Cestos-Senkwehn Proposed Protected Area

West Africa > Liberia > Cestos-Senkwehn Proposed Protected Area

Summary

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• Western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) are present in Cestos-Senkwehn.
• The population size is unknown.
• The chimpanzee population trend is unknown.
• This site has a total size of 832.09 km².
• Key threats to chimpanzees are artisanal and large-scale mining and poaching.
• No conservation activities have been reported for the site.
• Cestos-Senkwehn Proposed Protected Area forms part of an Important Bird Area (IBA). There are plans to link Cestos-Senkwehn Proposed Protected Area to Sapo National Park. The area falls into one of the conservation priority areas identified for Liberia by Junker et al. (2015). The latter was ranked highest of all patches in terms of chimpanzee density, and mammal and tree diversity and links up with Krahn Bassa National Forest.

Site characteristics

Cestos-Senkwehn Proposed Protected Area lies in the lowly populated coastal centre of Liberia between the towns of Buchanan and Greenville and stretches inland from the coast for some 70 km. The area serves as host for wildlife transiting from Krahn-Bassa Proposed Protected Area and Sapo National Park. Cestos-Senkwehn Proposed Protected Area includes inland-, littoral-, and mangrove forests (Verschuren 1983). The site has also been classified as an IBA. In addition to chimpanzees, Tweh et al. (2014) found tracks of zebra- Cephalophus zebra, Maxwell- Philantomba maxwellii, and black duiker Cephalophus niger in this area during their nationwide survey. The endangered pygmy hippopotamus Choeropsis liberiensis has been reported for this site (Mallon et al. 2011), but could not be confirmed by Tweh et al. (2014) who surveyed two line transects in this area.

Table 1. Basic site information for Cestos-Senkwehn Proposed Protected Area

Area	832.09 km²
Coordinates	5.49, -9.30
Designation	Proposed Protected Area
Habitat types	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland Forest, Subtropical/Tropical Mangrove Forest Vegetation Above High Tide Level

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

Ape status

No published information could be found on wildlife surveys conducted in this area. Tweh et al. (2014) surveyed two line transects, each 3 km in length, and recces in Cestos-Senkwehn Proposed Protected Area during their nationwide survey and found 10 chimpanzee nests in three different groups (Junker unpubl. data).

Table 2. Great ape population estimates in Cestos-Senkwehn Proposed Protected Area

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	2012			3.3	Cestos-Senkwehn Proposed Protected Area	Line transects (Distance), Index survey	Tweh et al. 2014 (Junker unpubl. data)	Reconnaissance walk, total survey effort: 6 km, 10 nests were found

Threats

The main threats to chimpanzees in this area include artisanal mining for gold and poaching. Tweh et al. (2014) found numerous empty cartridges and a few snares, as well as signs of artisanal gold mining. However, people who were interviewed in the villages in this area reported that there was a local taboo against killing chimpanzees in their area (Junker unpubl. data). The area has also been assigned to a mining company on a Mineral Exploration License (MEL) (Johnson et al. 2015). This license type entails that after a proposed exploration program has been handed to the Minister of Land, Mines, and Energy, the company commences exploration (Wilson et al. 2017).

Table 3. Threats to great apes in Cestos-Senkwehn Proposed Protected Area

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Quantified severity	Description	Year of threat
1. Residential & commercial development		Unknown
2. Agriculture & aquaculture		Unknown
3. Energy production & mining	3.2 Mining & quarrying	High		Open pit mining for gold (Johnson 2015), MEL issued in 2011 (Johnson 2015), signs of artisanal gold mining were recorded on 2 line transects (Junker unpubl. data)	Ongoing (2017)
4. Transportation & service corridors		Unknown
5. Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	Medium		Empty cartridges and snares were recorded on 2 line transects (Junker unpubl. data)	Ongoing (2014)
6. Human intrusions & 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		Unknown

IUCN Threats list

Conservation activities

No conservation activities have been reported for the site.

Table 4. Conservation activities in Cestos-Senkwehn

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	Not reported
6. Human intrusions & 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 Cestos-Senkwehn Proposed Protected Area

Challenge	Source
Not reported

Research activities

No information on research activities has been documented.

Documented behaviours

Table 6. Great ape behaviors reported for Cestos-Senkwehn Proposed Protected Area

Behavior	Source
Not reported

References

Johnson S. 2015. Aggregated Biodiversity Offsets: A Roadmap for Liberia’s Mining Sector. Unpublished report by the World Bank Group (WBG) and Program On Forests (PROFOR).
Junker J, Boesch C, Freeman T, Mundry R, Stephens C, Kühl HS. 2015. Integrating wildlife conservation with conflicting economic land-use goals in a West African biodiversity hotspot. Basic and Applied Ecology: doi:10.1016/j.baae.2015.07.002.
Mallon D, Wightman C, De Onellas P, Ransom C. 2011. Conservation Strategy for the Pygmy Hippopotamus. IUCN Species Survival Commission.
Tweh C, Lormie M, Kouakou CY, Hillers A, Kühl HS, Junker J, et al. 2014. Conservation status of chimpanzees Pan troglodytes verus and other large mammals in Liberia: a nationwide survey. Oryx: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0030605313001191.
Verschuren J. 1983 Conservation of Tropical Rainforest in Liberia. Recommendations for Wildlife Conservation and National Parks. IUCN/WWF.
Wilson STK, Wang H, Kabenge M, Qi X. 2017. The mining sector of Liberia: current practices and environmental challenges. Environmental Science and Pollution Research 24: 18711–18720.

Page completed by: A.P.E.S. Wiki Team Date: 25/09/2019