Taï National Park and Nzo Faunal Reserve (6100)
Côte d'Ivoire, Africa
Site overview
KBA status: confirmed
Global KBA criteria: A1a
Year of last assessment: 2023
National site name: Parc National de Taï et Réserve de faune du N'Zo
Central coordinates: Latitude: 5.7688, Longitude: -7.1398
System: terrestrial, freshwater
Area of KBA (km2): 5393.75533
Protected area coverage (%): 98.15
KBA classification: Global
Legacy site: Yes
Site details
Site description: Located in the south-west corner of the country, between the Cavally and Sassandra rivers, Taï National Park (330,000 ha) is the largest and best-preserved remnant of Upper Guinea rainforest. Contiguous with its northern border is the Nzo Faunal Reserve (93,000 ha), which forms part of the buffer zone that surrounds the park, and which itself extends north to the southern edge of the artificial lake formed behind Buyo dam on the Sassandra river. Also included is the remainder of the park’s buffer zone, which is also a Faunal Reserve and which occupies a further 96,000 ha. The terrain is gently undulating in the north, more deeply dissected by watercourses in the south, of which the largest are the Nzé, Hana and Meno rivers, about 1.5 m deep, 5 m wide in the dry season, seasonally flooding to a width of 60 m or more. The most prominent of a large number of granitic inselbergs is Mont Niénokoué in the south-west, which reaches 396 m. These inselbergs often support an open savanna-like vegetation with grasses and deciduous trees. Otherwise, almost the entire area is covered by forest, moist evergreen in the south-west in which Diospyros spp. and Mapania spp. are typical, and moist semi-evergreen in the north and south-east; typical elements include Diospyros mannii, Parinari chrysophylla, Chrysophyllum prepulchrum and Chidlowia sanguinea. Much of the forest in the park is unlogged, mature, old-growth with emergents rising to 60 m. There is some swamp-forest in the north-west of the park and in Nzo. Average annual rainfall varies between 1,700 mm in the north to 2,200 mm in the south. Initially designated a Forest Reserve in 1926 and created a National Park in 1972, Taï is a World Heritage Site and a Biosphere Reserve. All logging ceased in Taï in 1972, but large parts were never logged—logging, however, continued in Nzo Faunal Reserve until 1992. When the park was created the human population density in the surrounding area was of the order of 1 person/km2, but it has grown rapidly since with the opening up of adjacent areas to settlement following logging and, in particular, the arrival of refugees fleeing political unrest in neighbouring Liberia. Such has been the progressive clearance of forests around Taï and Nzo that they are becoming isolated. Problems that afflict the park include encroachment by farmers, logging, poaching and gold-digging; the eastern side of the park has suffered most.
Rationale for qualifying as KBA: The amphibians Hyperolius nienokouensis and Sclerophrys taiensis meet A1a and an additional five amphibians, 161 birds, ten mammals, 48 plants, and two reptiles meet legacy KBA criteria and are in need of reassessment against the Global Standard.
Manageability of the site: This site is managed by Office Ivoirien des Parcs et Réserves
Delineation rationale: Delineation follows the WDPA boundaries for Taï National Park and N'Zo Fauna Reserve.
Habitats
| IUCN Habitat | Coverage % | Habitat detail |
|---|---|---|
| Forest | 93 | |
| Artificial - Terrestrial | 1 | |
| Wetlands(Inland) | 1 | |
| Unknown | 3 |
Threats
| Threat level 1 | Threat level 2 | Threat level 3 | Timing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agriculture & aquaculture | Annual & perennial non-timber crops | Small-holder farming | Ongoing |
| Biological resource use | Logging & wood harvesting | Unintentional effects: subsistence/small scale (species being assessed is not the target) [harvest] | Ongoing |
| Biological resource use | Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals | Intentional use (species being assessed is the target) | Ongoing |
| Energy production & mining | Mining & quarrying | Ongoing |