Critically Endangered African Forest Elephants are at risk of extinction as mining and logging ravage their fragile habitat in the Guinea rainforest.
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Species at Risk
African Forest Elephant (CR), Western Chimpanzee (CR), Hooded Vulture (CR), White-backed Vulture (CR), White-headed Vulture (CR), Giant Ground Pangolin (EN), White-bellied Pangolin (EN)
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Carbon stored
28,806,966 mT*
*(metric tons of CO2 equivalents) -
Partner
The Wild Chimpanzee Foundation
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560,512 Proposed Acres Conserved by
Designation
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Project Cost: $3,526,873
560,512
Critically Endangered African Forest Elephants are at risk of extinction as mining and logging ravage their fragile habitat in the Guinea rainforest.
-
Species at Risk
African Forest Elephant (CR), Western Chimpanzee (CR), Hooded Vulture (CR), White-backed Vulture (CR), White-headed Vulture (CR), Giant Ground Pangolin (EN), White-bellied Pangolin (EN)
-
Carbon stored
28,806,966 mT*
*(metric tons of CO2 equivalents) -
Partner
The Wild Chimpanzee Foundation
-
560,512 Proposed Acres Conserved by
Designation
-
Project Cost: £2,914,771
560,512
The largest and only viable population of the Critically Endangered African Forest Elephant in Guinea survives in rainforest and shrubby savanna stretching along the border with Sierra Leone. Also living here is the largest population of the Critically Endangered Western Chimpanzee in West Africa. The presence of these elephants, chimpanzees and other endangered species—like pangolins and critically endangered vultures—highlights the region’s importance for global conservation.
These species are now in grave danger as a 100-mile iron ore railway, requiring four tunnels and 43 bridges, is being built through this sensitive habitat to connect a massive mine with the coast. This activity is causing habitat fragmentation, degradation and destruction and threatening the survival of species already facing extinction. Other serious threats are illegal logging, bushmeat hunting and slash-and-burn agriculture.
Rainforest Trust and our partner, The Wild Chimpanzee Foundation, are working with the government of Guinea and local communities to create the 560,512-acre Pinselli-Soyah-Sabouyah National Park. The new park will connect to the adjacent Outamba-Kilimi National Park (182,364 acres) to the south in Sierra Leone to create a vast wildlife corridor for wide-roaming species like the elephant.
Header photo: West African Baby Chimpanzee, by Photosybpatrik
Discover Guinea’s Threatened Species
Western Chimpanzee with baby, by Adrian Dockerty
African Forest Elephant, by Ondrej Prosicky
The White-Backed Vulture, by Henk Bogaard
The Giant Ground Pangolin, by Maggy Meyer
The Hooded Vulture, by Michael Jansen
Protection of this park will prevent emissions comparable to
gas-powered passenger vehicles driven for one year
Prevent the Exploitation of Forests in Guinea
Once declared a new national park, this area will benefit from closer monitoring to mitigate the impact of the railway construction on threatened species. Steps will be taken to ensure that the maintenance road running parallel to the rail line is not used by the public to access the interior of the park and that no bushmeat is transported by the rail line.
Extensive illegal logging and timber trafficking between Guinea and Sierra Leone is a continuing affront to the forest and its inhabitants, as are slash-and-burn practices and poaching. Logging, hunting and mining will be strictly prohibited in the new national park.
Create a Safe Haven for Chimpanzees
Industrial development and infrastructure—like mining and the rail lines that serve it—are devastating to chimpanzees’ survival. With more than 80% of this species lost since the 1950’s, Western Chimpanzee populations will continue declining without protection.
Rainforest Trust is currently working on another project with The Wild Chimpanzee Foundation in southern Liberia to protect the 550,000-acre Kwa Proposed Protected Area for the country’s second-largest known population of Critically Endangered Western Chimpanzee and for the Endangered Pygmy Hippopotamus.
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Conservation work is critical, challenging, and can be costly. We work hard to ensure we raise only the funds needed for each project. In the rare case we raise more money than needed or a project comes in under budget, excess monies will be transferred to the Conservation Action Fund. This fund supports our important conservation work throughout the tropics.
Project Modifications
Rainforest Trust conducts extensive research and due diligence on each of the projects that we support, so that once a project is offered for public support we believe it will succeed. We work closely with our project implementers, offer support, and regularly monitor their progress. Given the nature of the work, projects may not progress exactly as intended and may be unable to meet all objectives. To respond dynamically to the needs of our project implementers and the realities of the landscapes in which they operate, Rainforest Trust expressly reserves the right to modify a project as it deems necessary, provided that donor intent is honored by ensuring that that the original project objectives are diligently pursued and that project funds continue to benefit the landscape and species identified in the project overview. Project modifications that we may need to make in certain circumstances include the specific project implementer, the size of the landscape to be protected, the type of protection to be afforded to the landscape, and the development of sustainability mechanisms.
Partnering to Save Rainforest
Our partners’ ability to work with their governments and build strong connections with local communities ensures the successful implementation of our projects.
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