In Guinea, the bauxite mining boom is an aggravating factor. “When you have to strip all forests and soils to access bauxite, use dynamite, noisy devices, it is obvious that animal populations have difficulty surviving. For chimpanzees, forced to move, this increases mortality because they are very territorial. Conflicts arise in contact with the neighboring groups they encounter during their migration,” explains Arnaud Gotanegre , director of the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation (WCF) in Guinea.

In September 2017, the Guinean Minister of the Environment formalized the creation of the Moyen Bafing National Park, which is home to seven classified forests. The largest chimpanzee park in West Africa!

An initial assessment identified some 5000 individuals in this nature reserve of nearly 6500 km². A figure that the WCF and the Guinean Office of Parks and Reserves (OGPR) are in the process of refining, while initiating conservation activities with the 235 villages present in the park. They are supported financially by the Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinee (CBG) and the GAC (Guinea Alumina Corporation, a subsidiary of the Emirati EGA), as part of ecological compensation.