Bio-monitoring Helps Reduce Human Pressure On Endangered Wildlife Habitat

ERuDeF and her partners, Taiwan Government, Man & Nature, and PPI have a strong allay in the battle to keep endangered Cross River gorillas and the Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzees safe. To ERuDeF, keeping the endangered apes safe and comfortable means halting human pressure on their natural habitat, as this pressure reduces the survival of these cousins of man and other threatened species.

By Bedwin Asoh

Up until recently, uncontrolled hunting, unsustainable farming methods such as slash-and-burn, deforestation for farmland and fuel wood were the usual practices in the heart of the Tofala Hills Wildlife Sanctuary and the proposed Mak-Betchou Wildlife Sanctuary. These routines posed huge threats to the habitats and survival of the most endangered apes in the region; the Cross River gorilla and the Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee. But the situation is changing rapidly.

“The rate of hunting has reduced considerably. Chimpanzees are more used to humans than before,” says Tankoh Solomon Tayem, once a die-hard hunter of gorillas, chimpanzees and other wildlife but now a passionate bio-monitor based in Besali, one of the villages adjacent to the Tofala Hill Wildlife Sanctuary.

He adds, “In fact, between 2011 and 2013, I have sighted the Cross River gorilla three times. I now understand very well the connection between wildlife and the growth of the forest and so we are continuing to sensitise people and our children on the importance of the forest.”

Solomon says the villagers of Bechati, Besali, Folepi, Bangang, Mbanti and Egumbo have all stopped hunting and are very protective of the forest.

As a defender of species protection, ERuDeF believes that man and other species can peacefully co-exist, and that reduction in human activities that destroy the habitat of animal species proportionately increases the species population.

In places like the Tofala Hill Wildlife Sanctuary and the Proposed Mak-Betchou Wildlife Sanctuary, both found in Lebialem Division, she is proving it.

The progress of the bio-monitoring project has predictably followed this conviction, thanks to the power of a combination of strategies – sensitization and meetings with the communities adjacent to the protected areas, conservation education and training of bio-monitors.

Using a unique value-driven core programme, ERuDeF bio-monitoring experts managed to convince the communities to develop value for the Cross River gorilla and the Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee and their habitat.

First, and most importantly, they defined the crucial link between the animals, the forest and humans.

The communities now know and appreciate that Cross River gorillas and the Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzees plant forests by dispersing seeds of plant species. They now know too, that this act alone maintains forest cover, which forest provides humans with essential resources for their survival, hence the need to protect the animals.

Second, the bio-monitors showed videos depicting examples of where wildlife conservation has worked and how this could benefit them. They illustrated the existence of the forest as vital for the existence of the animals.

Third, by helping schoolchildren gain conservation knowledge through education so they can continually increase the pace of protecting the environment, ERuDeF sensitized schools and communities in 10 of the 11 Tofala Hill Wildlife Sanctuary adjacent villages.

The schoolchildren and the general communities learnt about wildlife laws, classification of animals and the importance of conservation.

Fourth, ERuDeF transformed former hunters to bio-monitors through intensive training, and today they are the most dedicated conservation advocates.

Attitudes have changed over the years in a different way. Rather than regard animals as a source of food only, the Tofala Hill Wildlife Sanctuary adjacent communities consider them as a patrimony they will leave behind for the future generations.

Last year, there was notable decrease in the transformation of forest to farmland with fewer opened in Besali.

A total of 19 bio-monitoring trips in the Tofala Hill Wildlife Sanctuary (THWS) and the Proposed Mak-Betchou Sanctuary (PMBS) facilitated the estimation of chimpanzee population at about 300 in PMBS, about 150 in the THWS, and about 20 Cross River gorillas in the THWS. Chimpanzees were spotted 31 times in PMBS and THWS and the Cross River gorilla was spotted once in the THWS. All these are clear signs of increase in ape population due to increased conservation awareness and reduced human pressure.