Liberia's chimpanzees urgently need more protected areas
April 2014: An international research team has been conducting a census of chimpanzees and other large mammals living in Liberia, West Africa. This has revealed that the country is home to 7000 chimpanzees and, therefore, has the second largest known population of the western subspecies of chimpanzees.
When Liberia enters the news it is usually in the context of civil war, economic crisis, poverty or a disease outbreak such as the recent emergence of Ebola in West Africa. Many years of violent conflict in the country, from 1989 to 1997 and from 2002 to 2003, have thwarted efforts of biologists to conduct such biological surveys in this biodiversity hotspot. An urgency need for reliable wildlife data arose, however, with the decision by the Liberian government to fuel economic growth following the complete war-time collapse of the country’s economy, by selling large amounts of its rich natural resources, including rubber, timber and minerals. Accurate data on the distribution and abundance of wildlife populations like chimpanzees is needed so that key decision-makers in the country can balance economic and conservation priorities.
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