LOCATION:Dja Faunal Reserve, yaounde, Western Cameroon
TARGET SPECIES: Chimpanzee and Western Lowland gorillas
Partner: Community-Based Biosynergy Management (CBBM)
STATUS: in progress
The Dja Faunal Reserve is located in Southeastern, Cameroon. Cameroon introduced community forestry in 1994 as a means of improving community engagement in forest management, enhancing forest conservation and reducing poverty for forest-dependent people.
However, limited capacity and lack of government support are major constraints to community forestry. The Dja Faunal Reserve, a large, protected rainforest, is a UNESCO World Heritage site with prime habitat for many large mammals including elephants, chimpanzees, leopards, mandrills and lowland gorillas. It’s also home to the Baka pygmies, an indigenous group of hunter-gatherers who have maintained the balance of the tropical forest ecosystems for thousands of years.
Working with Baka community forestry groups, the project will conserve the habitat and biodiversity of the Dja Faunal Reserve and the surrounding forest.
As a result, Community Conservation started work in this region in YEAR to help the Baka community establish a community-managed forest site. CC is working with CBBM to help establish Community Forestry User Groups to expand and monitor chimpanzee habitat within the Dja Faunal Reserve.
His Royal Highness Gamgbe Kounaka Ernest showing CC and partners the potential chimp corridor in Somie. 
Currently this forest is threatened by grazing and annual burning by herders from Nigeria. 
The proposed chimpanzee corridor for conservation. 
The CBBM team together, our partners in Cameroon. 
This is Community-Based Biosynergy Management (CBBM)’s project manager Gwendoline Angwa, looking extremely happy to have sighted a chimp nest while patrolling the forest.