May 16, 2025

Protecting chimpanzees and building community resilience to climate change in Senegal

Photo: Marie Meloche

In Senegal, the chimpanzee population has decreased drastically over the past years – there are now less than 500 wild chimpanzees across the country.

What has caused this notable decrease? Chimpanzees face many threats, including habitat destruction and encroachment – and both are very high-risk threats for the animal and human populations that use the forest ecosystem for survival.

Protecting forests through sustainable agroforestry initiatives, including Indigenous tree nurseries, and forest fire prevention and management, are therefore incredibly important strategies. And for our Building Community Resilience to Climate Change in Senegal project – which recently wrapped but was focused on supporting sustainable forest management practices for the interconnected benefits of animals, people, and the environment – such strategies were key.

Through the Building Community Resilience project, community members established and led 8 nurseries, with the objective of growing fruit and Indigenous trees for planting. These planted trees are expected to strengthen the floristic biodiversity in the precious wildlife corridor surrounding the communes of Dimboli, Dakately, Dindefelo, and Fongolembi, and to increase food security and income-generating prospects for the community members.

The project’s support for nursery activities went beyond that, too. Community members expressed that they were interested in supporting nursery activities, but that they may face challenges to do so consistently without the possibility of including vegetable garden activities around the well and tree nurseries. Only then could nursery group members water the Indigenous and fruit trees twice per day and conduct their own gardening activities. The project team heard and noted this feedback, and extended the nursery perimeter to include more space for the group’s gardening activities.

In the nurseries of Malinda, Kounsi and Badiari, every nursery group member must participate in nursery caretaking responsibilities in order to access their gardening space. For Hawa Niakhasso from Kounsi, this means being responsible for watering the Indigenous and fruit trees, and helping with cleaning the nursery area for two days. After those two days, she can focus on her gardening activities until the cleaning rotation circles back around.

Because of the flexibility of the Building Community Resilience project, community members can now actively contribute to sustainable agroforestry activities and take part in their own other activities. This means they can participate in income-generating activities, improve food security, and take on an active role in protecting and restoring the forest ecosystems that surround them – and that they rely upon.

In the case of Hawa, the garden she has now is the first garden she has ever had access to. She uses the area to grow lettuce, peppers, onions, and tomatoes. She and her husband are actively engaged in the process: “I decide which species we grow, but we work together to prepare the soil, plant the seeds, and water the shoots.”

With support from the Jane Goodall Institute’s agroforestry team, Hawa has also learned climate-smart techniques – including composting techniques that increase soil fertility, and using straw to cover the soil and maintain moisture around the shoots. Now, Hawa has the knowledge and resources to support the health of the forest ecosystems and her household’s sustainable livelihood.

This is good news for Hawa and her loved ones, but also for the surrounding forest ecosystems, and for the chimpanzees who have also made these areas home. By building community resilience to climate change, and by supporting sustainable livelihoods for community members, we can build a better future – for animals, for people, and for the environment.

To learn more about the Building Community Resilience to Climate Change in Senegal project, and to read more about our community-led approach to conservation, click here.

Note: The Jane Goodall Institute of Canada worked closely with Jane Goodall Institute Senegal on the Building Community Resilience to Climate Change in Senegal project. Global Affairs Canada provided financial support for the project.