Sites - Important Bird Areas (IBAs)

Ornithological information See Box and Tables 2 and 3 for key species. The avifauna is rich, with 365 species recorded so far. One species of the Afrotropical Highlands biome (A07) also occurs (see Table 3).

Site description Located on the southern slopes of the Adamaoua plateau, to the east of the Yoko–Tibati road, Mbam Djerem National Park has probably the greatest habitat diversity of any protected area in Cameroon. The vegetation includes the northern limits of the rainforest, riverine and gallery forest, savanna woodland and some riverine grassland. The terrain is generally flat and is drier and more open to the north and west. The area in the south of the park used to be more open, due to frequent fires, but now there are extensive areas of woodland and young forest. It is apparent from old vegetation maps and more recent satellite imageries that much of the forest in the area is only about 50 years old; between 40–50% of the park is now forested. Average annual rainfall is approximately 1,500 mm.

Populations of IBA trigger species

Protected areas

Protected area	Designation	Area (ha)	Relationship with IBA	Overlap with IBA (ha)
Mbam et Djerem	National Park	423,478	protected area contains site	416,512

Habitats

Land use

Other biodiversity The area still holds relatively healthy populations of a number of large mammals including Pan troglodytes (EN), Loxodonta africana (EN) and Hylochoerus meinertzhageni (VU).

Management considerations The area was gazetted a National Park in January 2000 and is the largest National Park in Cameroon. Human population density in the region is relatively low, but poaching is a serious threat to large-mammal populations. Seasonal fires are also a problem. Logging concessions have been allocated in the area south of the park.

References Bobo and Languy (2000).

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Recommended citation  BirdLife International (2013) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Mbam Djerem National Park. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 25/05/2013

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