Malebo

Central Africa > Democratic Republic of the Congo > Malebo

Summary

• Bonobos (Pan paniscus) are present in Malebo.
• It has been estimated that 39 (CI: 30-53) individuals occur in the site.
• The bonobo population trend is unknown.
• The site has a total size of 1044 km².
• Key threats to bonobos are hunting and habitat encroachment.
• Conservation activities have focused on habituation of bonobos for ecotourism, enforcing local taboos about bushmeat, and employing local villagers as bonobo trackers.

Site characteristics

The site is located in the Lake Tumba landscape in western Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The region is characterized as a forest-savanna ecosystem, with altitudes ranging from 300 to 700 m (Serckx et al. 2014). The types of forests found at the site include re-colonizing Uapaca sp., old secondary, mixed mature, old growth mono-dominant, riverine gallery and Marantaceae forests (Serckx et al. 2014).The region is also characterized by flood episodes during which water covers ca. 65% of the forest (Inogwabini et al. 2013).

Table 1. Basic site information for Malebo

Area	1044 km²
Coordinates	-2.588389 S, 16.469250 E
Designation	Unclassified
Habitat types	Subtropical/tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical/tropical swamp forest, savanna, subtropical/tropical heavily degraded former forest

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

Ape status

In 2005, the presence of a bonobo population in the region was documented by the local NGO Mbou-Mon-Tour and by an extensive survey conducted by the WWF (Serckx et al. 2014). In 2007, a habituation program started. The bonobo population seems to be made up of two communities, inhabiting the Nkala and Mpelu forests (Serckx et al. 2014).

Table 2. Ape population estimates in Malebo

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	2011-2013	39 (30-53)	0.41 (0.32-0.56)		Malebo region (93.84 sq. km)	Line transects (Distance)	Sercx et al. 2014
Pan paniscus	2011	31 (15-61)	0.56 (0.27-1.13)		Mpelu forest in Malebo (54.26 sq.km)	Line transects (Distance)	Sercx et al. 2014
Pan paniscus	2012	11 (7-19)	0.21 (0.12-0.35)		Mpelu forest in Malebo (54.26 sq.km)	Line transects (Distance)	Sercx et al. 2014
Pan paniscus	2013	17 (11-28)	0.32 (0.19-0.53)		Mpelu forest in Malebo (54.26 sq.km)	Line transects (Distance)	Sercx et al. 2014
Pan paniscus	2011	20 (12-36)	0.63 (0.36-1.12)		Nkala forest in Malebo (32.45 sq.km)	Line transects (Distance)	Sercx et al. 2014
Pan paniscus	2012	16 (11-25)	0.51 (0.32-0.79)		Nkala forest in Malebo (32.45 sq.km)	Line transects (Distance)	Sercx et al. 2014
Pan paniscus	2013	17 (9-35)	0.55 (0.28-1.07)		Nkala forest in Malebo (32.45 sq.km)	Line transects (Distance)	Sercx et al. 2014

Threats

Bonobos are largely respected in the area, and local communities refrain from hunting or eating them, as they believe them to be their ancestors (Inogwabini et al. 2007). However, as other groups and logging companies have moved into the area, this taboo has become degraded; thus, hunting and agricultural expansion now threatens bonobos and other wildlife (SynchronicityEarth).

Table 3. Threats to apes in Malebo

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	Present, but threat severity unknown		During a survey conducted between 2011-2013, six villages and twelve farms were directly adjacent to the forest and plantations were located inside the forest (Serckx et al. 2014).	Ongoing (2014)
	2.3 Livestock farming & ranching	Present, but threat severity unknown		Cattle ranching in parts of the savanna patches (Serckx et al. 2014).	Ongoing (2014)
3. Energy production & mining		Unknown
4. Transportation & service corridors		Unknown
5. Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	Present, but threat severity unknown		Hunting has grown since new people and logging companies have moved into the area (SynchronicityEarth).	Ongoing
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

WWF began working on bonobo conservation in the western part of the country in 2005. To protect the bonobos in this natural reserve, WWF has developed an ecotourism initiative called Picbou (Projet Intégré de Conservation des bonobos de l’ouest) since 2006. The project is implemented in collaboration with the local NGO Mbou-Mon-Tour (MMT). Three groups of bonobos have been habituated in the region to learn more about their socio-ecology and develop more effective conservation strategies. Simultaneously, the ecotourism project aims to bring income to the villagers in order to encourage them preserve their natural heritage (WWF 2017).

Table 4. Conservation activities in Malebo

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	5.13. Strengthen/support/re-install traditions/taboos that forbid the killing of primates	To protect the bonobos, the NGO Mbou-Mon-Tour (MMT) has established an awareness raising programme in local villages to revive the bushmeat taboo (SynchronicityEarth).	Ongoing
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	10.2. Involve local community in primate research and conservation management	MMT employed local villagers as bonobo trackers (SynchronicityEarth).	Ongoing
11. Habitat Protection	Not reported
12. Species Management	12.1. Habituate primates to human presence to reduce stress from tourists/researchers etc.	Three groups of bonobos have been habituated in the region to learn more about their socio-ecology to develop more effective and adapted conservation strategies (WWF 2017).	Ongoing
13. Livelihood; Economic & Other Incentives	13.4. Run tourist projects and ensure permanent human presence at site	WWF has developed an ecotourism initiative named Picbou (Projet Intégré de Conservation des bonobos de l’ouest) since 2006. Picbou is implemented in collaboration with MMT (WWF 2017).	Ongoing

Conservation activities list (Junker et al. 2017)

Challenges

WWF began working on bonobo conservation in the western part of the country in 2005. To protect the bonobos in this natural reserve, WWF has developed an ecotourism initiative called Picbou (Projet Intégré de Conservation des bonobos de l’ouest) since 2006. The project is implemented in collaboration with the local NGO Mbou-Mon-Tour (MMT). Three groups of bonobos have been habituated in the region to learn more about their socio-ecology and develop more effective conservation strategies. Simultaneously, the ecotourism project aims to bring income to the villagers in order to encourage them preserve their natural heritage (WWF 2017).

Table 5. Challenges reported for Malebo

Challenge	Source
Not reported

Research activities

Documented behaviours

Table 6. Ape behaviors reported for Malebo

Behavior	Source
Not reported

External links

Relevant datasets

A.P.E.S Portal

References

Inogwabini, B. I., Mbende, L., Bakanza, A., & Bokika, J. (2013). Crop damage done by elephants in Malebo Region, Democratic Republic of Congo. Pachyderm, 54, 59-65.
Inogwabini, B., Matungila, B., Mbende, L., Abokome, M., & Tshimanga, T. (2007). Great apes in the Lake Tumba landscape, Democratic Republic of Congo: Newly described populations. Oryx, 41(4), 532-538. doi:10.1017/S0030605307414120
Serckx, A., Huynen, M. C., Bastin, J. F., Hambuckers, A., Beudels-Jamar, R. C., Vimond, M., ... & Kühl, H. S. (2014). Nest grouping patterns of bonobos (Pan paniscus) in relation to fruit availability in a forest-savannah mosaic. PloS one, 9(4), e93742.
WWF. (2017).DRC: Malebo site managed by WWF in the top 100 sustainable tourism destinations of 2017 in the World. Online: https://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/?314614/DRC%2DMalebo%2Dsite%2Dmanaged%2Dby%2DWWF%2Din%2Dthe%2Dtop%2D100%2Dsustainable%2Dtourism%2Ddestinations%2Dof%2D2017%2Din%2Dthe%2DWorld

Page completed by: A.P.E.S. Wiki team Date:29/10/2021