Fisheries in the Southern Border Zone of Takamanda - Impact ...

Adaptive Management: A Framework for Biodiversity Conservation
in Takamanda Forest Reserve, Cameroon
1 Introduction
James A. Comiskey and Francisco Dallmeier
As the world’s human population increases, the threat to
biodiversity becomes greater (WRI 2000). The situation
is much more pronounced in tropical regions, with sub-
Saharan Africa expecting a rise in the current population
of 133 million to an estimated 189 million by 2020 and
307 million by 2050. For Cameroon, a country with 18
protected areas covering just over 2 million has, or 4.4%
of the country (WRI 2001), the current population of
about 15 million is estimated to increase to 20 million by
2020 and 31 million by 2050. The associated increased
demand for natural resources is likely to be expressed
through land clearance for agriculture and bushmeat
hunting at levels far beyond those now experienced in the
region. The demand for bushmeat has had the greatest
impact on regional biodiversity, resulting in localized
species extinctions (Eves et al. 2002). Under these
circumstances, there is an urgent need to protect and
study what biodiversity remains and develop strategies
for its conservation.
Southwestern Cameroon and adjacent southeastern
Nigeria are known as an important area for biodiversity
(Obot and Ogar 1997, Sunderland-Groves et al. this
volume). The Guineo-Congolian rainforest in the area is
unique because of high rainfall levels (White 1983) and
the presence of highlands that provide a variety of
habitats for flora and fauna. The forests of Takamanda
Forest Reserve (TFR), located in the northernmost tip of
Cameroon’s Southwest Province and ranging from 100
to 1,500 m in elevation, are of particular value
(Sunderland-Groves et al. this volume) and are regarded
as having significant conservation importance (Gartlan
1989). Surveys in the greater region have been conducted
in Korup National Park to the south (for example,
Rodewald et al. 1994, Larsen 1997, Cheek and Stuart
1997), Ejagham Forest Reserve (Sunderland et al. 1997),
Chapter 2
and the Rumpi Hills (Usongo 1995). But until recently,
most surveys conducted in the Takamanda area focused
primarily on large mammals and apes (Groves and
Maisel 1999), and there is little information to develop
comprehensive conservation and monitoring strategies
for overall biodiversity.
The series of biodiversity assessments in the current
volume are an important step in providing baseline
information for management of TFR. The Smithsonian
Monitoring and Assessment of Biodiversity Program
(SI/MAB), in collaboration with the Wildlife
Conservation Society, devised the framework for the
assessments, and the results confirm that TFR harbors a
rich diversity of species, including 15 large mammal
species—eight of them primates (Sunderland-Groves
and Maisels this volume), more than 950 species of
plants (Sunderland et al. this volume), 313 bird species
(Languy this volume), and 71 species of reptiles
(LeBreton and Motombe this volume).
In this paper, we take into consideration the findings
and recommendations from the assessments to present an
overview of an adaptive management framework, which
we propose as a means of implementing conservation
and monitoring strategies for Takamanda Forest Reserve.
Adaptive management has been employed extensively in
the United States (for example, Walters 1986) and
recently for conservation projects in Latin America
(Dallmeier et al. 2002) and Africa (SI/MAB 2002). A
more detailed description of adaptive management
principles and implementation has been published by
Comiskey et al. (2000).
SI/MAB Series #8, 2003, Pages 9 to 17