Tchimpounga
Background • Tchimpounga Nature Reserve is situated on a coastal plain of dry open savannahs, densely forested gorges, flood plains, mangrove swamps, and Africa’s most endangered ecosystem type, the coastal Mayombe forest, of which only approximately 10% remains. • The s anctuary is located 50km north of Pointe Noire in the region of Kouilou, Republic of Congo. • The sanctuary is the largest Chimpanzee sanctuary on the African continent, built for the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) in 1992 to provide a refuge in the Congo Basi n for chimpanzees orphaned by the illegal bushmeat trade, trafficking and poaching. Tchimpounga was officially declared a Nature Reserve in 1999. • Republic of Congo’s forest ecosystem is part of the Congo Basin, the 2 nd largest forest after the Amazon. It r epresents 18% of the world’s tropical rainforest and 70% of the African continent’s plant cover. • Republic of Congo stretches from Chai lu and Mayombe forests on the south to the primary forest in the north, and is home to twice as much Fast Facts Mayombe forest than all neighbouring countries combined. • These forests combined are home to 300 species of tree and 10 000 SPECIES: Chimpanzee animal species, many of which are endangered, including Chimpanzees, Forest Elephants, Western Lowland Gorillas, guenons, mandrill, civets, SPECIES: Endangered jackals, Pangolins, pythons, 3 species of antelopes and 11 species of bats. • It is estimated that between 20 000 to 30 000 chimpanzees are likely to THREATS: Bushmeat trade, be found in these forests, making Congo Republic 1 of 5 African habitat destruction, illegal pet countries holding more than 85% of the world’s last r emaining wild trade, disease, poverty. populations of chimpanzees.
Key Threats • Bushmeat trade: the unsustainable hunting of often endangered wildlife for subsistence or commercial purposes . • Habitat destruction: whereby forests are destroyed for firewood, mining and agriculture. • Pet trade: is the primary cause of death of the adult chimpanzees, with a large proportion of orphans in the sanctuary having formerly been household pets. • Infectious disease: transmitted between humans and wildlife increases as humans progress further int o the forest. • Poverty and a lack of economic opportunity : mean that natural resources in Congo are exploited.
Tchimpounga
Current Projects • Between 1992 and 2009 178 chimpanzees have arrived at the sanctuary, of these 141 are still alive. • To increase the awareness of school-aged children to the plight of chimpanzees in Congo, an education program was established in 2004 and has since expanded to include public awareness regarding the illegal killing of protected species. • The JGI employs local Eco-guards to prevent poaching and protect the reserve, and is performing intensive biological surveys to deter mine the best sites for possible reintroduction of sanctuary chimpanzees into the wild. • Tchimpounga Global Youth Campaign, Roots & Shoots was launched in early 2006. The Tchimpounga Youth Campaign is the first official Youth Campaign for the Roots & Shoots network, with 150 000 members in 110 countries. Roots & Shoots has surpassed their goal of $50,000 to fund a new chimpanzee care facility at Tchimpounga Sanctuary. • Community Conservation ‘Take Care Program’ works with local communities to educate the popu lation on alternative forms of income, other than deforestation and hunting of endangered species for meat.
Future Goals • To ensure a stable population of wild chimpanzees survives in the Republic of Congo through the creation of pride and respect for them amongst the Congolese population. • To work towards continuous reduction in the number of great apes being killed and as a consequence reducing the number of new arrivals to the sanctuary. To ensure the local wild population remains stable through habit at protection, education and public awareness. • Establish a release program for 60 chimpanzees. Releases are planned for 2012, 2013 and 2017. This will be the first release for Tchimpounga and one of only a small number of chimpanzee releases to ever occur. • Secure and build new sanctuaries on Islands and transfer the chimpanzees that cannot be released. • Expansion of existing law enforcement program to stop illegal hunting of great apes. • Education and engaging Youth Programs. Develop an Education Centre at the Island Sanctuary catering for thousands of students per year. Establish programs in all primary schools by end of 2014.
Taronga’s Involvement Taronga’s alliance with the JGI has been in place since 1997. In 2011 Taronga establis hed a further 5 year partnership with the JGI to support Tchimpounga sanctuary.
Taronga is committed to providing $150 000 towards supporting the sanctuary and the release of chimpanzees back to the wild. This is just one aspect of Taronga’s overall commi tment to supporting this conservation project. Taronga also provides ongoing, expert advice and support in the areas of animal management, research, behaviour studies, education, veterinary, construction and media. A close partnership has been established to identify the needs of the sanctuary with Taronga regularly sending staff to Tchimpounga to assist in the development of the program.
Taronga’s vision is to ‘secure a shared future for wildlife and people.’ Taronga supports conservation projects for threatened wildlife in Australia and around the world.