The chimpanzees at Bulindi are part of a long-term research project that aims to understand how wild chimpanzees adjust to living around people in a fast-changing landscape. This research is crucial for developing conservation strategies for great ape populations under human pressure.
Despite the importance of the corridor for conservation, the small forests in the area are owned by local village households and have no formal protection. Since the 1990s, these forests have been extensively logged and converted to farmland. Habitat loss has led to escalating levels of conflict between villagers and resident chimpanzees, threatening the survival of this important population of great apes.
At Bulindi, more than 80% of the forest was cleared between 2006 and 2014 alone. During that same period, the community of chimpanzees in Bulindi declined from more than 30 individuals to 19. The Bulindi Chimpanzee & Community Project was established to address this urgent conservation situation. Its immediate goal: to halt ongoing deforestation in Bulindi to increase the long-term survival prospects of its resident chimpanzees. The broader goal is to find a workable template to help conserve the broader population of corridor chimpanzees in unprotected forests regionally, which are equally threatened by human activities.
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The primary goal of the Bulindi Chimpanzee & Community Project is to conserve the wild chimpanzees in the region and their habitats. This includes implementing measures to halt deforestation, replanting trees, and implementing corridor replanting initiatives to connect remaining forest areas. These efforts help to ensure the long-term survival of the chimpanzee population and their habitats.
The project aims to empower local communities by improving their livelihoods and providing access to education and basic resources. This includes supporting small household projects such as house construction, coffee cash-cropping, providing energy-saving stoves, and seedlings for woodlots. The project also sponsors schoolchildren to help households meet one of their primary expenses.
The Bulindi chimpanzees are also studied for a long-term research project, and the project also undertake daily monitoring of the Bulindi chimpanzees, this helps in understanding how wild chimpanzees adjust to living around people in a fast-changing landscape. The research findings can help us plan conservation strategies for great ape populations under human pressure.
