Integrating wildlife conservation with conflicting economic land-use goals in a West African biodiversity hotspot

Half of what remains of the ‘Guinean Forests of West Africa hotspot’ is located in Liberia. However, only about 2% of the country is officially protected. We systematically identified and evaluated priority areas for the protection of large mammals and biodiversity in Liberia under different conservation scenarios. We also assessed current proposed protected areas (PPAs) in terms of achieving pre-determined conservation targets, and determined potential wildlife and biodiversity loss within logging and mining concessions. We systematically collected nationwide data on chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) abundance, large mammal and tree taxonomic diversity, and human threats. We related these to environmental and human impact variables to develop nationwide spatial prediction models that also served as base-layers for spatial prioritization using MARXAN. We improved upon standard software output to evaluate spatial properties of selected sites, determine site-specific target contributions, and estimate potential wildlife and biodiversity loss within logging and mining concessions. The optimal conservation area network contained a candidate list of 92 areas that maximized biodiversity and chimpanzee abundance, minimized threats, and accomplished the preservation of 30% of Liberia's forests. It included more than half of West Africa's second largest chimpanzee population, which spatially coincided with that of some of the most diverse large mammal and tree communities. Logging and mining concessions largely overlapped with existing PPAs and conservation priority areas established in this study, and considerably increased their fragmentation. Existing PPAs, however, only partially covered our areas of prioritization and proved insufficient in meeting conservation targets. We emphasize the need for finding a balance between development and biodiversity conservation, such as through aggregate biodiversity offsets, the use of which is currently being discussed by local government, international investors, and conservation NGOs.