Data Zone
Country/territory: Ghana
IBA criteria met: A1, A2, A3 (2001)
For more information about IBA criteria, please click here
Area: 52,400 hectares (524.00 km2)
| IBA conservation status | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year of assessment (most recent) | State (condition) | Pressure (threat) | Response (action) |
| 2021 | good | very high | high |
| For more information about IBA monitoring, please click here | |||
Site description (2001 baseline)
The Ankasa Resource Reserve and Nini-Sushien National Park are situated in the Western Region to the north of the Axim–Mpataba road. The vegetation of the two conservation areas is wet evergreen forest and the two are reported to be botanically similar. Nini Sushien is classified as Condition 1 Forest while Ankasa Resource Reserve is Condition 2. There is a village, Nkwanta, situated some 8 km inside the reserve, whose farms cover an area of approximately 100 ha; here there is also an abandoned coconut plantation. The southern parts of Ankasa were logged from the early 1960s up to about 1974. Logging intensity was, however, relatively low due to the small amounts of commercially valuable timber.
Key biodiversity
See Box and Tables 2 and 3 for key species. This is one of the few sites in the country where the avifauna has been well studied and, to date, is known to support the largest number of threatened species of any forest site. Scotopelia ussheri is known from two records, one from Ankasa river and one from Nini Sushien river, while Agelastes meleagrides is reported to be killed occasionally by hunters in Ankasa Resource Reserve and there is a single record from Sushien river. There is also an unconfirmed sighting of Campephaga lobata (see Table 3). The avifauna at the site includes eight species of birds of prey, eight species of hornbills and a number of species, such as Tigriornis leucolophus, which were recorded at only a few other sites.
Non-bird biodiversity: All 10 forest primates recorded in Ghana, including Cercocebus atys (LR/nt), Cercopithecus diana roloway (CR), Procolobus badius waldroni (CR), Procolobus verus (LR/nt), Colobus vellerosus (VU) and Pan troglodytes (EN), have been reported in the past. Recent surveys confirmed the occurrence of C. diana roloway. Other species of conservation concern occurring in the area include Loxodonta africana cyclotis (EN), Tragelaphus euryceros (LR/nt), Cephalophus ogilbyi (LR/nt), C. dorsalis (LR/nt) and Profelis aurata.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Ankasa Resource Reserve - Nini-Sushien National Park (Ghana). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/ankasa-resource-reserve--nini-sushien-national-park-iba-ghana on 22/12/2024.