Grassroots Action for Conservation and Livelihoods

Motivated, in part, by the presence of Preuss’s red colobus monkey (Piliocolobus preussi), Korup was designated as Cameroon’s first rain forest national park in 1986. Due to its rich biodieversity and endermism it... [ view full abstract ]

Motivated, in part, by the presence of Preuss’s red colobus monkey (Piliocolobus preussi), Korup was designated as Cameroon’s first rain forest national park in 1986. Due to its rich biodieversity and endermism it has been supported and managed by large, internationally-funded conservation and development schemes. Despite these investments, evidence suggests that populations of large-bodied wildlife in the park have been declining due to increasing intensity of bushmeat hunting while poverty in communities seems to be on the rise. Over the last 7 years,  the conservation community and local people, which had deteriorated after the near-constant cycle of conservation and development projects that dominated the Korup landscape during the previous two decades. We present how our multidisciplinary approach and use of state-of-the-art techniques (e.g., camera trapping and passive acoustic monitoring) have enhanced the park's ability to monitor the population status of threatened wildlife, assess spatiotemporal patterns of gun hunting activities, design and evaluate conservation strategies, and examine and incorporate into conservation actions local perspectives on conservation. By working with and training members of the locally-developed Korup Rainforest Conservation Society, our research has cultivated local support for and participation in conservation and has provided the foundation for improving the effectiveness of Korup National Park.