Gba Community Forest

West Africa > Liberia > Gba Community Forest

Summary

• Western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) are present in Gba Community Forest.
• It has been estimated that 25 (CI: 12-52) individuals occur in the site.
• The chimpanzee population trend is increasing.
• The site has a total size of 80 km².
• Key threats to chimpanzees are poaching and habitat loss due to agricultural expansion.
• Conservation activities have focused on poaching patrols and supporting local farmers.

Site characteristics

The Gba Community Forest is located in the Proposed Protected Area of West Nimba, located opposite the East Nimba Nature Reserve (ENNR). The Community Forest is adjacent to ArcelorMittal Liberia Mines on the western ranges of Nimba. The Community Forest was established by an act of Legislature on October 9, 2011 by the Forestry Development Authority of Liberia. The Community Forest is a home to some of Liberia's protected species; some of which are of global concern. It is also a home to some endemic species of the northern Nimba forest landscape (Gbelee 2022).

Table 1. Basic site information for Gba Community Forest

Area	80 km²
Coordinates
Designation	Community Forest
Habitat types	Subtropical/tropical moist lowland forest

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

Ape status

The 2010-2011 transect survey data for Gba Community Forest (c. 80 km2) estimated a chimpanzee population size of 17 chimpanzees (7- 39), with a coefficient of variation of 45%. The 2017 survey in Gba Community Forest estimated a population of 25 individuals (12-52) within the same area, with a coefficient variation of 37%. Both the 2011 and 2017 chimpanzee population size estimates have wide confidence intervals, making it challenging to understand chimpanzee population trends over the last c. 5 years (Kouakou & Campbell 2018). A total of nine individuals (five females and four males) were genotyped , including two individuals at Mt Gangra. The chimpanzee density estimated for Gba Community Forest is higher than the national average, which includes all protected and unprotected areas (Gbelee 2022). In addition, a rapid assessment was done in the ENNR, Blei and Zor forest in the east of Nimba forest. There is no baseline data on chimpanzees for ENNR which make it hard to estimate potential gains. Preliminary data suggest that there could be a chimpanzee population size of between 13 and 63 chimpanzees (Gbelee 2022).

Table 2. Ape population estimates in Gba Community 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	2010-2011	17 (7-39)			80 sq.km	Line transects (Distance)	Kouakou & Campbell 2018	A total of 51 transects of 1 km in length were included in the Gba Community Forest within a survey area totalling c. 80 km2 Transects were walked at a speed of between 0.5-1 km/hr to ensure sufficient time to search through the canopy to detect chimpanzees.
Pan troglodytes verus	2017	25 (12-52)			80 sq.km	Line transects (Distance)	Kouakou & Campbell 2018	A total of 51 transects of 1 km in length were included in the Gba Community Forest within a survey area totalling c. 80 km2 Transects were walked at a speed of between 0.5-1 km/hr to ensure sufficient time to search through the canopy to detect chimpanzees.

Threats

Hunting animals using guns and setting traps along long fences to capture animals and doing large slash-and-burn farms in primary forest. Finally, the use of chainsaw to harvest logs for timber production (Kouakou & Campbell 2018).

Table 3. Threats to apes in Gba Community Forest

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	High		Habitat destruction as a result of slash and burn is very high (Kouakou & Campbell 2018).	Ongoing (2018)
3. Energy production & mining		Unknown
4. Transportation & service corridors		Unknown
5. Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	High		Poaching (Kouakou & Campbell 2018).	Ongoing (2018)
6. Human intrusion & disturbance		Unknown
7. Natural system modifications		Unknown
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

Table 4. Conservation activities in Gba Community Forest

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	The AML - Biodiversity Conservation Program provide support to the Co-Management committee of the ENNR, the Gba Community Forest Management Body, Zor Community Forest Management Body and the Blei Community Forest Management Body for conducting law enforcement patrols and forest biomonitoring in their various respective areas (Gbelee 2022).	Ongoing (2022)
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	13.2. Provide non-monetary benefits to local communities for sustainably managing their forest and its wildlife (e.g. better education, infrastructure development)	Under the AML - Biodiversity Conservation Program, we are providing support to over 850 local farmers involved in climate smart conservation agriculture in the landscape; mainly lowland/swamp farming (Gbelee 2022).	Ongoing (2022)

Conservation activities list (Junker et al. 2017)

Challenges

Inadequate logistics to support law enforcement personnel ( forest rangers, community forest guards and frontline conservationists/eco-assistants); inadequate financial resources to support conservation activities. Most of the community people are yet to accept forest conservation as a priority that will improve their livelihood. Judicial support to law enforcement is limited in Liberia; specially to prosecute people found in illegal activities in the forests. Unavailability of environmental courts to prosecute violators of environmental and conservation laws.

Table 5. Challenges reported for Gba Community Forest

Challenge	Source
Lack of trust and support from local communities	Gbelee 2022

Research activities

As part of the last ESIA, chimpanzee baseline surveys were conducted in 2011-2012 in West Nimba (including Gba Community Forest) by the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation (WCF) and Action pour la Conservation de la Biodiversité en Côte d’Ivoire (ACB-CI), in partnership with Conservation International (CI) (ArcelorMittal Liberia & Conservation International 2011). An additional study was conducted by Dr. Celestin Kouakou, Independent Consultant and Dr. Genevieve Campbell, The Biodiversity Consultancy in 2018.

Documented behaviours

Table 6. Ape behaviors reported for Gba Community Forest

Behavior	Source
Not reported

References

References Kouakou, C. & Campbell, G.; (2018). Chimpanzee baseline surveys in Gba Community Forest, West Nimba

Page completed by: Forkpayea W. Gbelee Date: 19/12/2022