Some of the funds raised by the EAZA Ape Campaign will go towards supporting this project.
Bee-keeing as an alternative sustainable livelihood. Photo: Donald Mbohli
The Dja Biosphere Reserve contributes to the sustainable management of Cameroon‘s natural resources and biodiversity, in particular great apes, for the benefit of the country‘s people, wildlife and ecosystems. As the local people around the Dja Biosphere Reserve (DBR) live on an income of less than $1/day illegal hunting of Critically Endangered western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) and Endangered chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes), amongst other species, is a major problem in the region.
What does the Dja Biosphere Reserve project do?
This project is shaped by the need (identified by the local communities) to address the demand for revenue-generating activities to replace unsustainable bushmeat hunting. The purpose of the project is to advantage at least 35 communities north and east of the DBR and to ensure that their livelihoods are compatible with a reduction of the impact of non-sustainable activities in the region, in particular illegal hunting of apes.
What are the Dja Biosphere Reserve project’s objectives?
The main goals are to:
- carry out scientific research;
- implement participative sustainable hunting management and anti-poaching;
- further local development and investigate alternative incomes;
- carry out conservation education;
- assess great ape conservation considerations in forest management; and to
- support law enforcement and anti-corruption programmes.
How do the Dja Biosphere Reserve project’s goals align with the EAZA Ape Campaign?
The EAZA Ape Campaign addresses three main issues that are related to the decline of apes in the wild:
- Habitat loss
- Hunting and illegal trade of apes
- Ape disease and health
The main issue in the Dja Biosphere Reserve is to prevent poaching and therefore it ties in with the EAZA Ape Campaign aims. The key challenge areas in the region can be outlined as:
- the participation of forest dwellers around the northern and eastern areas of the DBR in programmes, initiatives and institutions that affect their lives is very limited;
- the understanding of ecological processes and inter-relationships between these and human actions is limited by lack of exposure to new ideas, alternative perspectives, scientific discovery and wider views on ecosystem protection; and
- unsustainable exploitation of wildlife resources is driven by a lack of perceived alternatives and there are indications that forest dwellers, realising the increasing scarcity of some species, are keen to explore those alternatives.
This project therefore addresses an issue that has constrained the impact of other mainstream conservation projects, i.e., communicating effectively, understanding communities’ needs, concerns and constraints sufficiently to develop practical, sustainable interventions
