The conservation corridors of the Benue National Park: Disconnected connection devices?

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the viability of wildlife corridors between the Benue National Park and the Faro National Park through the hunting areas, by identifying the main threats to their integrity, mapping of land use, characterization of their flora and the wildlife inventory that frequents these corridors in order to propose measures for their sustainable management. Field observations, land use mapping from the 2016 Landsat 8 image classification, and 60 floristic surveys at six sites (corridors) on 20 m × 20 m plots treated under R resulted in the following results: nine types of activities were identified, including logging, agriculture, grazing and forestry. With gold panning the main threats to corridors, the species mostly used by these farmers are Piliostigma thonningii (82.674 ± 4.24), Combretum sp. (78.18 ± 4.01) and Tamarindus indica (75.06 ± 3.85) among the most threatened woody species. On the floristic level, vegetations under the influence of anthropic activities present a large number of rejections, a small number of adult stems. The Shannon diversity index varies between 4.30 and 5.07 in all corridors. On the other hand, the index of equitability varies from 0.50 to 0.59. On the faunal plan, 204 individuals, belonging to 12 animal species, grouped into 6 families frequent the corridors. This number is well below what was achieved in 2010 when there was a decrease of 1024 individuals in the corridors, a decrease rate of 83.38%. In the face of these threats, which risk irreversibly damaging the corridors, a restoration and conservation plan for these corridors that will integrate community management based on strengthening the participatory approach is essential.