13 years of wildlife protection strategies in forest stewardship council-certified timber concessions in central Africa

Illegal and unsustainable wildlife hunting poses a serious threat to biodiversity in tropical forests, particularly
within production landscapes where logging concessions operate. This study assesses the effectiveness of wildlife
protection strategies implemented in FSC-certified industrial forest concessions managed by Pallisco in
Cameroon, covering 3889 km2
. Using a 13-year dataset of patrol effort, poaching incident reports, and wildlife
encounter records, we show a significant decrease in poaching pressure that coincides with increased patrol
effort, particularly after adopting SMART (Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tools) protocols. Law enforcement
patrol activity increased by 50% following SMART implementation, leading to fewer recorded poaching incidents and fewer hotspots. At the same time, encounter rates and spatial distribution for key large mammals,
including forest elephant, chimpanzee, and western lowland gorilla, remained steady, indicating positive conservation outcomes with a reasonable budget of $23/km2
/year. Our findings emphasize the importance of
integrating spatial technology-driven monitoring with corporate engagement in sustainable forest management.
We conclude that FSC certification combined with SMART-enhanced law enforcement can provide an efficient
approach to balancing timber production and biodiversity conservation. Given the shared certification frameworks and management structures across the region, these results offer a model that could be expanded to other
FSC and PAFC-certified concessions in the Congo Basin. We recommend expanding these strategies regionally
and formalizing partnerships to strengthen anti-poaching efforts in production forest landscapes.