Kankan Forest Reserve

West Africa > Republic of Guinea > Kankan Faunal Reserve

SITE UNDER PROGRESS

Summary

• Western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) are present in Kankan Faunal Reserve.
• Chimpanzee densities are too low to estimate the total size of the population.
• The chimpanzee population trend is unknown.
• This site has a total size of 5,314 km².
• Agricultural activities are the most prevalent threat to chimpanzees.
• The extent of on-going conservation activities is unknown.
• Kankan Faunal Reserve features a high diversity of antelopes and is part of the Sankarani-Fié Ramsar site.

Site characteristics

Kankan Faunal Reserve (also called “Réserve Naturelle de Kankan”) is located in western Guinea and shares a border with Côte d’Ivoire. It is part of the region “Haute‐Guinée” and the prefecture Kankan. Kankan was initially established as a national park in 1925 when Guinea was still a French colony (Brugière & Kormos 2009). The Guinean government now recognizes Kankan as a ‘Faunal Reserve’ but its legal status is not clear (Brugière & Kormos 2009). The reserve does not have a designated IUCN category nor is it listed in the World Database on Protected Areas (UNEP-WCMC and IUCN 2018). Kankan Faunal Reserve covers a total area of 5,314.48 km2 and is characterized by savanna habitat with permanent waterways (Brugière & Kormos 2009). The reserve is an important area for antelopes as it has the highest diversity in antelope species across Guinea, including the three rarest species found in Guinea (Brugière 2012). The presence of chimpanzees, leopards, baboons, green monkeys and hippos has been confirmed (Brugière & Kormos 2009, WCF 2012). Lions might also still be present in the reserve (Henschel et al. 2014) Kankan Faunal Rserve is part of the Sankarani-Fié Ramsar, situated within the Sankarani River basin (Ramsar 2017). This Ramsar site is characterized by important fish spawning grounds (Ramsar 2017).

Table 1: Basic site information for Kankan Faunal Reserve

Area:	5,314.48 km²
Designation:	Faunal Reserve (but legal status is not clear)
Habitat types:	Dry savanna, permanent rivers

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

Ape status

In the nationwide chimpanzee survey, Rebecca Kormos found no signs of chimpanzees in the northern part of Kankan Faunal Reserve and suggested that chimpanzee might be extinct in the area or persist at very low numbers (Ham 1998). According to Fleury-Brugière & Brugière (2010), a survey by Dufour (2007) observed chimpanzee nests in the southern part of the reserve. In 2009 the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation surveyed the central part of the reserve, but found no signs of chimpanzees on the 74 km of transects that were surveyed (WCF 2012). The survey team also conducted a questionnaire survey and local residents reported that chimpanzees are present in the area. The WCF team also encountered a small group of chimpanzees the western sector of Kankan, and one group in the northern part of the reserve (WCF 2012).

Table 2: Great ape population estimates in Kankan Faunal Reserve

Species	Year	Abundance estimate (95% Confidence Intervall)	Density estimate (per km2)	Encounter rate	Area	Method	Source	Comments	A.P.E.S. database ID
Western chimpanzee	unknown			present	southern part of the reserve)	unknown	Dufour 2007 as found in Fleury-Brugière & Brugière (2010)	the original report by Dufour was not found in the public domain
Western chimpanzee	2009			0 nests/km	central part of the reserve	transect survey	WCF 2012	total survey effort: 74 km, no signs of chimpanzees found, but local residence reported presence of chimpanzees

Threats

There are approximately 17,000 people living in the reserve (WCF 2012). During their survey of the northern part of Kankan, the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation found agriculture to be the most prevalent threat, with 0.77 signs/km, followed by roads (WCF 2012). However, there were only few signs of hunting and wood extraction (WCF 2012). Most human activities were found in the western part of the reserve close to the town of Kankan (WCF 2012).

Table 3: Threats to great apes in Kankan Faunal Reserve

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Description	Year of threat
1. Residential & commercial development	1.1. Housing & urban areas	medium	17,000 people live in the reserve [10]	on-going
2. Agriculture & aquaculture	2.1. Annual & Perennial Non-Timber Crops	high	highest encounter rate found for signs of agricultural [10]	on-going
3. Energy production & mining		absent
4. Transportation & service corridors	4.1. Roads & railroads	high	second highest encounter rate [10]	on-going
5. Biological resource use	5.1.Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	low	few signs of hunting encountered [10]	on-going
	5.3. Logging & wood harvesting	low	few signs of wood harvesting encountered [10]	on-going
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

Threats list

Conservation activities

The non-governmental organization Non Nobis is active in the western part of Kankan. This area is called “Diwasi”. The NGO is especially active in the fields of sanitation and education. It is not clear what kind of environmental activities are or have been implemented. The NGO, however, seems to propose to create a protected area. It has also been suggested that a privately owned protected area for game hunting will be created but the specificity and who is leading these efforts is not clear (WCF 2012).

Table 4: Conservation activities in Kankan Faunal Reserve

Category	Specific activity	Description	Year of activity
1. Residential & commercial development	unknown
2. Agriculture & aquaculture	unknown
3. Energy production & mining	absent
4. Transportation & service corridors	absent
5. Biological resource use	unknown
6. Human intrusion & disturbance	absent
7. Natural system modifications	absent
8. Invasive & other problematic species, genes, diseases	absent
9. Pollution	absent
10. Education & Awareness	unknown
11. Habitat Protection	unknown
12. Species Management	absent
13. Livelihood; Economic & Other Incentives	unknown

Conservation activities list

Impediments

No information on impediments has been documented.

Impediments list

Research activities

Two wildlife surveys have been conducted in Kankan Faunal Reserve: one by Sylvain Dufour for Sylvatrop (Dufour 2007) and one by the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation in 2009 (WCF 2012).

Documented behaviours

Chimpanzee behavior has not been studied at this site.

Relevant datasets

A.P.E.S Portal

References

[1] Brugière, D. & Kormos, R. (2009) Review of the protected area network in Guinea, West Africa, and recommendations for new sites for biodiversity conservation, Biodiversity and Conservation, 18:847
[2] Brugière, D. (2012) Identifying priority areas for the conservation of antelopes in the Republic of Guinea, West Africa, using the complementarity approach, Oryx, 46(2): 253-259
[3] Dufour, S. (2007). Programme de gestion communautaire et participative de la faune sauvage dans la Réserve de Faune de Kankan, République de Guinée. Conakry: Rapport pour Sylvatrop
[4] Fleury-Brugière, M.-C. & Brugière, D. (2010) High Population Density of Pan troglodytes verus in the Haut Niger National Park, Republic of Guinea: Implications for Local and Regional Conservation, International Journal of Primatology, 31: 383-392
[5] Ham (1998) Nationwide chimpanzee census and large mammal survey Republic of Guinea
[6] Henschel et al. (2014) The lion in West Africa is Critically Endangered, PLoS ONE 9(1): e83500
[7] Non Nobis Online: www.non-nobis.org
[8] Ramsar (2017) Online: Ramsar 2017
[9] UNEP-WCMC and IUCN (2018) Protected Planet: The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA), Cambridge, UK: UNEP-WCMC and IUCN Online: www.protectedplanet.net
[10] WCF (2012) Etat de la faune et des menaces dans les aires protégées terrestres et principales zones de forte biodiversité de Rep. de Guinée. Report. Wild Chimpanzee Foundation, Sangaredi, Republic of Guinea. Online: www.wildchimps.org

Page completed by: A.P.E.S. Wiki Team Date: 17/12/18