Humankind's Closest Living Relatives on Brink of Extinction

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Humankind's Closest Living Relatives on Brink of Extinction

 

 

 

 

From UNEP

Wednesday, November 26, 2003

 

PARIS/NAIROBI, 26 November, 2003 - Twenty-five million dollars is urgently

needed to lift the threat of imminent extinction from humankind's closest living

relatives, delegates to an international crisis meeting on the great apes were

told today at UNESCO headquarters in Paris.

 

Such a sum, says the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural

Organization (UNESCO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is

essential for reducing the risk of extinction of the world's remaining gorillas,

chimpanzees, bonobos and orang-utans, and for establishing areas where ape

populations could stabilise or even increase.

 

" $25 million is the bare minimum we need, the equivalent of providing a dying

man with bread and water " , said Klaus Toepfer, UNEP Executive Director. " The

clock is standing at one minute to midnight for the great apes, animals that

share more than 96 percent of their DNA with humans. If we lose any great ape

species we will be destroying a bridge to our own origins, and with it part of

our own humanity " , he said.

 

" Great apes form a unique bridge to the natural world " , said Koïchiro Matsuura,

UNESCO Director-General. " The forests they inhabit are a vital resource for

humans everywhere, and for local people, in particular, a key source of food,

water, medicine as well as a place of spiritual, cultural and economic value.

Saving the great apes and the ecosystems they inhabit is not just a conservation

issue but a key action in the fight against poverty. "

 

Every one of the great ape species is at high risk of extinction, either in the

immediate future or at best within 50 years.

 

" Research indicates that the western chimpanzee has already disappeared from

three countries -- Benin, the Gambia and Togo " , said Samy Mankoto, a UNESCO

expert on biosphere reserves in Africa, which are home to several great ape

populations.

 

UNEP and UNESCO, co-ordinators of the Great Apes Survival Project (GRASP), fear

that if urgent action is not taken the next wave of country-level extinction

could take place in Senegal, where a mere 200 to 400 wild chimpanzees remain.

 

Other countries where the fate of the western chimpanzee hangs in the balance

include Ghana, which has just 300 to 500 left, and Guinea-Bissau where the

population is down to less than 200 individual animals.

 

The plight of the western chimpanzee is just one of the great ape species on the

agenda of the unprecedented gathering of experts and government representatives

in Paris this week.

 

Under the auspices of UNEP and UNESCO, representatives from the 23 great ape

home " range States " in Africa and South-East Asia as well as donor Governments,

UN agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other GRASP partners are

meeting to draw up nothing less than a survival plan for the great apes.

 

GRASP has four patrons -- namely, Jane Goodall, the celebrated primate

conservationist, Russ Mittermeier, head of Conservation International, Toshisada

Nishida of Kyoto University, one of the world's most famous and longest-serving

primatologists, and Richard Leakey, world famous conservationist and

palaeoanthropologist.

 

" I doubt if there is any challenge of greater importance than that presented by

the current status of the great apes " , said Richard Leakey. " Conservationists

and Governments must come together to put the necessary measures in place to

ensure that the bonobos, chimpanzees, gorillas and orang-utans are saved from

extinction. This must be the point of departure for the Paris meeting. "

 

The great apes are under increasing threat of extinction as the result of

various human activities. Growing human populations encroaching on their

habitat, civil wars, poaching for meat, the live animal trade, and, above all,

the destruction of forests are increasingly taking their toll.

 

According to a recent UNEP report, " The Great Apes - the road ahead " , less than

10 percent of the remaining forest habitat of the great apes of Africa will be

left relatively undisturbed by 2030 if road building, construction of mining

camps and other infrastructure developments continue at current levels.

 

Findings for the orang-utans of South-East Asia appear even bleaker. The report

indicates that in 28 years time there will be almost no habitat left that can be

considered " relatively undisturbed " .

 

Many great ape populations live in extremely remote areas, which are difficult

to map, let alone monitor. To improve the data, UNESCO works with the European

Space Agency, which brings together all international space agnecies, to use

satellites or remote sensing to better monitor the rate of habitat destruction.

The project has begun by mapping the habitats of the mountain gorilla. Only

about 600 are alive in Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo

(DRC).

 

The project will compare satellite image archives to assess changes in gorilla

habitats since 1992 in the Virunga National Park (DRC) and Bwindi Impenetrable

National Park (Uganda), which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The Parc National

des Volcans (Rwanda) and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park (Uganda) may soon join

this list.

 

At the same time, UNESCO is working with local rangers to help improve law

enforcement and monitoring in all five of the DRC's World Heritage Sites, which

are home to several great ape species.

 

" Law enforcement is an essential but single element in any conservation effort.

We cannot just put up fences to try and separate the apes from people " , said

Samy Mankoto of UNESCO. " Great apes play a key role in maintaining the health

and diversity of tropical forests, which people depend upon. They disperse seeds

throughout the forests, for example, and create light gaps in the forest canopy

which allow seedlings to grow and replenish the ecosystem. "

 

To better understand great apes, studies are underway in several UNESCO

biosphere reserves that are home to chimpanzee, gorilla and orang-utan. One of

the most important populations of wild chimpanzees lives in the Taï Biosphere

Reserve in Côte d'Ivoire, where a team of zoologists has been studying their

behaviour since 1979. Much of what we know today about orang-utan tool making is

from studies in the Tanjung Puting Biosphere Reserve in Indonesia. These studies

are combined with a variety of projects to reconcile conservation with the needs

of local communities.

 

Since it was launched in May 2001, GRASP has seen 16 of the 23 great ape range

States apply new conservation measures specifically designed for these species.

Policy-making workshops have already been held in six of these countries,

bringing together stakeholders from government, academia and private industry as

well as NGOs and the United Nations. These have lead to the drafting of national

plans that show exactly how the necessary funds can be applied to make a real

difference to ape numbers on the ground.

 

" It's basic arithmetic " , said Rob Hepworth, Deputy Director of UNEP's Division

of Environmental Conventions: " The multiplication of threats to the endangered

apes; the division of their habitats; the subtraction in overall ape numbers. To

get the sums right, we need the addition of the value which the GRASP WSSD

[World Summit for Sustainable Development] Partnership is already providing - a

focused effort by two major UN agencies, four wildlife conventions, and 18 NGOs

to raise awareness, raise funds, and raise our conservation game so we stop the

great apes from becoming history. "

 

The meeting in Paris this week will develop a Global Great Ape Conservation

Strategy. It will also prepare for an intergovernmental ministerial meeting on

great apes and GRASP to be held in late 2004.

 

****

 

 

Note to Editors

 

UNESCO has a network of more than 400 biosphere reserves in over 90 countries,

many of which have extremely important populations of great apes that are also

found in dozens of World Heritage Sites. For a full list, www.unesco.org/mab

 

 

UNEP Report: " Great Apes - the road ahead " (available on-line at

www.globio.info)

Download the full report at:

http://www.globio.info/download.cfm?File=region/africa/GRASP_5.pdf

 

Africa and South-East Asia map animations (graphics) are available.

 

" Great Apes - the road ahead " is edited by Dr. Christian Nellemann of UNEP's

GRID-Arendal in Norway and Dr. Adrian Newton of the UNEP World Conservation

Monitoring Centre in Cambridge, UK.

 

The results are based on a pioneering new method of evaluating the wider impacts

of infrastructure development on key species that, in this study, are the

chimpanzee, bonobo or pygmy chimpanzee, the gorilla and the orang-utan.

 

The report looks in detail at each of the four great ape species to assess the

current, remaining habitat deemed relatively undisturbed and thus able to

support viable populations of apes. The experts have then mapped the likely

impact and area of healthy habitat left in 2030 at current levels of

infrastructure growth.

 

Gorilla The study estimates that around 28 percent, or some 204,900 square

kilometres of remaining gorilla habitat, can be classed as relatively

undisturbed.

 

If infrastructure growth continues at current levels, the area left by 2030 is

estimated to be 69,900 square kilometres or just 10 percent. It amounts to a 2.1

percent, or 4,500 square kilometre, annual loss of low-impacted gorilla habitat

in countries including Nigeria, Gabon, Rwanda and Uganda.

 

Chimpanzee The study estimates that around 26 percent, or some 390,840 square

kilometres of remaining chimpanzee habitat, can be classed as relatively

undisturbed.

 

If infrastructure growth continues at current levels, the area left by 2030 is

estimated to be 118,618 square kilometres or just eight percent. It amounts to a

2.3 percent, or 9,070 square kilometre, annual loss of low-impacted chimpanzee

habitat from countries including Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire and Gabon.

 

Bonobo The study estimates that around 23 percent, or some 96,483 square

kilometres, of remaining bonobo habitat, can be classed as relatively

undisturbed.

 

If infrastructure growth continues at current levels, the area left by 2030 is

estimated to be 17,750 square kilometres or just four percent. It amounts to a

2.8 percent, or 2,624 square kilometre, annual loss of low-impacted bonobo

habitat from the Democratic Republic of the Congo-the only country in which they

are found.

 

Orang-utan The study estimates that around 36 percent, or some 92,332 square

kilometres, of remaining orang-utan habitat, can be classed as relatively

undisturbed.

 

If infrastructure growth continues at current levels, the area left by 2030 is

estimated to be 424 square kilometres or less than one percent. It amounts to a

five percent, or 4,697 square kilometre, annual loss of low-impacted orang-utan

habitat from the islands of Sumatra (Indonesia) and Borneo (Indonesia -

Kalimantan and Malaysia - Sarawak and Sabah).

 

More about GRASP A list of GRASP partners can be found at

www.unep.org/grasp/partners.asp.

 

For more information about the UNEP/UNESCO GRASP meeting in Paris from 26 to 28

November 2003 go to http://www.unesco.org/mab/grasp/prepIGM.htm

 

Governments, the private sector, NGOs and the public can learn how to donate

money to GRASP by accessing http://www.unep.org/grasp/Help.asp

 

GRASP is registered with the UN Commission for Sustainable Development as a

Partnership under the World Summit for Sustainable Development (September 2002

in Johannesburg). As a WSSD partnership, GRASP endeavours to ensure the

conservation of the great apes and their habitat, now and in the future, and

thus support the continuation of diverse ecosystems and viable wildlife

populations. The WSSD's Plan of Implementation emphasises that " biodiversity,

which plays a critical role in overall sustainable development and poverty

eradication, is essential to our planet, human well-being and the livelihood and

cultural integrity of people. "

 

For more information, please contact: Robert Bisset, UNEP Spokesperson for

Europe, on tel: +33-1-4437-7613, mobile: +33-6-2272-5842, robert.bisset

or, Amy Otchet, UNESCO Bureau of Public Information, Editorial Section, on tel:

+33-1-4568-1704, a.otchet

 

For photos of great apes, contact Ariane Bailey, UNESCO Photo Library

Tel: +33-1-4568-1682 - a.bailey

 

For more background information, go to

http://www.unesco.org/mab/grasp/prepIGM.htm

 

In Nairobi, please contact: Eric Falt, Director of UNEP's Division of

Communications and Public Information, on Tel: +254-20-623292, Mobile:

+254-733-682656, E-mail: eric.falt or Nick Nuttall, UNEP Head of Media,

on Tel: +254-20-623084, Mobile: +254-733-632755, E-mail: nick.nuttall

 

 

 

 

For more information, contact:

 

Robert Bisset

Information Officer for Europe

UNEP

rbisset

 

 

Web site:

 

www.unep.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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