Banyang-Mbo Wildlife Sanctuary

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Summary

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• Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes ellioti) are present in Banyang-Mbo Wildlife Sanctuary.
• The population size is unknown.
• The population trend is decreasing.
• The site has a total size of 640 km².
• Key threats to chimpanzees are hunting, logging, and agricultural encroachment .
• Conservation activities are not documented.

Site characteristics

Established in 1996, Banyang-Mbo Wildlife Sanctuary (BMWS) is situated between Korup National Park to the west and Santchou Wildlife Reserve to the east. With 322 bird species recorded, the site is an Important Bird Area (BirdLife International 2020). Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzees, mandrills, and forest elephants are present in BMWS. The population of forest elephants has been significantly reduced by poaching. BMWS falls naturally into two sections: the northern block where the terrain is mostly flat, and a mountainous southern block, which includes a small part of the Bakossi mountains (BirdLife International 2020).

Table 1. Basic site information for Banyang-Mbo Wildlife Sanctuary

Species	'Pan troglodytes ellioti
Area	640 km²
Coordinates	Lat: 5.357767 , Lon: 9.609717
Type of site	Protected area (Wildlife Sanctuary)
Habitat types	Subtropical/tropical moist lowland forest, Subtropical/tropical moist montane forest, Subtropical/tropical heavily degraded former forest
Type of governance

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

Ape status

There was a notable decrease in the relative populations of chimpanzees in the site between 2007 and 2014; concurrently, there was a significant rise in hunting trail density within the BMWS during that period (Kupsch & Bobo 2024).

Table 2. Ape population estimates reported for Banyang-Mbo Wildlife Sanctuary

Species	Year	Occurrence	Encounter or vistation rate (nests/km; ind/day)	Density estimate [ind./ km²] (95% CI)	Abundance estimate (95% CI)	Survey area	Sampling method	Analytical framework	Source	Comments	A.P.E.S. database ID
Pan troglodytes ellioti	2007				500-1000	Banyang-Mbo Wildlife Sanctuary	Line transects		Greengrass & Maisels 2007 as cited by Morgan et al. 2011 and Kupsch & Bobo 2024	Survey effort: 30.5 km (n = 17 transects). 1.793 nest cluster enc/km +/- 0.422 (SE)
Pan troglodytes ellioti	2013-2014					Banyang-Mbo Wildlife Sanctuary	Line transects		Kupsch & Bobo 2024	Survey effort: 124.5 km (n = 83 transects). 0.129 nest cluster enc/km +/- 0.052 (SE)
Pan troglodytes ellioti	2006-2007		0.21			Banyang-Mbo Wildlife Sanctuary, Northern section (284 km²)	Reconnaissance walk		Greengrass 2016	Survey effort: 71.9 km (n = 12 recces)
Pan troglodytes ellioti	2023.0					Banyang-Mbo Wildlife Sanctuary, Southern section (122 km²)	Reconnaissance walk		Kupsch 2024	Survey effort: 130.9 km (n = 29 recces). 0.19 nest cluster enc/km +/- 0.07 (SE)

Threats

The site is mainly threatened by logging, hunting and agricultural encroachment, and there are a number of villages found legally within the sanctuary boundaries (BirdLife International 2020). A study (Kupsch & Bobo 2024) found that the threatening situation for wildlife in the site, especially for elephants and primates, points to high poaching pressure between 2007 and 2014. The abundances of these species as well as of duikers are now almost similar to the low levels in Korup National Park. This is supported by the notable increase in encounter rates of hunting trails in BMWS, similar to the high rates observed in Korup National Park.

Table 3. Threats to apes reported for Banyang-Mbo Wildlife Sanctuary

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Description	Year of threat
10 Geological events		Absent
12 Other threat		Absent
5 Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	High (more than 70% of population affected)	Commercial poaching (Morgan et al. 2011; BirdLife International 2020) and presence of hunting trails and other hunting signs (Greengrass & Maisels 2007, Kupsch & Bobo 2024, Kupsch 2024). In 2007, the hunting rate was 1.962 hunting trail/km; in 2014, 2.867 hunting trail/km; and in 2023 (Southern sector), 1.23 hunting trail/km; 0.17 cartridge shells/km; 0.7 traps/km (Kupsch & Bobo 2024, Kupsch 2024).	2001-Ongoing (2024)
1 Residential & commercial development	1.1 Residential areas	Present (unknown severity)	A number of villages are found within the boundaries of the site, lawfully (BirdLife International 2020).	2001-Ongoing (2020)
2 Agriculture & aquaculture	2.1 Annual & perennial non-timber crops	Present (unknown severity)	Agricultural encroachment is a threat in the site (BirdLife International 2020).	2001-Ongoing (2020)
5 Biological resource use	5.3 Logging & wood harvesting	Present (unknown severity)	Logging is a threat in the area (BirdLife International 2020). Engine saws heard during survey in southern sector in 2023 (Kupsch 2024).	2001-Ongoing (2024)
3 Energy production & mining		Unknown
4 Transportation & service corridors		Unknown
6 Human intrusions & disturbance		Unknown
7 Natural system modifications		Unknown
8 Invasive & other problematic species, genes & diseases		Unknown
9 Pollution		Unknown
11 Climate change & severe weather		Unknown

IUCN Threats list

Conservation activities

Banyang-Mbo Wildlife Sanctuary is under the administration of the Cameroonian Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife (MINFOF), which is supported by the PSMNR-SWR development program and follows a collaborative management approach (PSMNR-SWR n.d.). In addition to support for infrastructure, households, education and training, this also includes protection activities such as demarcation and patrolling, as well as bio-monitoring.

Table 4. Conservation activities reported for Banyang-Mbo Wildlife Sanctuary

Category	Specific activity	Description	Implementing organization(s)	Year of activity
2 Counter-wildlife crime	2.3 Conduct regular anti-poaching patrols	Anti-poaching patrols (PSMNR-SWR n.d., Kupsch 2024).		2006-Ongoing (2024)
2 Counter-wildlife crime	2.6 Regularly de-activate/remove ground snares	Joint activities of community members and park-staff (PSMNR-SWR n.d., Kupsch 2024)		2018-Ongoing (2024)
2 Counter-wildlife crime	2.13 Provide sustainable alternative livelihoods; establish fish- or domestic meat farms	Various activities in 40+ target communities under PSMNR-SWR (n.d.), e.g. farmers training, vocational training, tree nurseries, piggeries, bee keeping, cassava mills		2006-Ongoing (2024)
5 Protection & restoration	5.2 Legally protect ape habitat	The Wildlife Sanctuary was created in 1996 ([1]).		1996-Ongoing (2024)
5 Protection & restoration	5.5 Demarcate and enforce boundaries of protected areas	Boundary demarcation activities of park staff and communities (PSMNR-SWR n.d.)		2006-Ongoing (2024)
7 Economic & other incentives	7.2 Provide non-monetary benefits to local communities for sustainably managing their forest and its wildlife (e.g., better education, infrastructure development)	Farming equipment, scholarships, community infrastructure development, green initiatives e.g. bee farming, small scale poultry and non-timber products value chain improvement (PSMNR-SWR n.d.).		2006-Ongoing (2024)

Conservation activities list (Junker et al. 2017)

Challenges

Since 2017, there has been a military-political crisis with a very poor security situation in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon, which has made law enforcement impossible. Eco-guards and researchers could not enter the wildlife sanctuary and most of the villages within and adjacent to it (Kupsch 2024). Since 2023, the southern section of the sanctuary is accessible by eco-guards and researchers again (Kupsch 2024).

Table 5. Challenges reported for Banyang-Mbo Wildlife Sanctuary

Challenges	Specific challenges	Source	Year(s)
2 Resources and capacity	2.6 Lack of biomonitoring/survey data	Kupsch et al. 2024	Ongoing (2024)
4 Institutional support	4.1 Lack of law enforcement	Kupsch et al. 2024	Ongoing (2024)
6 Safety and stability	6.1 Political/economic instabilty	Kupsch et al. 2024	Ongoing (2024)
6 Safety and stability	6.2 Insecurity	Kupsch et al. 2024	Ongoing (2024)

Enablers

Table 6. Enablers reported for Banyang-Mbo Wildlife Sanctuary

Enablers	Specific enablers	Source	Year(s)
1 Site management
2 Resources and capacity
3 Engaged community
4 Institutional support
5 Ecological context
6 Safety and stability

Documented behaviours

Table 7. Behaviours documented for Banyang-Mbo Wildlife Sanctuary

Behavior	Source
Not reported

Exposure to climate change impacts

As part of a study on the exposure of African great ape sites to climate change impacts, Kiribou et al. (2024) extracted climate data and data on projected extreme climate impact events for the site. Climatological characteristics were derived from observation-based climate data provided by the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISIMIP, www.isimip.org). Parameters were calculated as the average across each 30-year period. For 1981-2010, the EWEMBI dataset from ISIMIP2a was used. For the two future periods (2021-2050 and 2071-2099) ISIMIP2b climate data based on four CMIP5 global climate models were used. For future projections, two Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) were used. RCP 2.6 is a scenario with strong mitigation measures in which global temperatures would likely rise below 2°C. RCP 6.0 is a scenario with medium emissions in which global temperatures would likely rise up to 3°C by 2100. For the number of days with heavy precipitation events, the 98th percentile of all precipitation days (>1mm/d) was calculated for the 1979-2013 reference period as a threshold for a heavy precipitation event. Then, for each year, the number of days above that threshold was derived. The figures on temperature and precipitation anomaly show the deviation from the mean temperature and mean precipitation for the 1979-2013 reference period.

The estimated exposure to future extreme climate impact events (crop failure, drought, river flood, wildfire, tropical cyclone, and heatwave) is based on a published dataset by Lange et al. 2020 derived from ISIMIP2b data. The same global climate models and RCPs as described above were used. Within each 30-year period, the number of years with an extreme event and the average proportion of the site affected were calculated (Kiribou et al. 2024).

Table 8. Estimated past and projected climatological characteristics in Banyang-Mbo Wildlife Sanctuary

Value	1981-2010	2021-2050, RCP 2.6	2021-2050, RCP 6.0	2071-2099, RCP 2.6	2071-2099, RCP 6.0
Mean temperature [°C]	23.7	24.8	24.7	24.9	26
Annual precipitation [mm]	2316	2399	2414	2475	2472
Max no. consecutive dry days (per year)	40.7	31.7	35.9	34.5	38.8
No. days with heavy precipitation (per year)	6.1	6.5	6.1	7	7.2

Table 9. Projected exposure of apes to extreme climate impact events in Banyang-Mbo Wildlife Sanctuary

Type	No. of years with event (2021-2050, RCP 2.6)	% of site exposed (2021-2050, RCP 2.6)	No. of years with event (2021-2050, RCP 6.0)	% of site exposed (2021-2050, RCP 6.0)	No. of years with event (2070-2099, RCP 2.6)	% of site exposed (2070-2099, RCP 2.6)	No. of years with event (2070-2099, RCP 6.0)	% of site exposed (2070-2099, RCP 6.0)
Crop failure	3.5	0.41	3.5	0.57	2.5	0.12	4.5	0.14
Drought	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Heatwave	2	100	1.5	100	2	100	3	100
River flood	2.5	1.23	1.75	0.2	2	0.81	5.25	1.72
Tropical cyclone	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Wildfire	30	0.67	30	0.68	29	0.66	29	0.69

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  Precipitation anomaly in Banyang-Mbo Wildlife Sanctuary
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  Temperature anomaly in Banyang-Mbo Wildlife Sanctuary

External links

WWF Banyang-Mbo Wildlife Sanctuary

[psmnrswr.org Programme for the Sustainable Management of Natural Resources – Southwest Cameroon]

References

BirdLife International (2020) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Banyang Mbo Wildlife Sanctuary. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 30/12/2020.
Greengrass, E. J., & Maisels, F. (2007). Conservation of the Nigerian-Cameroon Chimpanzee P. t. vellerosus, (and other mammals) in and around Banyang-Mbo Wildlife Sanctuary, Southwest province, Cameroon. Report, WCS Cameroon Programme, Wildlife Conservation Society, New York.
Greengrass, E.J. (2016). A survey of the Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee Pan troglodytes ellioti at Banyang-Mbo Wildlife Sanctuary, Southwest Province, Cameroon. Report. The Born Free Foundation. 23p.
Kiribou, R., Tehoda, P., Chukwu, O., Bempah, G., Kühl, H. S., Ferreira, J., ... & Heinicke, S. (2024). Exposure of African ape sites to climate change impacts. PLOS Climate, 3(2), e0000345.
Kupsch, D., & Bobo, K. S. (2024). Distribution parameters of large mammals and conservation management in an Afrotropical forest landscape and biodiversity hotspot. African Journal of Ecology, 62(2), e13254.
Kupsch, D. (2024). Status of large mammals and human activities in the southern hotspot of the Banyang Mbo Wildlife Sanctuary. PSMNR-SWR bio-monitoring report. Buea, Cameroon. 21p.
Morgan, B. J., Adeleke, A., Bassey, T., Bergl, R., Dunn, A., Fotso, R., ... & Williamson, E. A. (2011). Regional action plan for the conservation of the Nigeria–Cameroon chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes ellioti). IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group and Zoological Society of San Diego.
PSMNR-SWR (n.d.). About PSMNR-SWR. https://psmnrswr.org/about-psmnr-swr/

Page created by: Denish Kupsch & Anthoine Sumbede Date: 2024-03-14