Sumbundo

Sumbundo is a proposed forest reserve in the Bafata Region of eastern Guinea-Bissau.^[1] The World Database on Protected Areas maps it in the north of the region, next to the border with Senegal.^[2] The 2018 United Nations List of Protected Areas, compiled from the July 2018 World Database on Protected Areas, records it with Proposed status and an area of 53.31 km2.^[3] It is one of five forest reserves, with Salifo, Canquelifa, Dungal and Mansoa, in the protected-area institute's long-term plan to expand the terrestrial system.^[4]

The Guinean forest-savanna mosaic ecoregion supports mammals such as leopard, hippopotamus and red-flanked duiker, and birds such as turacos and hornbills.^[5]

Inland Guinea-Bissau lies within the Guinean forest-savanna mosaic, where grassland with scattered fire-adapted trees alternates with forested zones.^[5]

The Bafata Region has a hot tropical climate with a dry period from December to May and a rainy season from May to November.^[6]

The Bafata Region has its capital at Bafata and six sectors (Bafata, Bambadinca, Contuboel, Galomaro, Gamamundo and Xitole); it recorded 200,884 residents in 2009.^[6]

Sumbundo appears in the 2018 United Nations List with Proposed status and no year of designation.^[3] IBAP, the national institute for biodiversity and protected areas created in 2004, does not name Sumbundo among the eight protected areas on its institutional presentation page.^[7] A 2018 terminal evaluation of a UNDP-GEF project lists Sumbundo among the five forest reserves in IBAP's long-term plan. The plan was to expand the terrestrial protected-area estate in phases, tied to growth in management capacity and funding, with the first phase limited to the Dulombi-Boe-Tchetche complex.^[4]

Bafata is the regional capital.^[6]

The 2018 UNDP-GEF terminal evaluation notes that most of the areas proposed for protection are inhabited by long-standing communities with traditional land uses, so the new categories and internal zoning were expected to lean toward sustainable use rather than strict conservation.^[4] Across the Bafata and Gabu regions more broadly, an FAO community-forestry programme working with four communities reports local forest committees, land restoration and nursery work, alongside firebreaks that are hard to maintain and illegal logging that persists on the edges of community lands despite local bylaws.^[8]