Africa
Massive destruction of Africa's great ape habitats

afrol News, 3 September - Less than 10 per cent of the remaining habitat of the great apes of Africa will be left relatively undisturbed by 2030 if road building, mining camps and other infrastructure developments continue at current levels a new report suggests. In Africa, the study looked at the habitats of the chimpanzee, bonobo or pygmy chimpanzee and the gorilla.

The results have come from study - which was presented today at the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) - by the UU Environment Programme (UNEP), which is co-ordinating the Great Apes Survival Project partnership (GRASP), and scientists from Norway and the US. The study was based on a new method of evaluating the wider impacts of infrastructure development on key species. 

The report has looked in detail at each of these three great ape species in Africa to assess the current, remaining, habitat deemed relatively undisturbed and thus able to support viable populations of apes. The experts then mapped the likely impact and area of healthy habitat left in 2030 at current levels of infrastructure growth. Impacts such as habitat fragmentation and noise disturbance were also accounted for.

UNEP leader Klaus Toepfer said the report suggested the possible fate of the great apes and their habitats. "Roads are being built in the few remaining pristine forests of Africa and South East Asia to extract timber, minerals and oil. Uncontrolled road construction in these areas is fragmenting and destroying the great apes' last homes and making it easier for poachers to slaughter them for meat and their young more vulnerable to capture for the illegal pet trade." 

Mr Toepfer further called for a stop of the "uncontrolled exploitation of these forests." This would not only the great apes, but thousands of other species and people, he held. "By conserving the Great Apes, we will also protect the livelihoods of the many people that rely on forests for food, medicine and clean water." 
Having a closer look at the report indeed reveals a threat to three of those African species that have become favourites among environmentalists and other animal lovers - groups forming mighty lobbies all around the globe. 

The fate of the gorilla in its natural habitats seems unsure. 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 was to continue at current levels, the area left by 2030 was 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 Burundi," the study reveals. By 2045, low-impacted gorilla therefore could have vanished alltogether.

The supposedly less endangered chimpanzee struggles against the same trends. The study estimates that around 26 percent - or some 390,840 square kilometres - of remaining chimpanzee habitat could be classed as relatively undisturbed. 

If infrastructure growth continues at current levels, the area left by 2030 was estimated to be 118,618 square kilometres or just eight percent. This amounted 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. chimpanzee habitats could therefore disappear by 2043 if current trends are not reversed.

Finally, the bonobo - which only is found in Congo Kinshasa (DRC) - is the great ape in greatest danger of losing its habitats. The study estimates that around 23 percent - or some 96,483 square kilometres - of remaining bonobo habitat can be classed as relatively undisturbed. 

The area left by 2030 was estimated to be 17,750 square kilometres or just four per cent, again, if infrastructure growth continues at current levels. This amounted to a 2.8 percent, or 2,624 square kilometre, annual loss of low-impacted bonobo habitat from the Congo-Kinshasa. By 2037, the bonobo habitats could therefore be extinguished.

The report however included a strategy to reverse the trends that seem to lead to the extinction of Africa's great apes. This strategy aimed to cover all of the two dozen range states of the great apes and "draw up national recovery action plans in collaboration with the governments concerned, wildlife groups and local people." UNEP was planning to send "Ape Envoys" to the region to "raise the profile of the cause."

The report, The Great Apes - the road ahead, is edited by Dr Christian Nellemann of UNEP Grid-Arendal in Norway and Dr Adrian Newton of UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre in Cambridge, UK. It was launched at the WSSD as governments and other supporters of GRASP announced more cash backing for the project. 

Sources: Based on UNEP and afrol archives

 

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