Crystal Mountains National Park

The Crystal Mountains NP was one of the 13 parks created in 2002 when Gabon’s government set aside some 11% of the country for conservation. The delimitation of the park borders were based on biological inventories, socio-economic studies, and reconnaissance flights conducted in large scale by WCS.

The Crystal Mountains harbor remarkable plant diversity. Their location on the Equator, some 75 km inland from the Atlantic coast, combined with the presence of an elevated plateau with steep hills (300-900 meters above sea level), has resulted in a stable moist climate throughout geological times, and the area has been identified as having been an important Pleistocene refuge during the Ice Ages. Ongoing botanical work points to the highest floral diversity in Africa, thus distinguishing the Crystal Mountains as a global biodiversity hotspot.

The still largely unexplored area also hosts significant populations of large mammals, including elephant, gorilla, chimpanzee, buffalo and leopard.

The Human Aspect

Human density is low (less than 1 person per km2) and concentrated along a poorly maintained road dividing the park in two 600km2   forest blocks separated by a 25 km wide zone. No people live inside the park. Monitoring of the local population’s health status as well as human resource use mapping and socio-economic surveys are necessary to quantify if/how local livelihoods influence the biodiversity of the National Park. A continuous presence of WCS staff in villages provides a two-way communication channel, and helps to reduce negative impacts. Mostly local or regional people are hired for park management activities. Weekend tourism from the nearby capital may add to local revenues.

Threats

Many economic stakeholders (logging, water, hydro-electricity, and mineral mining companies, as well as bushmeat and ivory traders) are found in the region. A network of old forestry roads, the absence of law enforcement and proximity to major market towns makes commercial hunting the most immediate threat to wildlife in the park.

WCS Activities

Collection of human, animal, and plant data by Boston College, WCS, and the Missouri Botanical Garden started in 2004, providing sound baseline information before the park was effectively managed on the ground.  Conservation outreach and environmental education programs have begun operating in villages adjacent to the park.

WCS has started the dialogue with local logging companies, physically demarcating the park’s boundaries and verifying and publicizing intrusions, we have halted logging activities inside the park.

Negotiations are underway between the national parks administration and the hydro-electric company (which provides power to the capital) that is based on the edge of the park, in order to establish a management headquarters in buildings owned by the company.

WCS has assisted the Gabonese authorities, with help from WWF, to conduct anti-poaching missions in and around the park in an effort to stem the illegal bushmeat trade.

Important Next Steps

• Continue data collection to allow assessment of changes in human, animal, and plant populations related to park management activities. This will not only provide measures of conservation success per invested dollar, it will also offer clues on where best to intervene in case of negative park impacts.
• Deterring illegal bushmeat and ivory trade will remain a priority.
• Meet with Equatorial Guinean authorities to discuss the transboundary issues, in an effort to reduce incursions of illegal hunters from beyond the border.
• Install barriers on old forestry roads.
• Continue the village outreach program and environmental education activities in schools.
• Limited tourism, scientific research, biodiversity conservation funds, and small-scale cash crop development in villages are seen as future sources of revenue in the landscape.
• Install of the management team in a refurbished park headquarters.