Bia Shelter Belt Forest Reserve

West Africa > Ghana > Ankasa Conservation Area

Summary

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• Western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) may be present in Ankasa Conservation Area.
• Chimpanzees have not been documented in the area since 2016.
• The chimpanzee population trend is unknown; possibly absent.
• The site has a total size of 509 km².
• Key threats to chimpanzees are agricultural encroachment and hunting.
• Conservation activities have focused on education, patrolling, and preventing further degradation from farming activities.

Site characteristics

Ankasa Conservation Area (National Park and Resource Reserve) is located in the South Western part of Ghana, borderingIvory Coast. The Park is one of the few remnants of undisturbed Tropical Rainforest in Ghana. It was created in 1976. The site is very rich in biodiversity including forest elephants, bongos, leopards, olive colobus, black and white colobus, mangabey and other monkeys, yellow backed duikers and other duikers, pangolins, over 200 species of birds recorded, over 600 species of butterflies etc. The area is one of the known World Bird Areas and a Key Biodiversity Area (Ofori-Amanfo, R. pers. comm. 2023).

Table 1. Basic site information for Ankasa Conservation Area

Area	509 km²
Coordinates	5.252710, -2.583665
Designation	Conservation Area and Resource Reserve
Habitat types	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland Forest

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

Ape status

Chimpanzees have not been documented in the area since 2016.

Table 2. Ape population estimates in Ankasa Conservation 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	2016	0			Ankasa Conservation Area		Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2016

Threats

There are poaching camps, which the park’s staff has encountered, as well as temporary farm houses in encroached areas, but efforts are being made to clear all these in the park (Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2023).

Table 3. Threats to apes in Ankasa Conservation Area

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	Medium	About 50 ha of farmland within the site (Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2023).	The community members are predominantly farmers, embarking on cocoa and rubber plantations affecting the surroundings of the park and the entire landscape (Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2023).	Ongoing (2023)
3. Energy production & mining		Unknown
4. Transportation & service corridors		Unknown
5. Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	Low		Communities surrounding the Park (Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2023).	2016 - 2020
6. Human intrusion & 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		Absent

IUCN Threats list

Conservation activities

The Wildlife Division of Forestry Commission is the main organization that protects the Ankasa Conservation Area. Forest Research Institute and some Universities in the country carry out research in the Park and give some recommendations regarding management of some of the species and information on some species in the Park for conservation and management purposes.

Table 4. Conservation activities in Ankasa Conservation Area

Category	Specific activity	Description	Year of activity
1. Residential & commercial development	Not reported
2. Agriculture & aquaculture	2.8. Prohibit (livestock) farmers from entering protected areas	Farmers and all unauthorised people are not allowed to enter into the reserve by intensive patrols within the area (Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2023).	Ongoing (2023)
	2.11. Farm more intensively and effectively in selected areas and spare more natural land	Old cocoa and rubber farms are being cleared (since 2016) to plant new hybrid to yield more products to increase farmers income rather than clearing more land for cultivation (Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2023).	Ongoing (2023)
3. Energy production & mining	Not reported
4. Transportation & service corridors	Not reported
5. Biological resource use	5.6. Conduct regular anti-poaching patrols	Field staff undertake day patrols, over night patrols and long/sleeping patrols in the Park to control poaching and for field data collection (Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2023).	Ongoing (2023)
	5.11. Provide training to anti-poaching ranger patrols	Staff are trained in, how take field data on animals and how to manage the animal species causing human animals conflict and others (Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2023).	Ongoing (2023)
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	Local communities are educated on the need to conserve the resources in the Park since the 1990s (Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2023).	Ongoing (2023)
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 to conservation

Inadequate equipment and financial resources make protection of the Park difficult. The communities’ expectation is very high; that serves as disincentive to them no matter the efforts put in to support them (Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2023).

Table 5. Challenges reported for Ankasa Conservation Area

Challenge	Source
Lack of financial means	Ofori-Amanfo pers. obs. 2023
Lack of logistical means	Wildlife Division and PADP II, 2010
Lack of human resources	Wildlife Division and PADP II, 2010
Lack of trust and support from local communities	Wildlife Division and PADP II, 2010

Research activities

Documented behaviours

Table 6. Ape behaviors reported for Ankasa Conservation Area

Behavior	Source
Not reported

External links

Ghana Forestry Commission

References

Wildlife Division and PADP II (2010) Ankasa Conservation Area, Management Plan, Ankasa Conservation Area Quarterly reports (Unpublished)

Page completed by: Richard Ofori-Amanfo Date: 14/08/2023