Ziama Biosphere Reserve

West Africa > Republic of Guinea > Ziama Biosphere Reserve

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Summary

• Western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) are present in Ziama Biosphere Reserve.
• It has been estimated that less than 20 chimpanzees occur in the reserve.
• The chimpanzee population trend is not known.
• This site has a total size of 1,162 km².
• Key threats to chimpanzees are hunting, agricultural activities, roads and deforestation.
• The following conservation activities are on-going: law-enforcement, bio-monitoring and reducing illegal agricultural activities.
• Ziama Biosphere Reserve has the last population of forest elephants in Guinea.

Site characteristics

Ziama Biosphere Reserve (also called Massif du Ziama, Ziama Classified Forest) is located in southern Guinea (08°20'N; 09°20'W) and is contiguous with Wonegizi Nature Reserve in Liberia (UNEP-WCMC and IUCN 2018). It is designated a Classified Forest (IUCN category not reported, UNEP-WCMC and IUCN 2018) and is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 1980 (UNESCO MAB 2007). The forest is located in Guinée forestière, one of four Guinean natural regions, and is part of the region N'Zérékoré. Ziama massif is part of the Guinea Highlands and the altitude of the area ranges from 500 to 1,387 m (UNESCO MAB 2007). Due to its diverse topographic features, including mountains, valleys and plateaus, Ziama forest features different habitat types: primary mountain forests, secondary mountain forests, and secondary lowland forest, swamps and savannas (UNESCO MAB 2007). The terrain is very rugged and annual rainfall ranges from 1,700 to 2,000 mm (BirdLife International 2018). In a conservation priority setting workshop in 2001, Ziama forest was identified as one of the most important areas for biodiversity conservation between Guinea and Togo (Bakarr et al. 2001). One of its most notable features is that its forest elephant population is the last population in Guinea (AFEF 2017). With its 287 bird species, Ziama is also an Important Bird Area (BirdLife International 2018). Furthermore, it harbors 31 bat species, 54 reptile species, 30 amphibian species as well as more than 1,300 plant species (WCF 2012). Together with Diéké Classified Forest, Ziama Biosphere Reserve is one of the last remaining large forest blocks in southern Guinea. Ziama forest has a total size of 1,161.70 km² and is divided into three management areas: a core area of 425.4 km2, a buffer zone of 272.3 km2, and a transition area of 463.9 km2 (Brugiere & Kormos 2009). It is about 40 km from the town of Macenta (BirdLife International 2018), and 100 km from the city of N’Zérékoré (UNESCO MAB 2007). According to a survey from 1980, around 29,000 people live within the biosphere reserve (UNESCO MAB 2007). There is also a forestry concession of 300 km2 in the transition zone with a forestry station and chipboard production (UNESCO MAB 2007), as well as a palm grove (WCF 2012).

Table 1: Basic site information for Ziama Biosphere Reserve

Area:	1,161.70 km²
Designation:	Classified forest
Habitat types:	Subtropical/tropical moist montane forest, subtropical/tropical moist lowland forest, dry savanna, swamps

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

Ape status

Based on a nation-wide questionnaire survey, the presence of western chimpanzees was confirmed by Sugiyama & Soumah (1988). In a nationwide survey Rebecca Kormos identified Ziama Biosphere Reserve as the second most important priority area for western chimpanzee conservation in Guinea due to high chimpanzee densities encountered during reconnaissance surveys (Ham 1998). However, a recent nationwide survey by the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation found very low densities of chimpanzee signs and was therefore not able to estimate total chimpanzee abundance (WCF 2012). WCF concluded that less than 20 individuals remain and are restricted to high altitude areas that are unsuitable for agriculture (2012).

Table 2: Great ape population estimates in Ziama Biosphere Reserve

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	1988	50 individuals			Ziama forest	questionnaire survey	Sugiyama & Soumah 1988
Western chimpanzee	1997			presence	Ziama forest	reconnaissance survey	Ham 1998
Western chimpanzee	2012	< 20 individuals		0.04 nests/km	Ziama forest	transect survey	Wild Chimpanzee Foundation 2012	total survey effort: 157 km, encounter rate was too low to estimate total abundance, the value given is an approximation [10]

Threats

Ziama forest was shown to have a high prevalence of anthropogenic pressures (WCF 2012). Already in the 1990’s hunting was recognized as a major threat to chimpanzees (Ham 1998) and during their recent survey of the area WCF also found a very high density of hunting signs (WCF 2012). A survey by FFI in 2016 revealed that illegal agricultural activities in wetlands, i.e., bas-fonds farming, led to large-scale forest fragmentation (FFI 2018). Threats are especially prevalent along the northern forest border where several villages and roads can be found (WCF 2012). This is also where a major road connecting the urban centers of Macenta and N’Zérékoré passes through, resulting in high rates of deforestation and hunting in the two northern forest enclaves (WCF 2012). The two southern forest enclaves close to the border with Liberia had been the scene of territorial conflicts during the war in Liberia, which led to the serious degradation of the forest (WCF 2012).

Table 3: Threats to great apes in Ziama Biosphere Reserve

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Description	Year of threat
1. Residential & commercial development	1.1. Housing & urban areas	medium	recent expansion of village settlements [10]	after 2005
2. Agriculture & aquaculture	2.1. Annual & Perennial Non-Timber Crops	high	illegal agricultural across large areas of the forest [10], especially bas-fonds farming in wetlands [5]	on-going
3. Energy production & mining		absent
4. Transportation & service corridors	4.1. Roads & railroads	medium	recent extension of roads around villages in the North [10]	on-going
5. Biological resource use	5.1.Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	high	hunting consistently mentioned as a major threat [6, 10]	on-going
	5.3. Logging & wood harvesting	medium	deforestation especially prevent in the North [10], territorial conflict during the Liberian war resulted in forest degradation in the South [10]	on-going
6. Human intrusion & disturbance		absent
7. Natural system modifications		absent
8. Invasive & other problematic species, genes, diseases		unknow
9. Pollution		absent
10. Geological Events		absent
11. Climate change & severe weather		unknown
12. Other options		absent

Threats list

Conservation activities

The Centre Forestière de N’Zérékoré is responsible for Ziama forest. Since 2009 its activities are supported by Fauna & Flora International (FFI) that implements conservation activities there as part of their transboundary project with Wonegizi proposed protected area in Liberia. Specifically FFI supports law enforcement and biomonitoring, and works with farmers to encourage a transition from bas-fonds agriculture in wetlands to using land close to the villages and outside of the forest. FFI also started developing a management plan (FFI 2018). The African Forest Elephant Foundation (AFEF) is fundraising for better equipment of rangers from forest authorities that are protecting forest elephants (AFEF 2017).

Table 3: Conservation activities in Ziama Biosphere Reserve

Category	Specific activity	Description	Year of activity
1. Residential & commercial development	absent
2. Agriculture & aquaculture	2.11. Farm more intensively and effectively in selected areas and spare more natural land	FFI works with local farmers to encourage them to use land around villages and outside of the forest for farming instead wetlands [5]	on-going
3. Energy production & mining	absent
4. Transportation & service corridors	absent
5. Biological resource use	5.6. Conduct regular anti-poaching patrols	The Centre Forestière de N’Zérékoré conducts anti-poaching patrols and is supported by FFI [5]	on-going
	5.10. Provide better equipment (e.g. guns) to anti-poaching ranger patrols	AFEF is fundraising to provide rangers with boots [1]	on-going
6. Human intrusion & disturbance	absent
7. Natural system modifications	absent
8. Invasive & other problematic species, genes, diseases	absent
9. Pollution	absent
10. Education & Awareness	absent
11. Habitat Protection	11.2. Legally protect primate habitat	designated as Classified Forest [8]	unknown
12. Species Management	absent
13. Livelihood; Economic & Other Incentives	absent

Conservation activities list

Impediments

No information on impediments has been documented.

Impediments list

Research activities

From 1996 to 1997 Rebecca Kormos (née Ham) did a nationwide surveys on chimpanzees across Guinea (Ham 1998), and identified Ziama Biosphere Reserve as a priority site. To inform the extension of the protected area network Brugiere and Kormos (2009) identified 16 Key Biodiversity Areas across Guinea based on the occurrence of globally threatened large and medium-sized mammals, among which Diéké Classified Forest ranked first. The Wild Chimpanzee Foundation did a nationwide inventory of chimpanzee populations in Guinea between 2009 and 2011. The WCF monitoring team covered a total of 10 sites, including Ziama Biosphere Reserve, using transect surveys (WCF 2012). In 2016 FFI conducted a biomonitoring and threat monitoring study in Ziama (FFI 2018).

Documented behaviours

• none documented

Relevant datasets

A.P.E.S Portal

References

[1] AFEF (2017) African Forest Elephant Foundation. Phase Two – Ziama (Guinea). Online: forestelephants.org
[2] Bakarr M. et al. (2001) in IUCN 2008. From forest to the sea: biodiversity connections from Guinea to Togo. Conservation priority setting workshop. Washington D.C., USA: Conservation International
[3] BirdLife International (2018) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Massif du Ziama. Online: www.birdlife.org
[4] Brugiere, 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
[5] FFI (2018) Fauna & Flora International . Supporting effective management of Ziama Man and Biosphere Reserve. Online: www.fauna-flora.org
[6] Ham (1998) Nationwide chimpanzee census and large mammal survey Republic of Guinea
[7] Sugiyama, Y. & Soumah, A.G. (1988) Preliminary Survey of the Distribution and Population of Chimpanzees in the Republic of Guinea. Primates, 29(4):569-574
[8] UNEP-WCMC and IUCN (2018) Protected Planet: The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA), Cambridge, UK: UNEP-WCMC and IUCN Online: www.protectedplanet.net
[9] UNESCO MAB (2007) UNESCO MAB Biosphere Reserve Directory. Massif du Ziama. 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: 13/11/18