Save 2000 chimpanzees in West Africa

Thanks to your support, we were able to maintain law enforcement with the Office Ivoirien des Parc et Reserves in the Taï National Park, Côte d’Ivoire, a UNESCO world heritage site and biodiversity hotspot. In Liberia, the eco-guards from Forestry Development Authority, who are going to patrol the proposed Grebo National Park, are presently under training from WCF to increase their law enforcement capacities!

We now have a few results showing the impact of our law enforcement project. In the Taï National Park, a bio-monitoring program has been in place since 2008 to quantify the impact of law enforcement in the area on the regeneration of fauna.

Illegal human activities have decreased significantly during the various phases of data collection. Indeed, the encounter rate of illegal human activities decreased by 63% between 2008 and 2013 and at the same time, the indices of presence of duikers and monkeys increased respectively by 100% and 90% in 5 years and the chimpanzee population remains stable.

The only way to maintain positive results, is for law enforcement to continue in Taï National Park and the trans-boundary proposed Grebo National Park in Liberia. It follows that the only way that this is possible is via the continued investment from everybody who has supported this project. Finally, the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation would like to thank all donors who contributed to this successful project and encourage them to continue their support while inspiring other to do likewise.

More than $6'000 has been donated to WCF to protect the last remaining chimpanzee populations of the Taï-Sapo Forest Complex. A portion of the money will be allocated to the forest guard patrol beginning the 15th of November for the protection of Taï National Park. Funds will help support the patrol teams for by providing food and transport duirng the mission. 

Additionally, the law enforcement program for the Proposed Grebo National Park is currently being developed by WCF-Liberia in collaboration with the Forestry Development Authority (FDA). With your generous support, we are now able to launch a community forest guard program for Liberia's second upcoming national park in January 2014. Proposed Grebo National Park is an extremely important area for tropical forest biodiversity. There currently exists around 341 chimpanzees in Grebo, one of the largest forest-dwelling populations of West Africa. Nonetheless, they remain threathened by illegal poachers. In just one year, we have seen an increase of over 50% in hunting pressure in throughout this forest. Poachers in this region of Liberia are driven by the international bushmeat trade, with much of the meat being exported across the border to Ivory Coast. By including local communities in patrolling the forest, we hope to encourage their support to the protection of these endagered chimpanzees and thier forest habitat.   The proposed national park is also of great importance for the establishment of the Taï-Sapo Forest Corridor. It is essential that we protect this area in order for us to create a continous forest corridor stretching all the way from Taï National Park in Ivory Coast to Sapo National Park in Liberia. 

Your continuous support will certainly make a difference and help protect the 2'000 chimpanzees living in the Taï-Sapo Forest Complex!

*Please consider Global Giving's Monthly Donation Recurring Option as a way of showing your continued support.

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