London 1st September 2005: Fewer than 250 wild Sumatran orangutans
may exist in fifty years, their habitat is disappearing and the
devastation of the Asian tsunami has accelerated the rate of destruction.
This is among the findings being announced at the launch of the
first World Atlas of Great Apes and their Conservation
today (1st September 2005) by the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring
Centre, which reveals that it is not just humans that will benefit
from a campaign to ‘make poverty history’. For the other
6 species of great ape – the eastern and western gorilla,
chimpanzee, bonobo, Sumatran and Bornean orangutan – it could
literally save them from the cooking pot.
The first World Atlas of Great Apes and their Conservation
provides a country-by-country assessment of the 23 range states
hosting the wild great apes. These countries are among the poorest
in the world (1), so concerted international
action is required if these species are to survive.
The Atlas, edited at the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring
Centre, is the most comprehensive compendium of information about
great apes ever compiled, bringing together the latest research
and observations from scientists throughout the world and including
contributions from Kofi Annan, Jane Goodall, Richard Leakey, Toshisada
Nishida, Russ Mittermeier and Ian Redmond. The book includes conservation
status assessments at a species and country view level. The great
apes’ biology, behaviour and culture are discussed in detail.
Information from the Atlas will be used to focus international
attention for an eleventh hour conservation effort aimed at saving
humankind's closest living relatives from extinction. If current
trends continue, by 2032: 99% of the orangutan range will suffer
medium to high impacts from human development, as will 90% of the
gorilla range, 92% of chimpanzee range and 96% of bonobo range.
The Atlas provides population estimates for the apes (see
table) and reveals that the survival of the apes is threatened by:
-
Poverty of host countries – 16 out of the
23 great range states have a per capita income of less than US $800.
Growing bushmeat crisis - The Atlas raises
concerns over the increasing trade in great ape bushmeat, and the
sale of orphans to expatriates wanting to 'rescue them'. Entire
groups of adults may be killed to capture one orphan for sale. In
Central Africa, a single chimpanzee or gorilla carcass can fetch
the equivalent of US$20-25.
Fragile habitats - The Atlas maps the
impact of infrastructure development on wildlife, and uses the GLOBIO
computer model to simulate future changes. Independent studies support
these findings, predicting that if current trends in Indonesia and
Malaysia persist, the orangutan will lose 47% of its habitat in
the next 5 years (2), whilst at least 24%
of the bonobo’s range in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
is already under logging concessions.
Habitat fragmentation - The Atlas presents
new information on the distribution of the Cross River gorilla,
one of the two subspecies of western gorilla, which has only around
250 to 280 individuals left. These few animals are distributed amongst
more than ten fragmented highland areas. Fragmentation isolates
great ape populations from one another, increasing their vulnerability.
Disease - It is also increasingly clear that disease,
especially Ebola haemorrhagic fever, is playing a part in the decline
of ape populations and new research is needed, along with stronger
efforts to limit disease transmission.
The Atlas will be launched by Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director
of UNEP at the Zoological Society of London, Regents Park, London,
with presentations by Lera Miles, UNEP World Conservation Monitoring
Centre, co-editor of the Atlas, Glyn Davies, Director of Conservation
Programmes, Zoological Society of London and Mark Leighton, Chair,
GRASP Interim Scientific Commission.
Also at the launch, details of ‘an indicative list of priority
populations’, being compiled by Interim Scientific Commission
of the United Nations Great Ape Survival Project (GRASP) headed
up by Mark Leighton, which will be among the critical issues to
be discussed at the Great Apes Survival Project (GRASP) Intergovernmental
Meeting: Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, 5-9 September 2005.
The Intergovernmental Meeting will be attended by Rt Hon Jim Knight,
UK Minister for Biodiversity.
– ENDS –
Notes for editors follow:-
Quotes from the speakers are included below and case studies and
photographs are available to illustrate from web site http://www.unep-wcmc.org/
For media information: First World Atlas of Great Apes
and UNEP-WCMC
Rachel Holdsworth/Nick Holmes, PR consultants to UNEP-WCMC
Holdsworth Associates 01954 202789, Rachel@holdsworth-associates.co.uk
http://www.globio.info/WAGAC
For UNEP spokesperson:
Nick Nuttall, Spokesperson, Office of the Executive Director, United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Nairobi, Kenya.
Tel: 254 20 623084, Mobile in Kenya 254 (0) 733 632755, Mobile
when
travelling 41 79 596 57 37, Fax 254 2 623692, e-mail nick.nuttall@unep.org
http://www.unep.org/grasp
For UNEP-WCMC
UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre, 219 Huntingdon Road,
Cambridge CB3 ODL +44 (0) 1223 277314
To order the Atlas
http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/10254.html
http://www.earthprint.com/go.htm?to=3505%20
SUPPORTING MATERIAL
FIRST WORLD ATLAS OF GREAT APES AND THEIR CONSERVATION
POVERTY GREATEST THREAT TO APES
Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director of the United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), said:
“We have a duty to rescue our closest living relatives
as part of our wider responsibilities to conserve the ecosystems
they inhabit”.
“You only have to look at the tropical forests, home
to the great apes. Economists now calculate that they are worth
$60 billion a year as a result of their ability to remove and store
global warming gases from the atmosphere alone”.
“Along with other ecosystems, such forests are also invaluable
sources of genetic material. These are forming the basis of a new
industrial revolution in areas from food and agriculture to pharmaceuticals
and chemicals. It is a moral issue of the highest importance. By
conserving the habitats of the great apes, we are helping to overcome
poverty and to conserve the natural wealth upon which current and
future human generations depend. It seems a small price to pay,”
he added.
Mr Toepfer said he hoped the new atlas and the upcoming inter-governmental
meeting in Kinshasa would trigger even greater action by identifying
conservation priorities and by generating investment from donor
governments and the private sector in the great ape range states.
Rt Hon Jim Knight MP UK Minister for Biodiversity comments
"The great apes are our nearest animal relatives. They
are self-aware, social creatures with cultures and politics, and
communicate through both signs and language.
“Careful management of their forest and mountain habitats
is absolutely vital as we try to manage and resolve the conflicts
between apes and humans – balancing the conservation needs
of great apes with the precarious livelihoods of the people who
live in these areas.
“It is critical that we act now to ensure the survival
of great apes in the wild. We will not get a second chance.
“Governments have a fundamental role to play –
but so do millions of ordinary people who, through their compassion
and their action, can help to turn the tide of the decline of great
apes.”
FRAGMENTATION
Habitat fragmentation is a hazard as it isolates great ape populations
from one another, increasing their vulnerability to random events
such as forest fire and the longer-term genetic impacts of inbreeding.
The Atlas presents new information on the distribution
of the Cross River gorilla, one of the two subspecies of western
gorilla, which has only around 250 to 280 individuals left. This
small number of animals is distributed amongst more than ten fragmented
highland areas in the border area of Nigeria and Cameroon. (3)
Mark Leighton Chair, GRASP Interim Scientific
Committee comments that conservation effort should be focussed on
areas where the populations are still viable and has identified
a number of priority populations which illustrate why a large set
of populations are required to maintain the genetic diversity.
GREAT APES AND THE GROWING BUSHMEAT CRISIS IN AFRICA
Where forests remain they are being plundered in a way that is
unprecedented. Population movement as a result of wars, urbanisation
and improved road access has reduced the influence of cultural traditions
and the trade in bushmeat has increased across many range states.
Great apes are also susceptible to snares set for other species
such as antelopes.
The Atlas raises concerns over the increasing trade in
great ape bushmeat, and the sale of orphans to expatriates wanting
to 'rescue them'. Entire groups of adults may be killed to capture
one orphan for sale.
The illegal bushmeat trade, of which a proportion is great ape
meat, is estimated at US$1 billion annually. In Central Africa,
a single chimpanzee or gorilla carcass can fetch the equivalent
of US$20-25. By comparison gorilla tourism generated from US $60,000
– 525,000 annual revenue per participating park between 1985
and 1996.
The issue is complex, as Glyn Davies, Director of Conservation
Programmes, Zoological Society of London explains:
“Even though apes comprise a small fraction of the bushmeat
trade in most instances, the impact on their populations is devastating.
Every effort needs to be made to exclude apes from the trade and,
wherever possible, build on cultural and religious taboos, which
prohibit the consumption of ape meat. Awareness raising campaigns
which explain the law and the plight of ape populations are needed
to achieve this, and to support improved law enforcement for these
rare species, and the national parks where they are found.
It is also increasingly clear that disease is playing a part in
the decline of ape populations and new research is needed, along
with stronger efforts to limit disease transmission.”
FRAGILE HABITATS
The Atlas maps the environmental impact of human development. Predictions
reported include that the orangutan will lose 47% of its habitat
in the next 5 years (4); co-editors of
the Atlas, Julian Caldecott and Lera Miles of UNEP World Conservation
Monitoring Centre observe that:
“Within a generation – without better protection
– we could see species becoming too depleted to survive long
term in the wild” .
“The areas where great apes are at least risk from hunting
occur 3-10 km from roads and these areas are dwindling. Roads provide
access for mining and logging, fragment habitats and facilitate
transport of bush meat. As such they play a central role in the
loss of the great ape.”
The GLOBIO computer model puts under 30% of the habitat of each
of the African great apes in this low impact category and projects
that this will be less than 10% by 2030. For orangutans less than
36% of their current habitat is low impact and this is projected
to be under 1% by 2030.
This prediction is confirmed by Ian Singleton,
Scientific Director, Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme:
“The biggest threats to the orangutan are logging and
habitat fragmentation, such as that proposed by the Ladia Galaska
road scheme. The ill-advised and heavily criticised Ladia Galaska
road scheme may well prove the ‘final nail in the coffin’
that puts the long-term conservation of Sumatran orangutans beyond
our reach.
“Fifty years from now only 7 of the current 13 orangutan
populations are expected to remain. Of these, 6 will consist of
fewer than 20 individuals. This would mean a total world population
of just 234 wild Sumatran orangutans by the year 2054.
“In contrast, if logging and removal of orangutans through
hunting could be halted today, we could expect to have in the region
of 6570 remaining in 50 years.
“Clearly, rapid cessation of logging has immense implications
for the prospects of Sumatran orangutan survival. But we have no
reason for optimism. The Ministry of Forestry itself acknowledges
that the current rate of forest loss nationwide is circa 3.8 million
ha/year. Furthermore, within Aceh, where the vast majority of Sumatran
orangutans occur, rates of forest loss are about to increase dramatically
as part of the Aceh rebuilding process and as a result of the peace
process.
“If the recently signed peace deal in Aceh does bear
fruit we expect habitat destruction rates to rocket. Many existing
logging concessions and oil palm plantations have been lying dormant
since the conflict started. We can expect businesses to work as
quickly and as rapidly as they can in order to recoup their losses.”
CONCLUSIONS
Charlotte Uhlenbroek, primate researcher and TV presenter, believes
that it is not too late to make a difference.
“The international community needs to invest in long-term
conservation projects which form positive partnerships. Local people's
attitudes are critical to the survival of the apes in any given
area so projects that help to develop sustainable livelihoods
in tandem with ape protection, will be most successful.
“In other parts of the world, people can help by choosing
paper and furniture that is recycled or that has Forestry Stewardship
Council certification. In particular, avoid timber that might have
been illegally logged from great ape habitats.
“It is also possible to make a contribution to great
ape conservation by supporting or volunteering your time to one
of the charities linked with the Great Ape Survival Project.”
To donate directly to GRASP, please visit http://www.unep.org/grasp/Support_GRASP/index.asp
- ENDS -
Case-studies
Several case studies are available illustrating different aspect
of threat or conservation effort:
Brave rangers
Plight orphans
Priority populations
Tsunami
Footnotes
(1) According to the Human Development
Index (HDI) of the 23 states, 21 are ranked between 109 and 177
(Sierra Leone, the poorest country on the index). Countries are
characterised by conflict, poverty and demand for extraction of
natural resources, all challenges that make organised long-term
social investments difficult.
(2) p.240
(3) p.109
(4) p.240
