Lake Barombi Mbo Forest Reserve

Central Africa > Cameroon > Lake Barombi Mbo Forest Reserve

Summary

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• Nigeria-Cameroon Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes ellioti) are present in Lake Barombi Mbo Forest Reserve.
• The population size is unknown.
• The chimpanzee population trend is unknown.
• The site has a total size of 8.5 km².
• Key threats to chimpanzees are logging, hunting, encroachment due to agricultural expansion, and uncontrolled harvesting of terrestrial plants.
• Conservation activities are not documented.
• The site is designated as a Ramsar site and features Lake Barombi, well-known for its high density of endemic species.

Site characteristics

The Lake Barombi Forest Reserve is located in eastern Cameroon and covers an area of over 850 ha. The site is named after an oval lake 2.5 km in diameter and 110 m deep, lying in a crater with a slope of 150 m at its highest point, and surrounded by tropical forest (Eno Nku 2004). The lake is famous among biologists for the occurrence of 12 endemic fish species, making it one of the places with the highest densities of endemic species per area in the world (Ramsar 2006). The site is also important due to the presence of freshwater sponges, one of which (Corvospongilla thysi) is also endemic. The lake is an important sacred site to the Barombi Mbo People and also used for fishing, transport, and farming of the surrounding land (Ramsar 2006). It is also a source of clean water for the metropolis of Kumba and its surrounding (Ramsar 2006). The site was designated as a Ramsar site in 2006.

Table 1. Basic site information for Lake Barombi Mbo Forest Reserve

Area	8.5 km²
Coordinates	4.669490 N, 9.382303 E
Designation	Forest Reserve
Habitat types	Subtropical/tropical moist lowland forest

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

Ape status

Vocalisation documented during a recce survey (Eno Nku 2004).

Table 2. Ape population estimates in Lake Barombi Mbo Forest Reserve

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 ellioti	2004			Present	Lake Barombi Mbo Forest Reserve	Index survey (reconnaissance walk)	Eno Nku (2004)	survey effort 4.5 km

Threats

The competition for farmland in the area that began in 1989 led to the extensive conversion of forest into farmland (Eno Nku 2004). A stripe of forest still exists along the lakeshore to shield the farms, but behind is extended plantations. Other threats include timber extraction, hunting, farming, fuel wood collection, overfishing, use of pesticides, and uncontrolled harvesting of NTFPs (Eno Nku 2004).

Table 3. Threats to apes in Lake Barombi Mbo Forest Reserve

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 encroachment due to agricultural expansion (Eno Nku 2004).	Ongoing (2004)
3. Energy production & mining		Unknown
4. Transportation & service corridors		Unknown
5. Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	High		Unsustainable hunting (Eno Nku 2004).	Ongoing (2004)
	5.2 Gathering terrestrial plants	High		Uncontrolled harvesting of NTFPs (Eno Nku 2004).	Ongoing (2004)
	5.3 Logging & wood harvesting	High		Timber extraction and fuelwood collection (Eno Nku 2004).	Ongoing (2004)
6. Human intrusion & disturbance		Unknown
7. Natural system modifications		Unknown
8. Invasive & other problematic species, genes, diseases		Unknown
9. Pollution	9.3 Agricultural & forestry effluents	Present, but threat severity unknown		Pesticide spraying of cocoa-trees (Ramsar 2006).	Ongoing (2006)
10. Geological Events		Absent
11. Climate change & severe weather		Unknown
12. Other options		Absent

IUCN Threats list

Conservation activities

Table 4. Conservation activities in Lake Barombi Mbo Forest Reserve

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 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	Not reported

Conservation activities list (Junker et al. 2017)

Challenges

Table 5. Challenges reported for Lake Barombi Mbo Forest Reserve

Challenge	Source
Not reported

Research activities

Documented behaviours

Table 6. Ape behaviors reported for Lake Barombi Mbo Forest Reserve

Behavior	Source
Not reported

External links

IUCN Regional Action Plan for the Conservation of the Nigeria-Cameroon Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes ellioti)

References

Eno Nku, M. (2004). Large mammal reconnaissance surveys of Lake Barombi Mbo and Southern Banduku Forests Reserves, SW Province. Report to Wildlife Conservation Society & MINEF.
Ramsar (2006). Barombi Mbo Crater Lake. Online: https://rsis.ramsar.org/fr/ris/1643

Page completed by: A.P.E.S. Wiki team Date: 28/02/2022