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The Mitsui & Co. Environment Fund

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Wildlife Research Center, Kyoto University

Connecting the divided habitats of endangered chimpanzees; Establish wide-area slash-and-burn management techniques using "green corridor" afforestation activities and drones

Activity grant

Project Description

A "green corridor" project in Guinea to restore the habitat of endangered chimpanzees by using savannah afforestation techniques has already been established for over 20 years. However, the destruction of forests in afforestation areas and neighboring land such as the Mount Nimba UNESCO World Heritage Site is becoming serious due to burned fields created by slash-and-burn agriculture. This project will independently develop fixed wing drones for monitoring forest fires in Guinea that will increase the monitoring area by 250 times within three years. The aerial surveying of the forest will analyze the distance between wildfires, the causes of the fires, the area burned down, and help establish methods for effectively protecting plantations.
The results of the project can be transfered across a wide area of forest management in Ginea National Parks, so in cooperation with two Guinea universities, student training and joint research will be carried out, along with human resource development to enable Guineans themselves to carry out sustainable forest management and biodiversity conservation. [No. K18-0098]

Mitsui & Co. Environment Fund FY2018 Activity Grants List (PDF 372KB)

Fields
Ecosystems and the Symbiotic Society
Grant year
FY2018 Activity Grants
Grant term
3 years (April 2019 - March 2022)
Grant amount
¥7,200,000
Activity region
Guinea
Bossou chimpanzee, born in 1980

Overview of the Organization

Representative: Naruki Morimura
Project organization
Wildlife Research Center, Kyoto University
Representative
Program-specific Associate Professor: Naruki Morimura
Establishment Purpose
The Green Corridor is an afforestation project being carried out in Bossou Village, Guinea, to restore the endangered chimpanzee habitat. The forest of Bossou, where seven chimpanzees currently live, is surrounded by savannas and isolated from other chimpanzee groups, but a large number of chimpanzees inhabit the World Heritage Site Mount Nimba 4km southeast of Bossou. Efforts to connect the two forests by planting trees began in 1997.
Recent Activities
An international team of researchers and students participating in wild chimpanzee surveys cooperates with local residents to plant trees in the savannah every year. We have also repeatedly conducted environmental education efforts in order for people to learn about chimpanzees and forest areas at schools in Bossou and nearby villages. In recent years, at the University of Conakry in the capital and at the University of Nzerekore, the university closest to Bossou, we support students' short-term participation and disseminate technology that is the basis of conservation while aiming to develop human resources.
WEB site
https://www.greencorridor.info/
Voice of Representative
To realise an abundant way of life, economic development must protect and be based upon the natural enviroment and the traditional culture that it nurtures. Through this plan, we will develop and disseminate technology that will contribute to the development of Guinea.