Bambidie Forestry Concession

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Summary

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• Central chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) and Western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) are present in Bambidie.
• It has been estimated that 20 gorillas occur in the site.
• The Western lowland gorilla’s population trend is stable.
• The site has a total size of 13 km².
• Key threats to Western lowland gorillas are poaching, logging and roads.
• Conservation activities have focused on anti-poaching patrols, provision of alternative livelihood activities to local populations, forest certification as “primate friendly” concession, and environmental education.

Site characteristics

Bambidie is a forest concession that was logged for the first time in the early 1990s, and for the second time in 2013. The average exploitation rate for this second rotation was 1.01 trees/hectare (or 8.34 m³ / hectare). The concession is FSC certified and the company applies sustainable forest management practices. Several villages are included in the concession. Animal populations are relatively well preserved in the area. Key animal species found at this site are Western lowland gorilla, central chimpanzee, forest elephant, giant pangolin, and panther (Haurez et al. 2014, Haurez et al. 2016).

Table 1. Basic site information for Bambidie Forestry Concession

Species	Gorilla gorilla gorilla
Area	13 km²
Coordinates	Lat: 0.866667 , Lon: 13.100000
Type of site	Logging concession
Habitat types	Subtropical/tropical moist lowland forest
Type of governance

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

Ape status

The last inventory followed two previous surveys, one carried out before the second rotation (January-July 2021) and the second 4-6 months after the second operation (March 2014). Comparison of the results of the three inventories shows a significant drop in gorilla density 4 months after the second rotation, and a significant increase in gorilla density between 4 months and 1 year after the second rotation. The density observed 1 year after the second rotation is not significantly different from the initial density (before the second rotation).

Table 2. Ape population estimates reported for Bambidie Forestry Concession

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
Gorilla gorilla gorilla	2014	20	1.5	0.88	9 sq.km	Line transects & recces	Haurez et al. 2014

Threats

The main threat is subsistence hunting. However, the level of this threat is relatively low. The logging company has set up various processes to fight against poaching, and to limit the pressure of subsistence hunting.

Table 3. Threats to apes reported for Bambidie Forestry Concession

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Description	Year of threat
1 Residential & commercial development		Absent
2 Agriculture & aquaculture		Absent
3 Energy production & mining		Absent
4 Transportation & service corridors	4.1 Roads & railroads	Low	Presence of roads within the logging concession and presence of a national road (Haurez et al. 2014).	Ongoing (2014)
5 Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	Medium	All signs of human activities recorded.	Ongoing (2014)
5 Biological resource use	5.3 Logging & wood harvesting	Low	Logging concession sustainably managed (Haurez et al. 2016).	Ongoing (2016)
6 Human intrusions & disturbance		Unknown
7 Natural system modifications		Absent
8 Invasive & other problematic species, genes & diseases		Unknown
9 Pollution		Unknown
10 Geological events		Absent
11 Climate change & severe weather		Unknown
12 Other threat		Absent

IUCN Threats list

Conservation activities

Table 4. Conservation activities reported for Bambidie Forestry Concession

Category	Specific activity	Description	Implementing organization(s)	Year of activity
1 Development impact mitigation	1.10 Reduce road widths			Ongoing (2021)
1 Development impact mitigation	1.11 Avoid building roads in key habitat or migration routes			Ongoing (2021)
2 Counter-wildlife crime	2.1 Implement road blocks to inspect cars for illegal ape bushmeat			Ongoing (2021)
2 Counter-wildlife crime	2.3 Conduct regular anti-poaching patrols			Ongoing (2021)
2 Counter-wildlife crime	2.10 Inform hunters of the dangers (e.g., disease transmission) of handling ape meat			Ongoing (2021)
2 Counter-wildlife crime	2.13 Provide sustainable alternative livelihoods; establish fish- or domestic meat farms			Ongoing (2021)
1 Development impact mitigation	1.18 Incorporate forested corridors or buffers into logged areas			Ongoing (2021)
1 Development impact mitigation	1.14 Close non-essential roads as soon as mining/logging operations are complete			Ongoing(2021)
1 Development impact mitigation	1.15 Certify products from agriculture, mining or logging and market them as ape friendly			Ongoing(2021)
1 Development impact mitigation	1.16 Provide domestic meat to workers of a logging/mining project to reduce hunting			Ongoing(2021)
4 Education & awareness	4.1 Educate local communities about apes and sustainable use			Ongoing(2021)
4 Education & awareness	4.3 Install billboards to raise ape conservation awareness			Ongoing(2021)

Conservation activities list (Junker et al. 2017)

Challenges

The financial resources of the company are dedicated to logging. The conservation of fauna is an obligation (in particular within the framework of the FSC), but remains a "non-priority" activity.

Table 5. Challenges reported for Bambidie Forestry Concession

Challenges	Specific challenges	Source	Year(s)
2 Resources and capacity	2.3 General lack of funding	Haurez (pers. communication)

Enablers

Table 6. Enablers reported for Bambidie Forestry Concession

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

Research activities

Research activities carried out in Bambidie concern the impact of logging on western lowland gorillas, the impact of large fauna on forest regeneration (seed dispersal by gorillas, elephants), and hunting activities and their impacts.

Documented behaviours

Table 7. Behaviours documented for Bambidie Forestry Concession

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 Bambidie Forestry Concession

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]	25.5	26.6	26.5	26.8	27.8
Annual precipitation [mm]	4053	4123	4127	4211	4214
Max no. consecutive dry days (per year)	38.5	20.9	18.4	19.8	17.4
No. days with heavy precipitation (per year)	6.7	8.5	8.6	8.6	9.6

Table 9. Projected exposure of apes to extreme climate impact events in Bambidie Forestry Concession

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	6.5	0	5.5	0	3	0	16.5	0
Drought	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Heatwave	9.5	100	11	100	9	100	12.5	100
River flood	1	0.08	0.75	0.66	0	0	1.75	1.77
Tropical cyclone	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Wildfire	30	0.46	30	0.4	29	0.45	29	0.39

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  Precipitation anomaly in Bambidie Forestry Concession
• 

  Temperature anomaly in Bambidie Forestry Concession

References

Haurez, B., Petre, C. A., Vermeulen, C., Tagg, N., & Doucet, J. L. (2014). Western lowland gorilla density and nesting behavior in a Gabonese forest logged for 25 years: implications for gorilla conservation. Biodiversity and conservation, 23(11), 2669-2687.

Haurez, B., Tagg, N., Petre, C. A., Vermeulen, C., & Doucet, J. L. (2016). Short-term impact of selective logging on a western lowland gorilla population. Forest ecology and management, 364, 46-51.

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.

Page created by: Barbara Haurez Date: NA