Current view: Text account
Site description (2001 baseline):
Site location and context
Bia National Park and Resource Reserve is located near the Asempaneye village, c.60 km from Sefwi Wiawso, the district capital. The forest is transitional between moist evergreen and moist semi-deciduous. The site is surrounded by mixed farms and secondary forest. The forest was logged in 1980, which has resulted in a very broken canopy with few large trees and much low, dense vegetation. Evidence of hunting is apparent in both the National Park and Resource Reserve. Annual average precipitation is in the range 1,500–1,700 mm.
See Box and Tables 2 and 3 for key species.
Non-bird biodiversity: Pan troglodytes (EN) still occurs. There is a population of Loxodonta africana cyclotis (EN), estimated at 300–500. Also present are Tragelaphus euryceros (LR/nt), Cephalophus dorsalis (LR/nt) and C. silvicultor (LR/nt).
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
Bia was first declared a Forest Reserve in 1935 and designated as the Bia Tributaries South Forest Reserve in 1940, with an area of 30,600 ha. The reserve was given National Park status in 1974 but, within three years, 22,800 ha of the park was downgraded to a Game Production Reserve (now termed Resource Reserve) to allow logging, leaving only c.7,800 ha as Bia National Park. The forest of the National Park (Condition 4, GHI 55), has a poorer structure than the Resource Reserve (Condition 3, GHI 58). Thus, Bia is heavily degraded and the Resource Reserve is actively being logged. Levels of protection have been poor as a result of inadequate and poorly motivated staff, lack of equipment and shortage of funds; poaching is heavy. Despite the much reduced populations of most species of large mammals in Bia, the area is one of the few areas in the country known to support
Pan troglodytes. Bia is currently receiving financial support from the European Union, under the Ghana Protected Area Development Programme, and it is expected that this will improve protection of the site.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Bia National Park and Resource Reserve (Ghana). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/bia-national-park-and-resource-reserve-iba-ghana on 22/11/2024.
