Since 2016, conservationists with the World Wildlife Fund have partnered with Cameroonian government officials to collect data on the populations of several key wildlife species in the Boumba Bek and Nki National Parks in the southeastern part of the country. After evaluating the trends in their surveys over the past decade, they recently shared good news: Nearly all of the populations are stable, and some are even increasing.
Mongabay outlined the findings, which focused on three species in particular — forest elephants, lowland gorillas, and chimpanzees. All three species saw population growth; chimpanzee populations were the biggest winners, tripling in the areas surveyed.
However, officials explained, the net growth has been much lower due to losses from human-caused threats like poaching, bushmeat trading, and exotic pet and ivory trafficking. Mongabay spoke with Gilles Etoga, then-conservation director at WWF Cameroon, who said that these threats are also "exacerbated by the proliferation of firearms and extractive industries (logging and mining), which degrade the forest and ecosystem services."
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Definitely 👍 Nevertheless, Etoga added, this news is still fundamentally good. "The situation is positive," he said. "The fauna potential of Boumba Bek and Nki continues to be present and representative of the fauna and the great mammals of the Cameroonian forest and is quite well distributed over the two parks and their peripheral areas."
Alain Ononino, country director of WWF Cameroon, also explained to Mongabay that these numbers were proof that conservation works. "The inventory confirms the success of long-term conservation measures, such as a permanent presence system, protection of wildlife corridors, and engagement with local communities," he said.
The "permanent presence technique" is a strategy whereby different conservation groups will take turns staying in possible poaching hot spots for weeks at a time. Its goal is to deter illegal activity with a continuous monitoring presence.
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Plans to engage locally will deepen and strengthen ties with communities in order to drive illegal activity down even further and allow all the protected species — there are thousands in Cameroon — to thrive. Biodiversity in places like Cameroon is vital to ensure the health of ecosystems and economies, from maintaining regular predator-prey ratios to creating a stable source of eco-tourism income.
"Future actions will focus on monitoring wildlife populations, addressing human-wildlife conflicts, and reducing the impact of illegal wildlife trade and extractive industries on the ecosystem," Ononino said.
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