Coastal Wetlands Bird Census, Cameroon, January/February 2007

This project is finished, and the report has been published. See WIWO reports

Aims
The aims of the project are the following:

1. Perform a complete count of water birds on the Cameroonian coast, from Campo in the South (border with Equatorial Guinee) to Cape Bakassi in the North (border with Nigeria);

2. Determine whether parts of the coast, notably the Estuaire du Cameroun and the Bakassi peninsula, meet the specific Ramsar criteria for congregations of water birds;

3. Train local scientists, technicians and NGOs in bird census techniques;

4. Strengthen the collaboration between NGOs and governmental bodies in Cameroon working on wetland conservation.

5. Provide information that can be used by the participating organisations to support formal protection status of any of the visited sites if relevant criteria are met.

Background
Cameroon is situated on the East Atlantic and Mediterranean flyways of migratory waders. The avifauna of the wetlands in the North, notably the southern shores of Lake Chad and the Logone floodplain, is extremely rich and has been subject of substantial ornithological research. The wetlands on the coast however have hardly been studied. In the Douala-Edea reserve, flanking the Sanaga River, regular ornithological surveys are performed by one of the partners in the project, CWCS. The only more or less comprehensive study of the Cameroonian coast was performed in the winter of 1998 and 1999 by an English/Cameroonian team with financial support from Wetlands International. This team counted significant numbers of waders, especially in the Estuaire de Douala (more than 26,000 waders). For the whole Cameroonian coast, this group estimates the total number of waders in the winter season to be between 67,000 and 88,000. The research area excluded the Bakassi area, a mangrove fringed estuary bordering Nigeria. This area was off limits to visitors at that time due to a border dispute between Cameroon and Nigeria thanks to the presence of oil deposits. The actual numbers of waders on the Cameroonian coast therefore will be significantly higher. These numbers indicate that the Cameroonian could probably be of similar importance to migratory waders as Marocco, Senegal, Ghana and Gabon [1]. The International Court in The Hague has ruled in 2005 that the Bakassi area belongs to Cameroon and the area can since be visited again. Several incidental visits to the area indeed confirm the importance of the area for migrating water birds, possibly comparable to the Estuaire du Cameroun.
In 2006 Cameroon has ratified the Ramsar Convention and listed the Logone floodplain in the North as the only Ramsar site for Cameroon so far. A Cameroonian project managed by WTG and funded by IUCN The Netherlands is presently performing biodiversity surveys on the Cameroonian coast around Douala to design procedures for management wetlands and of natural resources. At present there is an urgent need to evaluate the importance of the Cameroonian coast for migrating water birds, to identify congregation areas that are especially in need of conservation and management and to evaluate whether these sites meet one or more Ramsar criteria.
The bird census will be performed in the winter season 2006-2007. There are several reasons for this timing. Firstly, this will fall within the project period of the present IUCN funded project on management of wetlands in the Douala area. Using this timing will allow the combination of results and creating sufficient momentum to actually support an initiative for formal protection of sites on the Cameroonian coast. Secondly, at this moment there is a qualified team of biologists in the country that could organise and support the bird count. The country has less than 35 trained birders and there is a constant efflux of qualified people from the country due to lack of professional perspectives. The ornithologists from CBCS for instance are all working on PhD projects with foreign universities. Organising professional ornithological activities in Cameroon will help the existing pool of ornithologists to gain valuable experience and mean a boost to ornithology in general in Cameroon.
Ratification of the Ramsar convention by Cameroon in 2006 is also an important factor. Providing the responsible authorities with scientifically valid information about the biodiversity in the Cameroonian wetlands will help in securing the necessary protection for these areas. The Estuaire du Cameroun forms the entrance to the harbour of Douala, the industrial heart of Cameroon and the biggest economic driver for the national economy. The Bakassi peninsula is rich in oil but so far has hardly been explored and is not yet exploited. Economic developments in these areas are inevitable and detailed and scientifically valid information about the importance of these areas for biodiversity in general and birds in particular is essential to support initiatives to secure some form of protection of these areas.

Study area
The study area composes of the complete coast of Cameroon, including estuaries, beaches, mangroves and islands along the coast. This coast starts in the South at the border with Equatorial Guinea at the mouth of the river Ntem. For approximately 313 km the coast line consists of sandy beaches bordering primary and secondary forests on hilly terrain, intersected by numerous rivers and creeks and rocky outcrops. The estuary of the river Sanaga, one of the 5 biggest rivers in West Africa, constitutes the first major wetland on the Cameroonian coast that supports high numbers of water birds. The Sanaga River itself has a large population of African skimmers. Between the Sanaga River and the Douala estuary, the coast consists of sandy beaches. Inland, the terrain consists of primary and secondary forest, including the Douala-Edea reserve. This reserve holds numerous fresh water lakes that are important for resident birds but whose importance for migrating birds is yet unknown. The data that are available from CWCS will be included in the count.
The Douala estuary is a large area (2300 km2) consisting of extensive mangrove swamps, mudflats, creeks and forms the entrance to the Wouri river and the Douala harbour, the principal harbour and industrial town of Cameroon. The Douala estuary is known to harbour large numbers of migrating water birds.
North of the Douala estuary the coast becomes rocky as it skirts Mount Cameroon, the highest mountain in West Africa. Along this coast a few mudflats are present as well as a few freshwater lagoons rich in biodiversity, fed by springs originating from the Mount Cameroon. North of Limbe, at the foot of Mount Cameroon, the coast becomes a sandy beach again until the village of Idenao. Here the road stops and the Rio del Rey estuary starts, an extensive area of creeks, mudflats and mangrove swamps. This area is extremely rich in bird life and continues across the border into Nigeria to end again at mouth of the Cross River at the city of Calabar in Nigeria.
Inland the mangrove swamps continue until they touch the borders of the lowland forest, in the southern part severely degraded and largely replaced by palm oil plantations and in the northern part consisting of the Korup national park, one of the finest lowland forests in West Africa.