Ndoki-Likouala Landscape

Central African Republic > Republic of the Congo > Ndoki-Likouala Landscape

Summary

• Central chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) & western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) are present in the Ndoki-Likouala Landscape.
• It has been estimated that 11,541 (CI: 8,651‐15,396) chimpanzees and 46,264 (CI: 34,607‐61,849) gorillas occur in the site.
• The population trends are unknown.
• The site has a total size of 30,000 km².
• Key threats to great apes are hunting and logging.
• Conservation activities have focused on anti-poaching patrols, employing hunters, road planning, environmental education, tourism, and providing domestic meat.

Site characteristics

The site is located in northern Republic of the Congo, extending over 30,000 sq. km. The landscape includes Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park, Lac Télé Community Reserve, Bailly swamps, as well as Kabo, Pokola, Mokabi, and Loundougou Forest Management Units (Stokes 2007). Endangered species inhabiting the landscape include central chimpanzees, western lowland gorillas, forest elephants, and bongo. The Ndoki-Likouala Landscape is part of the Wildlife Conservation Society's (WCS) Biodiversity Conservation at the Landscape Scale (BCLS) Program (WCS n.d.). The WCS has been working in Ndoki-Likouala since the creation of the Nouabalé-Ndoki Project in 1991, which resulted in the creation of the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park in 1993 (WCS n.d.).

Table 1. Basic site information for Ndoki-Likouala Landscape

Area	30,000 km²
Coordinates
Designation	Protected Landscape
Habitat types	Subtropical/tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical/tropical swamp forest, Wetlands (inland) – Bogs, marshes, swamps, fens, peatlands

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

Ape status

Table 2. Ape population estimates in Ndoki-Likouala Landscape

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 troglodytes	2006	11,541 (8,651‐15,396)	0.41 (0.31‐0.55)		Ndoki-Likouala Landscape	Line transects (Distance) & reconnaissance walk	Stokes 2007
Gorilla gorilla gorilla	2006	46,264 (34,607‐61,849)	1.65 (1.24‐2.21)		Ndoki-Likouala Landscape	Line transects (Distance) & reconnaissance walk	Stokes 2007

Threats

The following key direct threats have been identified at the site: unsustainable hunting (by villagers and also commercial hunting), timber offtake, forest loss, bai disturbance and damage. These threats are mostly caused or exacerbated by commercial timber extraction and the linked increase in human populations and access to the forest via new roads (WCS n.d.).

Table 3. Threats to apes in Ndoki-Likouala Landscape

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Quantified severity	Description	Year of threat
1. Residential & commercial development		Unknown
2. Agriculture & aquaculture		Unknown
3. Energy production & mining		Unknown
4. Transportation & service corridors		Unknown
5. Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	High		Unsustainable hunting, both commercial & subsistence (WCS n.d.).	Ongoing
	5.3 Logging & wood harvesting	High		Commercial timber extraction is increasing across the region, causing direct forest loss but also exacerbating hunting and habitat destruction (WCS n.d.).	Ongoing
6. Human intrusion & disturbance		Absent
7. Natural system modifications	7.3 Other ecosystem modifications	High		Bai disturbance and physical damage (WCS n.d.).	Ongoing
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

The main goal of the Ndoki-Likouala Landscape project is to conserve biodiversity applying the Landscape Species Approach. Fundamental to this approach is the concept of Landscape Species, whose ecological roles and requirements help determine key management strategies across a mosaic of land-use-zones. For the Ndoki-Likouala Landscape, the selected Landscape Species include forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis), chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), forest buffalo (Syncerus caffer), bongo (Tragelaphus euryceros) and dwarf crocodile (Ostaeolaemus tetraspis). These species represent the main habitat types and key threats across the landscape (WCS n.d.). In addition to the objectives formulated according to the Landscape Species Approach, the implementation of conservation activities in Ndoki-Likouala involve three main approaches: management of the protected areas, implementation of conservation on the broader landscape, and addressing policy issues and forming government partnerships (WCS n.d.).

Table 4. Conservation activities in Ndoki-Likouala Landscape

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	4.7. Implement a minimum number of roads (& minimize secondary roads) needed to reach mining extraction sites	Road planning and close old roads (WCS n.d.).	Ongoing
5. Biological resource use	5.6. Conduct regular anti-poaching patrols	Anti-poaching patrols (WCS n.d.).	Ongoing
	5.11. Provide training to anti-poaching ranger patrols	Guard training (WCS n.d.).	Ongoing
	5.18. Employ hunters in the conservation sector to reduce their impact	Hire locals/hunters (WCS n.d.).	Ongoing
	5.36. Provide domestic meat to workers of the logging company to reduce hunting	Supply beef (WCS n.d.).	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	10.1. Educate local communities about primates and sustainable use	Environmental education (WCS n.d.).	Ongoing
11. Habitat Protection	Not reported
12. Species Management	Not reported
13. Livelihood; Economic & Other Incentives	13.4. Run tourist projects and ensure permanent human presence at site	Tourism (WCS n.d.).	Ongoing

Conservation activities list (Junker et al. 2017)

Challenges

Table 5. Challenges reported for Ndoki-Likouala Landscape

Challenge	Source
Lack of law enforcement	WCS n.d.

Research activities

Documented behaviours

Table 6. Ape behaviors reported for Ndoki-Likouala Landscape

Behavior	Source
Not reported

External links

WCS monitoring Ndoki-Likouala Landscape

Relevant datasets

A.P.E.S Portal

References

WCS. (n.d.). Achievements and Lessons Learned from 10 Years of Support for Threats-based Conservation at a Landscape and Seascape Scale: Ndoki-Likouala Landscape Conservation Area (Republic of Congo). WCS report.
Stokes, E. (2007). Ecological monitoring program Ndoki-Likouala Landscape. WCS report.

Page completed by: A.P.E.S. Wiki team Date: 29/12/2020