Central Africa contains the largest remaining populations
of great apes on the planet. In the population strongholds of
northern Congo and Gabon, vast and remote areas of intact forest
combined with relatively low human population densities and poor
access networks and infrastructure has, until recently,
safeguarded these populations from the direct threats of habitat
loss and poaching. However, over the last decade, commercial
logging has expanded at a rapid rate across these forest blocks
throughout central Africa.
In the wake of this expansion follows increased human pressure
on natural resources - including wildlife - for food. The threat
of the illegal trade in bushmeat increases as previously
inaccessible and remote forested areas are opened by networks of
roads to extract timber. The commercial trade in wildlife for
food now represents the greatest threat to the conservation of
great apes in central Africa, and the primary focus of
conservation strategies. Following a recent conservation
priority setting workshop for great apes in West Equatorial
Africa held in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, one of the main
findings can be quoted as follows "Antipoaching has proven to be
the single most effective means of protecting apes in Western
Equatorial Africa. It is the foundation upon which all other ape
conservation activities rest. It needs increased, and just as
important, sustained funding" .
Ape habitat in the Congo Basin is geographically vast, remote,
and impossible to patrol effectively with available resources
and traditional methods. Steve Gulick of Wildland Security has
developed an automated system which detects poacher intrusion
into protected areas via a network of remote sensors,
electronically transmitting this information to park officials,
and systematically collecting information on patrol responses to
such incursions. The Goualougo Triangle Ape Project has been
facilitating the field testing of this system in the Ndoki
forests
