Iyondji Community Bonobo Reserve

Central Africa > Democratic Republic of the Congo > Iyondji Community Bonobo Reserve

Summary

• Bonobos (Pan paniscus) are present in Iyondji Community Bonobo Reserve.
• The population size is unknown.
• The bonobo population trend is unknown.
• The site has a total size of 1,100 km².
• Bonobos at the site are mainly threatened by poaching.
• Conservation interventions have focused on anti-poaching activities, including patrols, removal of snares, and inspecting markets.

Site characteristics

Iyondji Community Bonobo Reserve (ICBR), established in 2012, is located in one of the four bonobo strongholds, i.e. the northern block, Maringa-Lopori-Wamba Landscape (Bonobo Conservation Action Plan, 2012-2022, IUCN) and encompasses approximately 1,100 km² of tropical moist forest that harbors bonobos (Pan paniscus). With the Luo Scientific Reserve and Kokolopori Bonobo Reserve, ICBR contributes to a contiguous 5,627 m² bonobo conservation stronghold.

Table 1. Basic site information for Iyondji Community Bonobo Reserve

Area	1,100 km²
Coordinates	0.07 S, 22.87 E
Designation	Forest Reserve
Habitat types	Subtropical/tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical/tropical swamp forest

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

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  Iyondji Community Bonobo Reserve and detected points of bonobos in the northern part © Tetsuya Sakamaki and Phila Kasa Levo
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  Board of Iyondji Community Bonobo Reserve and a ranger © Tetsuya Sakamaki and Phila Kasa Levo

Ape status

We set up a study site of bonobos in 2010 and habituated two bonobo communities by 2016 in the northern part of ICBR. We confirmed at least four groups at the study site. Although there are bonobos in the middle part, they are unknown. The survival of individuals may be at stake in the southern parts (Sakamaki & Kasalevo pers. comm. 2020)

Table 2. Ape population estimates in Iyondji Community Bonobo 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 paniscus	2010-2016			Present				Habituation efforts confirmed the presence of bonobos; total abundance is unknown.

Threats

Temporary hunting and gathering camps, and small hamlets with cassava fields were present within the ICBR. Approximately 10 people lived in a hamlet. According to the villagers, people lived in the forest permanently, and some of their children had never been to the villages along the established roads where there were schools and dispensaries. This situation was, in part, the result of the DRC civil war in the 1990s (Nackoney et al. 2014). Although villagers hunted primarily for their own consumption prior to the civil war, during the warfare the trucking and shipping transportation network collapsed, and the villagers were left with no means of selling cash crops such as coffee beans. As a result, the sale of bush meat became the primary way of earning cash.

Table 3. Threats to apes in Iyondji Community Bonobo Reserve

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Quantified severity	Description	Year of threat
1. Residential & commercial development		Absent
2. Agriculture & aquaculture		Absent
3. Energy production & mining		Absent
4. Transportation & service corridors		Absent
5. Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	Present, but threat severity is unknown		Human presence in the southern part of the reserve (Nackoney et al. 2014).	Ongoing (2019)
6. Human intrusion & 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

Table 4. Conservation activities in Iyondji Community Bonobo 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	5.6. Conduct regular anti-poaching patrols		Ongoing (2019)
	5.8. Inspect bushmeat markets for illegal primate species		Ongoing (2019)
	5.9. Regularly de-activate/remove ground snares		Ongoing (2019)
	5.11. Provide training to anti-poaching ranger patrols		Ongoing (2019)
	5.15. Implement monitoring surveillance strategies (e.g. SMART) or use monitoring data to improve effectiveness of wildlife law enforcement patrols		Ongoing (2019)
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	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 Iyondji Community Bonobo Reserve

Challenge	Source
Lack of capacity/training	(Sakamaki & Kasalevo pers. comm. 2020)
Lack of financial means	(Sakamaki & Kasalevo pers. comm. 2020)
Lack of logistical means	(Sakamaki & Kasalevo pers. comm. 2020)
Lack of technical means	(Sakamaki & Kasalevo pers. comm. 2020)

Research activities

Bonobo habituation has been conducted between 2010-2016 (Sakamaki et al. 2012). A census of diurnal monkeys and duikers was conducted in 2014 (Sakamaki et al. 2016).

Documented behaviours

Table 6. Ape behaviors reported for Iyondji Community Bonobo Reserve

Behavior	Source
Hunting and meat eating	Sakamaki et al. 2016

External links

Relevant datasets

A.P.E.S Portal

References

Dupain, J., Fowler, A., Kasalevo, P., Sakamaki, T., Bongoli, L., Way, T., Williams, D., Furuichi, T. & Facheux, C. (2013). The Process of Creation of a New Protected Area in the Democratic Republic of Congo: The Case of the Iyondji Community Bonobo Reserve. Pan Africa News, 10(1), 10-13.
Nackoney, J., Molinario, G., Potapov, P., Turubanova, S., Hansen, M.C. & Furuichi, T. (2014). Impacts of civil conflict on primary forest habitat in northern Democratic Republic of the Congo, 1990–2010. Biol Conserv, 170, 321–328.
Sakamaki, T., Kasalevo, T., Bokamba, M.B. & Bongoli, L. (2012). Iyondji Community Bonobo Reserve: A Recently Established Reserve in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Pan Africa News, 19(2), 16-19.
Sakamaki, T., Maloueki, U., Bakaa, B., Bongoli, L., Kasalevo, P., Terada, S. & Furuichi, T. (2016). Mammals consumed by bonobos (Pan paniscus): new data from the Iyondji forest, Tshuapa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Primates, 57, 295–301.

Page completed by: Tetsuya Sakamaki & Phila Kasalevo Date: 15/11/2020