WCS Gabon - Birougou

Highlights

Total area:

690 km²

Habitat Types

Mountainous Pleistocene refuge rainforest

Key species:

• Humans!
• sun-tailed guenon
• Forest elephant*
• western lowland gorilla*
• chimpanzee*
• mandrill*
• forest buffalo
• leopard
• black colobus
• Many other as yet undescribed plant and other species…

WCS Involvement:

Since 2003.

Partners

Gabon National Parks Office, Gabon Ministry of Water and Forests, Missouri Botanic Garden, MacArthur Foundation, CARPE, Smithsonian , Boston College.

Highlight SubTitle

Body

Contacts

Name : Malcolm Starkey
Title : Director, Birougou National Park Project
Email: mstarkey[AT SIGN]uuplus[DOT]com

Address :
Wildlife Conservation Society,
BP 7847,
Libreville,
Gabon.

For more information, see www.wcs.org/africa

Wildlife Conservation Society International Conservation,
Africa Program,
2300 Southern Blvd.,
Bronx, NY 10460, USA

www.wcs.org/africa

Mission

The Wildlife Conservation Society's International Conservation program saves wildlife and wild lands by understanding and resolving critical problems that threaten key species and large, wild ecosystems around the world.

WCS Strategies

• Site-based conservation
• Research
• Training and capacity-building
• New model development
• Informing policy
• Linking zoo-based and field-based conservation

Support this Project!

Contributions to this project can be sent to the WCS Africa Program in NY (address above)

A trainee Park ranger learning to use a GPS © Malcolm Starkey A traditional initiation ceremony © Matt Steil

Birougou National Park

Birougou National Park was created in 2002 to protect 690km2 of mountainous rainforest in the Chaillu Massif, and is one of only two Parks where the endemic sun-tailed guenon, only described in 1988, is found. The Park protects a section of the Chaillu Massif Pleistocene refuge which has never been subjected to industrial logging, and is hence believed to be one of the most diverse areas of rainforest in Gabon for certain taxa, such as reptiles, amphibians and insects. Recent research in the adjacent Congolese part of the Chaillu Massif has confirmed this, particularly for butterflies. However, research in Birougou National Park itself is in its infancy and many new discoveries surely await.

The Human Aspect

Whilst the whole Chaillu Massif was covered with villages in colonial and pre-colonial times, there are currently no permanent settlements inside Birougou National Park. However, the periphery of the Park is densely populated, primarily by the Nzebi ethnic group, many of whom trace their ancestry to old village sites that are now inside the Park. This means that many areas inside the Park have cultural and spiritual significance for people living nearby, and several families still maintain camps in the Park. It is therefore essential that local people are involved in Park activities and that the Park rules being developed recognize the importance of the area for local people. WCS is working closely with villages adjacent to the Park and the Gabonese National Parks Office to ensure this happens. Key activities include:

A program of detailed participatory and on-the-ground mapping of important sites in and around the Park.
Initiating a pilot outreach program based on traditional understandings of the forest that recognizes the significance of the Park for local people.

Threats

Subsistence use of many areas of the Massif has been on-going and is not a new issue. More worryingly, the planned development of logging activities all around the Park, and of diamond prospection to the south, could become major threats, particularly if they facilitate commercial hunting and erosion into Park watersheds.

WCS Activities

A comprehensive training program for Park staff, including future managers, Park rangers and outreach personnel.
Development of a temporary headquarters in Mbigou.
A detailed program of land-use mapping in communities near the Park to assess potential conflicts with the Park.
Baseline data collection on the economic strategies and standard of living of Park-adjacent communities (see also the ‘Parks and People’ factsheet)
Baseline surveys of large-mammal densities and human impact throughout the Park and its periphery.
Evaluation of the tourist potential of the Park and its periphery.
Boundary delimitation and regular boundary surveys to detect and deter incursions by loggers

Important Next Steps

Continue working towards a management plan for the Park, including a zoning plan and tourism blue-print.
Work with forestry and mining companies operating around the Park to put into place ‘best practice’ wildlife management measures.
Initiate a pilot environmental education program, using traditional knowledge and understandings of the forest as a basis for involving local communities in conservation.
Continue capacity-building work with communities adjacent to the Park to ensure that conservation and tourism takes into account local concerns.
Build and equip a permanent base camp and a satellite camp as a logistical base for the Park.
Conduct and facilitate research into key taxa to better understand the biodiversity of the Park in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institute.
Expand collaboration with Gabonese universities and other training institutions.
Find sustainable funding solutions, particularly for outreach work.

INTERNATIONAL CONSERVATION

GABON