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Ebo Forest: a hotspot for conservation research under threat
Cover photo: red-tailed guenon - by Robbie Whytok, San Diego Zoo Global
Cameroon’s Ebo Forest is the most biologically diverse area in the Gulf of Guinea. But with government plans to create two long-term logging concessions in the forest, its future is uncertain
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During the course of his research in Cameroon’s Ebo Forest, biologist Dr. Ekwoge Abwe made a discovery that would launch his career. He stumbled across a troop of Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzees in the forest canopy cracking open coula nuts with stones and wooden clubs. Later he witnessed the same chimpanzees ‘fishing’ for termites with sticks – making them the only known chimpanzees in the world to both crack open nuts and fish for termites.
Discoveries of this scale have become a defining characteristic of Ebo Forest over the last few decades. Early one morning on a research 45 trip in 2002, Abwe’s mentor, Dr. Bethan Morgan, awoke to the distinctive sound of a gorilla beating its chest, in a forest where gorillas had never been scientifically recorded. The group that she subsequently observed live in a section of the forest 200 km away from the nearest neighbouring gorilla population. Given their location, scientists have yet to determine whether the Ebo population belongs to the subspecies of Cross River Gorilla, Western Lowland Gorilla, or represents a subspecies previously unknown to science.
Such discoveries contributed to the decision of the Cameroonian government to begin the process of establishing Ebo Forest as a national park, and in 2011 the government collaborated on a Nigeria-Cameroon Chimpanzee Action Plan. Since then, however, the government’s stance appears to have changed, and the future of the forest is now increasingly uncertain.
On the 4 th of February 2020, Cameroon’s Minister of Forestry signed two orders proposing the classification of two forest management units for timber extraction. With a combined total of 1,296 square kilometres – nearly the entirety of Ebo Forest – the units would completely destroy the gorilla habitat, clear the section of the forest where chimpanzees crack nuts, and limit food sources for other animals with specific diets, such as Critically Endangered Preuss’s red colobus monkeys. Ebo’s proximity to Cameroon’s big cities makes it an easy target for poachers, too, who sell bushmeat to urban residents, and palm oil plantations are also encroaching on the forest.
In response to this significant shift in intentions for Ebo, over 60 scientists and researchers requested the government to suspend the plans to create the long-term logging concessions in the forest, through a letter delivered to Prime Minister Joseph Ngute’s office on the 28th of April. The scientists – including members of the Primate Specialist Group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Species Survival Commission – urged the government to consider sustainable alternatives to logging, and to engage the local communities living around the forest to develop an inclusive land-use plan.
Over 40 communities live around and are dependent on the forest for their livelihoods. For most, it is a vital source of freshwater, food and medicine. Although they no longer live within the forest, they still maintain deep personal connections to it, and consider it ancestral land. In acknowledgment of their ancestral heritage, the Cameroonian government recognises the Traditional Chiefs of these communities, who have played a significant role in the protection of the forest. So too have the Clubs des Amis de Gorilles, or ‘Gorilla Guardian Clubs’, whose members include former bushmeat hunters who now patrol the forest with staff of the Ebo Forest Research Project.
As well as emphasising the importance of involving such stakeholders in discussions over the development of the forest, the letter stressed the area’s environmental sensitivity. In addition to the gorillas and the chimpanzees with a unique tool-use repertoire, the forest is home to an astonishing diversity of wildlife. This includes a small, transitory population of forest elephants, one of only two remaining populations of Preuss’s red colobus monkeys, a considerable proportion of the world’s remaining wild drills (large ground-dwelling monkeys), foot-long goliath frogs, and over 300 bird species – including Vulnerable grey-necked rockfowls and Endangered grey parrots. The forest’s plant life is rich, too – at least 12 species cannot be found anywhere else on Earth.
The protection of Ebo Forest would also be an indication to international partners of the Cameroonian government’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and the government might also be able to sell certifiable carbon credits on the carbon market. The forest holds an estimated 35 million tonnes of carbon, making it a site of global importance for the planet’s health.
With the submission of the letter, there is hope that the Cameroonian government will open the door for more dialogue as part of a broader land-use planning process for the Ebo landscape. With more time and engagement, a mutually beneficial solution can be reached – one that meets the economic development priorities of the government, and that preserves the integrity of the forest for the communities and wildlife that depend on it.
