A significant number of remaining chimpanzee and gorilla populations in Western Equatorial Africa reside in active timber concessions, many of which are within areas identified as being exceptional for the conservation of these apes. Habitat alteration and human disturbance can result in changes to the dietary regimes, behaviour, susceptibility to disease, abundance and distribution of great apes, which may affect their short- and long-term prospects for survival. The conservation outlook of these endangered apes will improve significantly if forestry companies are prepared to make a few changes to management policies in logging concessions.

These guidelines outline specific recommendations for reducing the impact of commercial logging on wild apes, many of which can be implemented within the framework of sustainable, reduced-impact logging at little or no additional cost (Table 1). We believe that advantages will also accrue for logging companies which rapidly implement these measures, allowing them to be recognised as “ape-friendly” timber producers.

 

For over a decade, many projects and activities funded by ITTO have been implemented in tropical production forests providing an increased knowledgebase on management intervention measures that have proven beneficial to sustainableforest management. Building on the experience and scientific knowledge gained, the ITTOare now revising these guidelines. The Guidelines for the Conservation and SustainableUse of Biodiversity in Tropical Forests (IUCN/ITTO, in prep.) provides an updated list ofrecommended actions for improving biodiversity conservation in production forests, whichcan be subsequently adapted by forestry managers to local circumstances. The ape-specificguidelines presented in this document should be viewed as complementary to theseefforts in providing detailed information for activities to conserve gorillas and chimpanzeesin the production forests of WEA.

 

Successfully Integrating Wildlife Management into Logging Concessions in Northern Congo

In the Republic of Congo, the “PROGEPP” model (Project for Ecosystem Management of the Periphery of the Nouabalé- forestry concessions through a collaboration between the Wildlife Conservation Society, the Congolese Government, CongolaiseIndustrielle de Bois (CIB), and the local population (Elkan management in the buffer zone of the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park (NNNP) and subsequently expanded to cover a zone of1.3 million ha of production forests surrounding the NNNP and extending towards the Lac Télé Community Reserve as partof a ‘Landscape Management Approach’.PROGEPP is a multi-faceted programme which includes socioeconomic and ecological research, education, hunting regulationand zoning, wildlife-law enforcement, and development of activities and protein resources as alternatives to hunting andbushmeat. Estimated costs of implementing an integrative wildlife management approach based on the PROGEPP modelvary from $1.25 per ha for a zone of medium threat to $1.50 per ha for a zone of high threat (Elkan This wildlife management programme was incorporated into the forestry management plan of the Kabo Concession adoptedin May 2006, and also contributed to the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification of the Kabo Concession, raising thebar for wildlife management standards in forestry concessions across the Congo Basin.The PROGEPP model formed the basis of a MEFE (Ministère de l’Economie Forestiére et de l’Environnement) policy initiativethat required forestry companies to directly support anti-poaching efforts in their concessions through the financing ofUSLABS (Unités de Surveillance et de Lutte Anti-Braconnage). These are currently being implemented in a number of concessionsin northern Congo (IFO, ITBL, and BETOU).Ndoki National Park) provides the first example of a successful integration of wildlife conservation and management in northern Congo. 

Although the most desirable option for long-term maintenance of tropical biodiversity is via protected areas (Bruner et al. 2001), the reality is that the majority of forests in Western Equatorial Africa have been designated as timber concessions. This poses a significant potential threat to remaining ape populations, which are sensitive to the impacts of logging and associated activities. Past efforts to manage impacts on wildlife in production forests indicate that ape-friendly initiatives could be implemented in timber concessions with positive results for local ape populations and for conservation in general.

 

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