VZCZCXRO8378
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHUJA #0088/01 0261641
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 261640Z JAN 10
FM AMEMBASSY ABUJA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0065
INFO ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHAR/AMEMBASSY ACCRA 0001
RUEHOS/AMCONSUL LAGOS 0059

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ABUJA 000088 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
DEPARTMENT FOR AF/W, OES/PCI 
DEPARTMENT PLEASE PASS TO USAID/AFRICA/SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT DAVID ATWOOD 
ACCRA FOR REO FISHMAN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV EAGR TBIO EAID ECON NI
SUBJECT: NIGERIA'S MBE MOUNTAINS FUNCTION AS IMPORTANT WILDLIFE 
CORRIDOR FOR THE ENDANGERED CROSS RIVER GORILLA 
 
REF: ABUJA 2292 
 
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SUMMARY 
 
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¶1. (SBU) Regional Environment Officer (REO), ESTH Officer, and 
World Conservation Society Country Director visited Wildlife 
Conservation Society (WCS) projects in Cross River State that 
support the conservation of the critically-endangered Cross River 
gorilla November 22 to 24.  The team also met with leaders and 
members of the Conservation Society of Mbe Mountains (CAMM), a 
community-based conservation association, and local forestry 
officials, who highlighted the challenges of balancing local 
communities' economic development needs with protecting the 
gorillas and their forest habitats. 
 
 
 
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THE MBE MOUNTAINS REGION 
 
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¶2. (U) The Mbe Mountains region is home to a number of endemic and 
endangered primates, including the critically endangered Cross 
River gorilla, the most threatened taxon of ape in Africa (N.B.: 
Fewer Cross River gorillas exist now than the more well-known 
Central African mountain gorillas  END NOTE.)  Fewer than 300 Cross 
River gorillas survive, spread across a mountainous area of about 
12,000 square kilometers at the headwaters of the River Cross 
between Cameroon and Nigeria.  About 100 Cross River gorillas live 
in Nigeria, dispersed across the northern part of Cross River 
State, while about 200 of this subspecies of gorilla remain on the 
Cameroon side of the border.  Most gorillas reside within this area 
in 11 discrete sites, geographically separated from each other by 
10 or more kilometers.  Three sites are located in Nigeria:  Afi 
Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary, Cross River National Park, and the Mbe 
Mountains.  The remaining eight sites are located across the border 
in Cameroon. 
 
 
 
¶3. (U) The Mbe Mountains Forest Reserve, covering an area of about 
80 square kilometers, is not only home to its own population of 
gorillas, but also constitutes an important wildlife corridor 
linking gorilla populations in the Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary 
to the west and in the Okwangwo Division of Cross River National 
Park to the east.  The WCS estimates that about 30 gorillas reside 
within the Mbe Mountains forest reserve. 
 
 
 
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THE CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION OF THE MBE MOUNTAINS 
 
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¶4. (SBU) The U.S. team visited Wula, one of nine villages 
surrounding the Mbe Mountains, to meet with state forestry 
officials and leaders of the Conservation Association of the Mbe 
Mountains (CAMM), an association of the nine villages that surround 
the Mbe Mountains and manage the communities' forests and wildlife. 
A general assembly of four persons from each village and a board of 
trustees govern the CAMM, established through USAID funding in 
¶2006.  Management and technical committees run the association's 
activities. 
 
 
 
¶5. (SBU) The CAMM employs nine eco-guards who conduct patrols to 
protect wildlife and collect data on gorillas and other fauna using 
 
ABUJA 00000088  002 OF 003 
 
 
cyber-trackers (hand-held digital devices equipped with Global 
Positioning System that allow patrolling rangers to record and 
transmit key data to a central database maintained by WCS).    CAMM 
leaders, however, complained about lack of funding and capacity to 
conduct their conservation efforts.  They said that nine eco-guards 
are too few to adequately cover 80 square kilometers of 
forest-covered area, especially considering that eco-guards remain 
under-equipped and under-trained. 
 
 
 
¶6. (SBU) The CAMM depends upon outside financial support to conduct 
its activities.  The U.S. team suggested looking into developing 
and implementing small, income-generating micro-enterprises that 
could help to finance the association's conservation efforts, such 
as allowing a limited amount of sustainable harvesting of 
non-timber forest products, beekeeping, and pig-rearing in the 
forests.  (N.B.:  The U.S. team shared the communities' complaints 
with senior state officials in Calabar, who promised to help the 
association through Cross River State's newly-enhanced Community 
Forest Department.  Mission Abuja has also transmitted a 
75,000-dollar proposal from WCS for consideration by the DOD's 
Africa Command Biodiversity Fund to assist the capacity of CAMM, 
and the U.S. team understands that WCS may request additional 
support from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for possible 
financial support from the U.S. Great Apes Conservation Fund as 
well.  END NOTE.) 
 
 
 
¶7. (SBU) CAMM leaders expressed a desire to integrate federal and 
state conservation laws into the community's laws and customs, 
which they believe will result in better acceptance and enforcement 
of the laws.  The leaders noted the low level of conservation 
awareness in the community and expressed a desire to institute an 
environmental education component in their programmatic activities 
to address the problem.  The CAMM leadership appealed to state 
officials for enhanced social services, arguing that local 
villagers would remain unlikely to support conservation efforts 
fully, unless they perceived concrete economic benefits, including 
improvements in schools, clinics, water and electricity supply, and 
infrastructure. 
 
 
 
¶8.  (SBU) The U.S. team also visited a ranger patrol station at the 
Obudu Cattle Ranch on the northern border of Cross River National 
Park and received a briefing on the rangers' activities.  (N.B.: 
Another population of gorillas lives in this area.  END NOTE.)  The 
rangers reported success in catching and prosecuting potential 
poachers, and noted that enhanced protection activities had led to 
a decline in poaching and hunting activity.  They complained about 
lack of adequate equipment and poor working and living conditions 
at the patrol station as major challenges.  (N.B.:  Rangers are 
posted at patrol stations for one week at a time on a rotating 
basis and they have to transport water and other supplies over 
difficult terrain.  The U.S. and the WCS teams agreed that 
installing an underground reservoir for collecting and storing 
rainwater, along with a simple water purification system, would be 
the best solution, as the area receives substantial rainfall during 
the long rainy season.  END NOTE.) 
 
 
 
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COMMENT 
 
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¶9. (SBU) The CAMM's community-based approach to protecting the Mbe 
Mountains forest reserve and wildlife represents an innovative 
grass-roots initiative that recognizes the communities' 
custodianship of the forest and its wildlife.  Communities, 
however, lack the resources and capacity to carry out sustained and 
effective conservation of such resources.  The newly-reiterated 
promise by the Cross River State Forestry Commission to provide 
support to the CAMM is encouraging.  Until such support 
materializes, however, continued support from the WCS and other 
international NGOs is vital.  The CAMM will need to become 
 
ABUJA 00000088  003 OF 003 
 
 
self-sufficient through establishment of sustainable, 
income-generating micro-enterprises to allow the organization to 
promote the long-term survival of the Cross River gorilla. 
 
 
 
¶10. (U) The REO in Accra cleared this cable. 
SANDERS