Nov. 26, 2003 — Warning that the clock stands at "one minute to midnight," the United Nations on Wednesday appealed for $25 million to help save Man's closest genetic relatives, the Great Apes, from extinction in the wild.
The sum is urgently needed to combat the destruction of the planet's last few gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos and orangutans and secure their natural habitat, the U.N. said.
"Twenty-five million dollars is the bare minimum we need, the equivalent of providing a dying man with bread and water," Klaus Toepfer, executive director of the U.N. Environment Program (UNEP), said in a press release.
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"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."
The appeal was jointly made by UNEP and the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) ahead of a meeting, starting Wednesday, to frame a "survival plan" for the four Great Ape species.
The meeting gathers donor agencies, zoologists and government representatives from the 23 countries that are home to these four unique species, all of which could be wiped out in the wild within 50 years at best.
The creatures' biggest enemy is mankind, which is encroaching on its habitat and ripping through ape populations for poaching, bushmeat and the live animal trade.
Less than 10 percent of the remaining forest home of the Great Apes in Africa will be left relatively undisturbed by 2030 if road-building, the construction of mining camps and other schemes continue at their present pace, UNEP said.
"Research indicates that the western chimpanzee has already disappeared from three countries — Benin, the Gambia and Togo," said UNESCO expert Samy Mankoto, a specialist on biosphere reserves in Africa.
In Ghana, there are only 300-500 western chimps left and in Guinea Bissau, the population has shrunk to less than 200.
Only about 600 mountain gorillas are still alive, holed up in remote pockets of highland in Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) — regions where poverty or strife make the creatures tempting targets for poachers or the hungry.
The outlook for the orangutan, a native of Southeast Asia, is equally grim. In 28 years' time, there will be almost no habitat left that can be deemed "relatively undisturbed," according to a UNEP study.
The three-day Paris meeting aims at developing a "Global Great Ape Conservation Strategy." It will complement a scheme backed by UNEP-UNESCO, the Great Apes Survival Project (GRASP) that was launched in May 2001.
Its work includes satellite mapping of the apes' dwindling habitat, help for Great Ape states in boosting law enforcement and in easing poverty around nature reserves.
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Name: Bonobo, aka Pygmy Chimpanzee (Pan paniscus)
Primary Classification: Haplorhini (Apes) Location: Central Africa. Habitat: Dry primary forests. Diet: Mainly fruits and seeds. Also leaves, fungi, flowers, eggs and small animals. Size: Up to 33 inches in length and 86 lbs in weight. Description: Black fur; black skin; fur on crown has central "parting"; slim body; long, slender limbs; no tail. Cool Facts: It is the only primate, besides man, that engages in sexual intercourse for purposes other than procreation. Conservation Status: Endangered Major Threat(s): Habitat loss and poaching. What Can I Do?: Visit The Bonobo Conservation Initiative for information on how you can help. |
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