The four villages in this report are found on the edge of the Gola Rainforest National Park, Sierra Leone and have been studied by members of the present team at intervals since 1987. The aim of this long-term study was to understand social composition and social change in forest-edge communities, and how these communities were adapting to conservation rules and opportunities.

These villages have now been restudied as part of the SMAC community mobilization program for prevention of Ebola Virus Disease. This study, which was carried out in December 2014, aimed to find out how 25 villages viewed the Ebola threat, and how they coped with regulations designed to eliminate the disease.

Paul Richards, Joseph Amara, Esther Mokuwa, Alfred Mokuwa, and Roland Suluku / 2015