Since 2015 we have been collaborating, partially financing with the IJGE (Jane Goodall Institute Spain) an ambitious reforestation in the border area between Senegal and Guinea, specifically in the Nandoumary Valley.
Due to aggressive forest clearing and intensive agricultural practices in the area, a fragmentation of western chimpanzee populations had occurred, which is why the recovery of the quality of the corridor helps to avoid the potential risk of losing genetic variability due to the possible lack of relationship possibilities between different family groups.
We began this habitat restoration project in 2015 for the creation of a forest corridor in the Nandoumary valley will allow reconnection between groups chimpanzee population in the area. The reforestation was carried out with native plant species grown in a nursery managed by the local population, which also helped the development of the inhabitants of the local towns, who now promote the protection of the forest and the primates while at the same time training in sustainable agricultural practices that provide them with their livelihood and involve them in the conservation of chimpanzees and all animal species that live in the forest.
Jane Goodall Institute Spain www.janegoodall.es
The corridor has been reforested, making contact between the different populations of chimpanzees in the area possible in the future. In parallel, it has been achieved awareness and active participation of the local villagers in the conservation of forests and the protection of plants and animals. In this way, it contributes to the maintenance of the population of one of the most endangered chimpanzee subspecies of the world, there have been resources and education at local populations so that they have a way of sustainable living and has conserved and given a future to a forest on which many other animal species besides chimpanzees depend.
Nandoumary Project
Western chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus)
Nandoumary Valley, Kedougou Region, Senegal
From 2015 to 2022
