Chimpanzee conservation interventions review

The Greater Gola Landscape in Sierra Leone supports over 300 bird species and more than 15 high conservation value mammal species. The RSPB works with the Gola Rainforest Company, Conservation Society of Sierra Leone, the Government of Sierra Leone, and local communities to protect the forest and its biodiversity. Central to this work is understanding the long-term spatial and temporal trends in biodiversity, and integrating conservation interventions that ensure people and biodiversity can co-exist. A key indicator and species we monitor and protect is the Western Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus). Critical to our landscape conservation actions for the species is to combine current evidence of occupancy trends with lessons learnt from local community interventions (more widely across Africa) in order to update our conservation actions for the Western Chimpanzee.

This placement project will involve a literature review of conservation interventions focused on chimpanzees and local communities across Africa. The project will draw on published academic literature, conservation reports, and relevant grey literature, alongside direct engagement with NGOs and conservation organisations to discuss ongoing and completed projects, approaches taken, and lessons learned. The aim will be to identify and critically assess key community-based conservation interventions, with the findings brought together in a final report highlighting approaches that could potentially be trialled in the Gola landscape, West Africa.