Mount Cameroon and Mokoko-Onge (6130)
Cameroon, Africa
Site overview
KBA status: confirmed
Global KBA criteria: A1a, A1e, B1, B2
Year of last assessment: 2024
National site name: Mount Cameroon and Mokoko-Onge
Central coordinates: Latitude: 4.2612, Longitude: 9.1233
System: terrestrial, freshwater
Elevation (m): 0 to 4950
Area of KBA (km2): 1071.42967
Protected area coverage (%): 53.65
KBA classification: Global
Legacy site: Yes
Site details
Site description: Situated west of Douala, Mount Cameroon is a vast volcanic dome, 45 km long by 30 km wide, with its long axis aligned south-west–north-east. It lies on the Atlantic Ocean coast from which it is separated by the road skirting its base which links the town of Limbe in the south to Idenau in the west. The volcano is still active and eruptions occur from fissures on its flanks about every 20 years (the last two being in 1982 and 1999). The western foothills near Debundsha experience the highest rainfall in the country (c.10,000 mm per year); this decreases with increasing altitude and also from west to east, down to 2,000 mm around Buea, in the rain-shadow. The lower slopes used to bear a continuum of forest from sea-level up to c.2,300 m (the upper limit of forest varying between 2,200–2,400 m), to be replaced above by montane grassland, volcanic rock and gravel, up to the peak at 4,095 m. Encroachment from agriculture or from logging (in Bambuko Forest Reserve on the north-western side) has been nibbling the lower levels of the forest in most places up to an altitude of a few hundred metres on the western and northern sides, but up to at least 1,000 m on the southern and eastern sides. Severe and repeated human-induced bush fires in the drier eastern section have brought about serious degradation or even complete destruction of the forest cover in places (as along the Bonakanda trail). The montane grassland above that also gets burnt almost totally every dry season, and is very impoverished. Most of the montane forest has a very open canopy (important trees being Schefflera mannii, Syzygium guineense bamendae, Nuxia congesta, Prunus africana) and a dense understorey of Acanthaceae shrubs. The lowland forest on the lower slopes has a very different structure, the canopy is mainly closed and the understorey more open. The richest and most intact block of forest is Etinde (c.30,000 ha) on the south-western side. Etinde is contiguous with Bambuko Forest Reserve (24,500 ha) to the north, and is also attached (by a narrow neck of forest north-east of Idenau) to Onge River Forest and Mokoko River Forest Reserve. These cover c.35,000 ha of lowland rainforest, spreading north towards Mbonge; some of this was logged in the past, but a core area in Mokoko river remains intact. The area is currently effectively unprotected; although the site includes three Forest Reserves, they are Production Forests and one, Bambuko, is now largely commercially exhausted. The Government has, moreover, recently (2000) proposed to classify most of the remaining forest as ‘Production Forest’; however, this decision is likely to be modified, instead being classified as Faunal Reserve or Protection Forest. The Mokoko Wildlife Management Association (a local initiative) is strongly opposed to further forest exploitation and wants their area (Mokoko and Onge) to be protected and managed by their community, in addition to a core area of State Protected Forest (Faunal and/or Floral Reserve). The Mount Cameroon Project (MCP, Limbe) is hoping to obtain a similar status for part of the Etinde Forest, with a buffer zone (as ‘protected area under community management’). The eastern side is unlikely to get protection status as it has been severely degraded by fires and agricultural encroachment. Bambuko Forest Reserve was heavily exploited in the past and has lost virtually all of its lowland forest; the elephant bush and montane forest at higher levels, however, are reasonably intact. In general, threats include the spread of smallholder oil-palm and cocoa plantations, commercial food-crop farming and uncontrolled hunting. The killing of Prunus (over-exploited for its bark) has largely been stopped thanks to a cooperative project set up by MCP.
Rationale for qualifying as KBA: This site contains the entire known population of the amphibian Leptodactylodon bueanus, the mammals Otomys burtoni and Sylvisorex morio, and the bird Pternistis camerunensis. Additionally, twelve species of bird meet B2 and one amphibian, 183 birds, and five mammals meet legacy KBA criteria and are in need of reassessment.
Manageability of the site: Over half of this site is covered by Mont Cameroun National Park.
Delineation rationale: This site was identified as an IBA/KBA in 2001. An original delineation rationale is not available.
Habitats
| IUCN Habitat | Coverage % | Habitat detail |
|---|---|---|
| Forest | 100 |
Threats
| Threat level 1 | Threat level 2 | Threat level 3 | Timing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Residential & commercial development | Housing & urban areas | Ongoing | |
| 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 |