working in partnership with the Gashaka Primate Project, ... The Gashaka Primate Project (GPP) was initiated in 1999 ...
Nigeria CONSERVATION PROGRAMME The Current Situation
Gashaka Gumti National Park (GGNP) is Nigeria’s largest national park in an area of outstanding natural beauty. It comprises of a wide variety of habitats, and an impressive assemblage of flora and fauna. Located in a mountainous region of southeast Nigeria, it is renowned for its diversity of primates and an abundance of species otherwise extremely rare in the country. Gashaka Gumti’s national park status recognises the biodiversity value of the region, its importance as a watershed area and helps preserve the diversity of traditional cultures and livelihoods existing in and around the park.
The Gashaka Gumti National Park achieved national park status in 1991 after overcoming serious threats from poaching, deforestation, encroachment and human-wildlife conflict. Since achieving its status, work has seen GGNP revitalised and transformed into one of the foremost conservation areas in west Africa.
provision of a 4x4 vehicle; essential for access and travel around the remote site. The GPP started with the construction of a Chester Zoo funded research centre. The centre operates as a base for researchers whose work focuses on Gashaka’s primates, particularly the Nigerian Chimpanzee. GPP’s mission, facilitated through ongoing research activities, is the sustainable conservation of GGNP and the protection of its fauna and flora. The project has grown extensively and has diversified into many areas. Today, research encompasses not only primates but botany, environmental dynamics, habitat changes and community conservation. Students from several Nigerian and European universities conduct research at GGNP and a Chester Zoo bursary supports a number of Nigerian
Chester Zoo Support
Our involvement with GGNP began in 1994 with staff conducting freshwater fish surveys. Since then our staff have conducted chimpanzee research and supported an African Wild Dog project. These studies were particularly important as GGNP contains one of the last remaining populations of the Nigerian subspecies of chimpanzee and probably the only remaining population of African Wild Dog in Nigeria. Today our focus in Nigeria is still in GGNP, working in partnership with the Gashaka Primate Project, and our support has expanded to include the Ngel Nyaki Forest Reserve, a neighbouring site of high biodiversity importance.
Gashaka Primate Project
The Gashaka Primate Project (GPP) was initiated in 1999 by researchers at the University College London, and with it began a long term partnership with Chester Zoo and the development of one of the zoo’s major conservation programmes. We’ve provided core funding for the GPP since its inception, supporting the construction and maintenance of essential infrastructure, salaries and equipment and the
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students each year. The project also invests in training for Nigerian students and government employees with the potential to become tomorrow’s researchers and wildlife managers. The presence of this programme has had a highly positive impact on local communities. Employment has risen significantly as a direct result of employment by the GPP, particularly as guides for visiting researchers. Through these influences community participation in conservation activities and general conservation awareness has been raised significantly. Ecotourism opportunities have also become available as more visitors have access to the area due to infrastructure improvements. GPP activities have also led to a close relationship with the National Park Service. This partnership is essential for the operation of the GPP but also means that the GPP, government and conservation stakeholders in the area are working together, boosting each others’ efforts, in the coordinated sustainable conservation of GGNP. A significant off-shoot of this collaboration is the demarcation of the Nigerian boundary of GGNP. This project, wholly funded by us, coordinated by GPP and implemented by the National Park Service, has provided the national park with markers to indicate the park boundary. This has many benefits including control of encroachment and illegal harvesting, issues which up till now were highly disputable due to the park’s undefined boundary on the ground. The most recent phase of this project has improved the road network and provided solar power radio stations to improve the capacity of rangers patrolling and protecting GGNP.
Nigeria Montane Forest Project We have partnered this project, which works closely with the GPP, since 2003. Its aim is to promote the long-term survival of Nigeria’s unique montane forest ecosystem through research and community-based management and education. The project focuses on Ngel Nyaki Forest Reserve, one of the most floristically rich forests in the region and an area of high biodiversity. We have supported the construction of a herbarium, salaries and equipment for field staff and ongoing running costs for the project.
The Future
The GPP has provided a cornerstone from which a partnership of research, conservation and development is having a significant and positive impact working towards the long-term conservation of Gashaka Gumti National Park, a unique and valuable biodiversity hotspot. Protective management and continuing initiatives of conservation, research and sustainable development will help secure the future of this important biodiversity area and the survival of the Nigerian Chimpanzee in its last remaining stronghold. Registered Charity No. 306077
