zone. Land Use Policy, 49, 471-482.
Rapid Assessment Program. (2007). Biodiversity in the Atewa Range Forest Reserve, Ghana. Conservation International, Arlington, VA, USA.
Purwins, S. (2022). Bauxite mining at Atewa Forest Reserve, Ghana: a political ecology of a conservation-exploitation conflict. GeoJournal, 87(2), 1085-1097.
J. Lindsell, R. Agyei, D. Bosu, J. Decher, W. Hawthorne, C. Marshall, C. Ofori-Boateng, M.-.O. Rodel (2019). The Biodiversity of Atewa Forest. Technical Report to A Rocha, January 2019.

Page completed by: Richard Ofori-Amanfo & APES wiki team Date: 10/11/2023