Wonegizi Proposed Protected Area

West Africa > Liberia > Wonegizi Proposed Protected Area

Summary

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• Western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) are present in Wonegizi Proposed Protected Area.
• The population size is unknown.
• The chimpanzee population trend is unknown.
• This site has a total size of 1,374 km².
• Key threats to chimpanzees are poaching, logging, and shifting agriculture.
• Wonegizi was selected for a REDD+ pilot project led by Flora & Fauna International.

Site characteristics

The site is located in the northwestern part of the country, bordering Guinea’s Ziama Biosphere reserve. Wonegizi Proposed Protected Area is part of the Upper Guinean forest ecosystem, which is very rich in biodiversity. In addition to the critically endangered western chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus), the site contains other threatened and vulnerable species, including Jentink's duiker (Cephalophus jentinki), pygmy hippopotamus (Choeropsis liberiensis), Diana monkey (Cercopithecus diana), red colobus (Piliocolobus badius), green-tailed bristlebill (Bleda eximius), yellow-bearded greenbul (Criniger olivaceus), Nimba flycatcher (Melaenornis annamarulae), and the white-necked rockfowl or picathartes (Picathartes gymnocephalus, AllAfrica 2019, FFI). The site is also an Important Bird Area (IBA; BirdLife International 2019).

Table 1. Basic site information for Wonegizi Proposed Protected Area

Area	1374.27 km²
Coordinates	8.14, -9.53
Designation	Proposed Protected Area
Habitat types	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland Forest, Subtropical/Tropical Moist Montane Forest

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

Ape status

Camera traps have recorded the presence of chimpanzees at the site, but the population size remains unknown (IUCN 2015).

Table 2. Great ape population estimates in Wonegizi 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	2015			Present	Wonegizi	Index survey	IUCN 2015	Camera traps

Threats

In addition to poaching and logging, the site is threatened by farming activities, in particular shifting cultivation (FFI 2016). Rice is the main crop and primary driver of land conversion in the area; other crops include chilli peppers and cacao (FFI 2016).

Table 3. Threats to great apes in Wonegizi Proposed Protected Area

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Quantified severity	Description	Year of threat
1. Residential & commercial development	1.1 Housing & urban areas	Low	13 communities in the area (AllAfrica 2019)	Human settlements present (AllAfrica 2019)	Ongoing (2019)
2. Agriculture & aquaculture	2.1 Annual & perennial non-timber crops	High		Unsustainable farming practices (primarily shifting agriculture) (FFI 2016)	Ongoing (2016)
3. Energy production & mining		Not reported
4. Transportation & service corridors		Not reported
5. Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	Present		Bushmeat hunting and trade present in the area (FFI 2016)	Ongoing (2016)
	5.3 Logging & wood harvesting	Present		Extraction of timber (FFI 2016)	Ongoing (2016)
6. Human intrusions & disturbance		Not reported
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

IUCN Threats list

Conservation activities

Wonegizi is a REDD+ pilot site. The project follows a community-based approach, in which forest protection is rewarded under the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation mechanism (REDD+). Income from the sale of REDD+ carbon credits is used to fund activities that benefit the communities, including the provision of technical support for reducing deforestation due to agriculture whilst increasing agricultural output, establishment of tree nurseries, and salaried forest protection as an alternative income (FFI 2016).

Table 4. Conservation activities in Wonegizi Proposed Protected Area

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	13.1. Provide monetary benefits to local communities for sustainably managing their forest and its wildlife (e.g. REDD, employment)	The site was selected for a REDD+ program (FFI 2016)	Ongoing (2016)

Conservation activities list (Junker et al. 2017)

Challenges

Table 5. Challenges reported for Wonegizi Proposed Protected Area

Challenge	Source
Lack of financial means	FFI 2016

Research activities

No information on research activities has been documented.

Documented behaviours

Table 6. Great ape behaviors reported for Wonegizi Proposed Protected Area

Behavior	Source
Not reported

References

AllAfrica. 2019. Liberia: The Potentials of Wonegizi As a Protected Area. Online: https://allafrica.com/stories/201902080620.html
FFI. 2016. Community-based Conservation: the Wonegizi REDD+ pilot.
BirdLife International. 2019. Important Bird Areas factsheet: Wonegizi mountains. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 01/07/2019.
IUCN. 2015. How a single Pygmy Hippo photo gave rise to the Wonegizi Proposed Protected Area Project. Online: https://www.iucn.org/content/how-single-pygmy-hippo-photo-gave-rise-wonegizi-proposed-protected-area-project

Page completed by: A.P.E.S. Wiki Team Date: 02/09/2019