Les grands singes et le FSC: Mise en oeuvre de pratiques d’exploitation favorables aux grands singes dans les concessions forestières en Afrique centrale

La survie des grands singes est de plus en plus incertaine en Afrique. Plusieurs facteurs comme la chasse, la disparition des milieux naturels et les maladies infectieuses se conjuguent et entrainent une diminution spectaculaire des populations. Ce déclin se poursuit alors que les grands singes africains sont des espèces de préoccupation internationale pour la conservation et que des efforts concertés ont porté depuis les années 1980 sur la création de réseaux d'aires protégées, l'élaboration de plans d'action pour la conservation et l'établissement d'accords politiques. Selon les prévisions, les tendances actuelles se poursuivront en l'absence de mesures immédiates et majeures d'atténuation des menaces. La disparition d'une espèce de grands singes, quelle qu'elle soit, serait une immense perte en termes de biodiversité africaine, de rôle écologique et de notre patrimoine commun d'évolution

Great apes and FSC: Implementing 'ape friendly' practices in Central Africa's logging concessions

First paragraph: The long-term survival of Africa's great apes has become increasingly uncertain. Dramatic declines in their population numbers have resulted from a combination of factors, including hunting, habitat loss and infectious disease. Although African apes are species of international concern, and despite concerted efforts since the 1980s to create protected area networks, develop conservation action plans and establish policy agreements, their populations continue to decrease. Future projections indicate that this trend will continue unless significant measures to reduce existing threats are taken immediately. The permanent disappearance of any ape species from the wild would be a huge loss to African biodiversity, to the important ecological function they play, and to our shared evolutionary heritage.  Also available at: https://portals.iucn.org/library/node/1037

Spatial priorities for conserving the most intact biodiverse forests within Central Africa

The forests of Central Africa contain some of Earth's few remaining intact forests. These forests are increasingly threatened by infrastructure development, agriculture, and unsustainable extraction of natural resources (e.g. minerals, bushmeat, and timber), all of which is leading to deforestation and forest degradation, particularly defaunation, and hence causing declines in biodiversity and a significant increase in carbon emissions. Given the pervasive nature of these threats, the global importance of Central African forests for biodiversity conservation, and the limited resources for conservation and sustainable management, there is a need to identify where the most important areas are to orientate conservation efforts. We developed a novel approach for identifying spatial priorities where conservation efforts can maximize biodiversity benefits within Central Africa's most intact forest areas. We found that the Democratic Republic of Congo has the largest amount of priority areas in the region, containing more than half, followed by Gabon, the Republic of Congo and Cameroon. We compared our approach to one that solely prioritizes forest intactness and one that aims to achieve only biodiversity representation objectives. We found that when priorities are only based on forest intactness (without considering biodiversity representation), there are significantly fewer biodiversity benefits and vice versa. We therefore recommend multi-objective planning that includes biodiversity representation and forest intactness to ensure that both objectives are maximized. These results can inform various types of conservation strategies needed within the region, including land-use planning, jurisdictional REDD + initiatives, and performance related carbon payments, protected area expansion, community forest management, and forest concession plans

Congo Basin peatlands: threats and conservation priorities

The recent publication of the first spatially explicit map of peatlands in the Cuvette Centrale, central Congo Basin, reveals it to be the most extensive tropical peatland complex, at ca. 145,500 km2. With an estimated 30.6 Pg of carbon stored in these peatlands, there are now questions about whether these carbon stocks are under threat and, if so, what can be done to protect them. Here, we analyse the potential threats to Congo Basin peat carbon stocks and identify knowledge gaps in relation to these threats, and to how the peatland systems might respond. Climate change emerges as a particularly pressing concern, given its potential to destabilise carbon stocks across the whole area. Socio-economic developments are increasing across central Africa and, whilst much of the peatland area is protected on paper by some form of conservation designation, the potential exists for hydrocarbon exploration, logging, plantations and other forms of disturbance to significantly damage the peatland ecosystems. The low level of human intervention at present suggests that the opportunity still exists to protect the peatlands in a largely intact state, possibly drawing on climate change mitigation funding, which can be used not only to protect the peat carbon pool but also to improve the livelihoods of people living in and around these peatlands

Nieto_Quintano_et_al_DATAplots

Plot level tree data (DBH>10 cm) for 4 25-ha plots in the Bateke Plateau (plots LWR1 and LWR2 in Lefini Reserve and plots LLR1 and LLR2 in Lesio Louna Reserve

Nieto_Quintano_et_al_DATAplots

Plot level tree data (DBH>10 cm) for 4 25-ha plots in the Bateke Plateau (plots LWR1 and LWR2 in Lefini Reserve and plots LLR1 and LLR2 in Lesio Louna Reserve

Nieto_Quintano_et_at_DATAsubplots

Species composition data (presence/absence) for 1-ha subplots, situated inside 4 plots of 25-ha (plots LWR1 and LWR2 in Lefini Reserve and plots LLR1 and LLR2 in Lesio Louna Reserve), located in the Bateke Plateau (Republic of Congo

Data from: The mesic savannas of the Bateke Plateau: carbon stocks and floristic composition

The Bateke Plateau in the Republic of Congo is one of the last frontiers for ecology, with little known about its floristics and physiognomy. Despite occupying 89,800 km2 and its importance for local livelihoods, its ecology and ecosystem functions are poorly understood. Situated on Kalahari sands, the Bateke has a complex evolutionary history, mainly isolated from other savannas for much of its past, with currently unresolved ecological implications. Here we assess the biomass and floristic diversity of this savanna. We established four 25 ha permanent sample plots at two savanna sites, inventoried all trees, and assessed shrub, forb and grass species and biomass, and characterised the soils. Total plant carbon stocks (aboveground and belowground) were only 6.5 ± 0.3 MgC/ha, despite precipitation of 1600 mm/yr. Over half the biomass was grass, with the remainder divided between trees and shrubs. The carbon stock of the system is mostly contained in the top layer of the soil (16.7 ± 0.9 MgC/ha in 0-20 cm depth). We identified 49 plant species (4 trees, 13 shrubs, 4 sedges, 17 forbs and 11 grass species), with an average species richness of 23 per plot. There is tree hyperdominance of Hymenocardia acida (Phyllanthaceae), and a richer herbaceous species composition dominated by Loudetia simplex and Hyparrhenia diplandra. The low carbon stocks and tree biodiversity, compared to other African savannas, is surprising considering the high rainfall. We speculate it is due to low nutrient soils, high fire frequency and the effect of a temporally variable and restricted connection to the main southern African savanna complex

Nieto_Quintano_et_al_DATASubplots_Grass_Saplings

Subplot level grass data (Above ground Carbon stocks) for 4 25-ha plots in the Bateke Plateau (plots LWR1 and LWR2 in Lefini Reserve and plots LLR1 and LLR2 in Lesio Louna Reserve), and Subplot level saplings/shrubs data (Above ground Carbon stocks) for 4 25-ha plots in the Bateke Plateau (plots LWR1 and LWR2 in Lefini Reserve and plots LLR1 and LLR2 in Lesio Louna Reserve)

Nieto_Quintano_et_at_DATAsubplots

Species composition data (presence/absence) for 1-ha subplots, situated inside 4 plots of 25-ha (plots LWR1 and LWR2 in Lefini Reserve and plots LLR1 and LLR2 in Lesio Louna Reserve), located in the Bateke Plateau (Republic of Congo