New plan to save the chimpanzee from extinction
By Jeremy Hance, www.mongabay.com
June 21, 2010 Humankind’s closest relative, the chimpanzee, is classified as Endangered by the IUCN Red List. Threatened by habitat and forest loss, hunting for bushmeat, trafficking for the illegal pet trade, mining, and disease, the species remains in a precarious position. Yet a new 10-year-plan with East and Central African hopes to ensure the chimpanzee’s (Pan troglodytes) survival. The plan, which focuses on one subspecies of four, the eastern chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii), pushes for the conservation of 16 core areas that would protect 96 percent of the eastern chimpanzee population. Outlined during a workshop last summer in Uganda, which included over 30 experts covering the seven nations where the eastern chimpanzee is located, the program estimated population both in well-studied and un-surveyed areas. Estimations of eastern chimpanzee population ranged from 50,000 to 200,000 animals. “It is clear that we know about the distribution and abundance of only a quarter of the world population of the eastern chimpanzee,” admitted Dr Liz Williamson, IUCN’s Species Survival Commission Great Ape Coordinator, in a press release. Despite the species popularity and the fact that some chimp communities are well-studied, Williams says that “there are large areas of the Congo basin where we know very little about this ape.” The experts hope over the next decade to fill-in the gaps in their knowledge. …
