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Mobonda Community Conservation Project: Chimpanzees, oysters, and community engagement in Sierra Leone
Author(s) -
Chesney Chloe,
Casado Bolaños Natalia,
Kanneh Bockarie Ambrose,
Sillah Ethel,
Amarasekaran Bala,
Garriga Rosa M.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
american journal of primatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.988
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1098-2345
pISSN - 0275-2565
DOI - 10.1002/ajp.23219
Subject(s) - wildlife , bushmeat , geography , endangered species , poaching , sierra leone , wildlife conservation , environmental resource management , ecology , agroforestry , habitat , socioeconomics , biology , environmental science , sociology
Sierra Leone constitutes the western boundary to the West Africa Upper Guinea Rainforest, one of 35 global biodiversity hotspots. The country is home to the third‐largest western chimpanzee ( Pan troglodytes verus ) population, a subspecies upgraded to Critically Endangered on the 2016 IUCN Red List. The main threats facing chimpanzees in Sierra Leone are habitat loss and increasing interactions with humans. The Mobonda Community Conservation Project (MCCP) is a component of Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary's Community Outreach Program and Kids Environmental Education Program. The aim of MCCP is to promote community‐based forest management in combination with wildlife conservation through carefully designed programs that benefit communities, wildlife, and ecologically significant habitats. MCCP also aims to promote self‐sustained and integrated community landscape conservation, to facilitate policy discussions to strengthen wildlife laws, and to build the capacity of the Government to implement community‐based wildlife and forestry protection projects. Since Tacugama began collecting data in Moyamba District in June 2015, the project has evolved into an assembly of components. MCCP currently works with five communities, running programs including environmental education, ecological research, biomonitoring including wildlife law enforcement, habitat rehabilitation through reforestation of identified wildlife corridors, improved sustainable livelihoods, and ecotourism initiatives. These programs contributed to a reduction in the threats facing wildlife in the area; the project has seen stable chimpanzee numbers where decrements to chimpanzee populations continue to be experienced elsewhere. Other MCCP outcomes include boosted sustainable agricultural production and higher oyster yields while decreasing the negative impact on the mangrove ecosystem allowing it to recover and support an array of important fauna and flora.