Mbunya Francis Nkemnyi January 15, 2021

RCESD launches conservation efforts aimed at safeguarding the Cameroon Preuss’s Monkey (Allochrocebus preussi preussi) to 43 villages in the Cameroon highlands

Cameroon Preuss’s Monkey (CPM) (Allochrocebus preussi preussi), currently listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List and as a Class B taxon on the African Convention on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, is one of Africa’s most imperiled primates. The range of this subspecies extends from the highland areas along the Nigeria-Cameroon border near the Cross River drainage in the north to the Sanaga River in the south, and west from the Obudu Plateau in Nigeria to the proposed Ebo Forest National Park in Cameroon (Littoral Region). The CPM is primarily threatened, at
this time, by deforestation and by bush-meat hunting. Despite its endangered status, the global population of the CPM has never been censured in the non-protected areas where they mostly occur.

RCESD, in line with its major biodiversity conservation goal carried out a census for the CPM non-protected forest areas in Cameroon where they may occur. The field staff asked 78 hunters in 43 villages where they have seen heard or hunted the CPM. They also raised awareness through conversations with village chiefs and hunters of the concern about the CPM’s future and of the potential for its conservation.

The CPM is prone to hunting in the study area, because of its larger size compared to cercopithecine monkeys and the fact that it frequently uses the forest floor where it is very vulnerable to hunting.

Next steps will involve a systematic field survey for CPM, additional community consultations and engagement, school conservation education, and building community-based support for IUCN conservation action plan for this primate and its habitat.

Ada Acobta– Environmental Education