Save the Apes to Stop Climate Change New GRASP Partners! He Logic Is Simple: to Save the Apes, We Must Save Their Habitat
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Issue Number 7, November 2007 Save the apes to stop climate change New GRASP Partners! he logic is simple: to save the apes, we must save their habitat. T The correlation between areas of high carbon and the distribution of great apes is striking, though not surprising considering that The Aspinall Foundation and the Humane Society International great apes inhabit tropical rainforests and woodlands. Ape habitat - Australia were admitted to the Partnership during the last meeting comprises two of the planet’s three ‘green lungs’ – the tropical of the Executive forests of Africa and SE Asia, and the focus of GRASP’s activity. Committee on 2-3 Fear of climate change has brought the ecological services that May 2007. these forests provide us to the fore. As a result, there is a growing sense of urgency in efforts to slow deforestation. very problems we need the forests to help solve. Forests store But forests are more than just trees, and apes are not just important carbon not just in the wood of the trees, but in the soil – especially in because they are interesting and intelligent social mammals. Let tropical forests growing on peat swamps, which release centuries’ us not forget that primates also perform a service to the planet. worth of stored carbon if they dry out. Thus, protection of fauna as They are keystone species in their habitat, principally because they well as flora must be a part of forest management for carbon (and, disperse the seeds of the next generation of trees in their droppings. of course, other ecological services). This role as seed dispersal agents means that the forests need the apes as much as these species need the forest. The valuation of In December 2007, GRASP will hold a side event at the 13th ecosystem services of forests should, on this basis, also recognize Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on and value the role played by keystone species in those ecosystems. Climate Change. Among the items to be discussed by the signatory Each germinating seedling growing out of a frugivore’s droppings governments are the new regulations to reduce GHG emissions, can be thought of as an ‘ecological event’; the old-growth carbon which will come into effect after the first period of the Kyoto Protocol stocks we are measuring today (and the forest products being ends in 2012. Unfortunately, the Kyoto Protocol and European made into rattan chairs, garden furniture and hardwood paneling) Emissions Trading Scheme do not recognize carbon credits for are a result of such events that happened centuries ago. Thus, if we avoided deforestation, and make it very difficult for afforestation are to benefit from ‘permanence’ in carbon sequestration, we must or reforestation schemes in developing countries. As a result, enable conditions for such events to continue - we need to protect economic pressures to exploit forests are many times greater than the ‘gardeners of the forest’ – the apes and elephants and other efforts to conserve them, and so illegal and unsustainable logging seed dispersal agents. and the conversion of tropical forests to agriculture continue to threaten these biodiverse habitats and their role in maintaining This is not, of course, just about saving charismatic mega- climate stability. Ironically, one of the measures being touted as vertebrates. About 50 % of all known species live in tropical forests, a means of reducing carbon emissions – using bio-fuels instead of or more correctly, play a role in the ecology of tropical forests. fossil fuels – is exacerbating the destruction of forests by making it And these forests play a pivotal role in sequestering and storing more profitable to convert them to growing oil palms or other crops carbon. Moreover, losing these forests doesn’t just mean an for bio-fuels. absence of their role as climate regulators. Forest destruction and degradation accounts for nearly a fifth of global greenhouse gas Action to reduce GHG emissions could, if they result in an (GHG) emissions – much more than the transport sector. Cutting increase investment in tropical forest management, also help down forests is a double loss because the process adds to the achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The poorest 1.2 billion of the world’s population depend directly on forests for their livelihood. The required improvement in infrastructure for creating a system of monitoring and protecting forests instead of destroying them would result in employment opportunities, from which many would benefit. The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, published by the British Government last year, concluded that “Curbing deforestation is a highly cost-effective way to reduce emissions”. It estimates that investing several billions of dollars per year in protecting forests would be the cheapest way of significantly reducing global carbon emissions. This is not, however, instead of developing low carbon technology and curbing other emissions, but an immediate action that could buy some time for new technologies to come into play. It is GRASP’s intention to ensure that some of this investment also achieves the objectives outlined in the Global Strategy adopted by signatories to the Kinshasa Declaration in September 2005. (continued on page 4) IT equipment helps GRASP Focal Points do their job n April, with the help of Innocent Secretariat updates IGarakumbe at the International Gorilla Conservation Programme in Kampala, GRASP was able to Since the last newsletter, the Secretariat has been busy provide our Ugandan Focal Point, with various activities, including a CITES technical mission, Moses Mapesa Wafula at the UNEP mission to DRC, Paris Meeting of Donor Countries, and Ugandan Wildlife Authority, with publication of an orangutan report, all highlighted in this issue. seven GPS units and a printer Meanwhile, some other activities include: that will allow his team to collect © WCS © geo-referenced data on great Stephen Ebai Takang (left), Focal Point for • A GRASP brainstorming meeting took place 30 April -1 May ape habitat, population size and Cameroon, receiving a photocopier from Bernard Fosso, WCS 2007 in Nairobi to take stock of the Partnership’s direction distribution. and to deliberate on several areas of focus to help improve implementation of the GRASP Programme of Action. Since April, the GRASP Technical Support Team has also provided IT equipment to a further four range state Focal Points, bringing the • The third GRASP Executive Committee meeting was held total number of recipients to nine, and counting. This project, as the at UNEP headquarters in Nairobi on 2-3 May 2007. Topics technology transfer component of the GRASP European Commission of discussion included: future directions of GRASP, the grant, aims to equip every GRASP Focal Point with IT resources to next GRASP Council Meeting, elections of the Scientific the value of USD 3,500. Commission, and development of a business plan and monitoring and reporting mechanisms. Minutes of the In Nigeria, Focal Point Fidelis meeting are available online at: http://www.unep.org/grasp/ Odiakaose Omeni took receipt Meetings/executive_committee_meetings.asp of a full suite of office equipment from Andrew Dunn of the Wildlife • The Partnership published a GRASP Activity and Finance Plan, Conservation Society (WCS). His launched at the Paris Donor Meeting (see article on page 3) and computer, printer, scanner, digital available on-line at: http://www.unep.org/grasp/Meetings/ camera, power surge protector and Donors_meetings.asp memory stick were all supplied from • Carbon Forestry: UNEP and UNESCO representatives Abuja, whilst the new binoculars © WCS © met with Malaysian officials from the Sabah Forestry Fidelis Odiakaose Omeni, Focal Point for and GPS units were sourced from Nigeria, with his new computer Department (SFD) and private carbon companies in Paris the United Kingdom. WCS also May 29-30 2007 to discuss and identify innovative financing played a key facilitation role in Cameroon, supplying Focal Point mechanisms and sustainable forest management practices. Stephen Ebai Takang with a photocopier and various accessories GRASP Chief Consultant Ian Redmond also attended the in June. World Bank Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) More recently, we are pleased to report that with the help of Boubacar Meeting, in Paris on 19 July 2007 to discuss carbon financing Diarra at the IUCN Dakar office, Ndeye Sene Thiam, Focal Point for and explore possibilities for directing carbon funding towards Senegal, has received several items – including a laptop and digital great ape conservation priority sites. camera with the express purpose of having the flexibility to track chimpanzee movements and distribution in the field. It is heartening to see different members of the GRASP Partnership GRASP Scientific Commission is Established working together to ensure that the communication needs of the range state Focal Points are met. GRASP welcomes the 11 members of the newly established Chris Wright, Born Free Foundation, GRASP Technical Support Team Scientific Commission: Sri Suci Utami Atmoko, Christophe Boesch, Tatyana Humle, Inza Koné, Mark Leighton, Dieudonné Musibono, GRASP and CITES Technical Mission to SE Asia Fiona Maisels, Eric Meijaard, William Olupot, Liz Williamson, and Chair Serge Wich. The GRASP and CITES Secretariats conducted the second The work of the Scientific Commission will include providing sound technical mission to Southeast Asia 23-28 April 2007 to Thailand scientific advice to the GRASP partnership and the monitoring of and Cambodia to study the illegal trade in orangutans as agreed in great ape populations and habitats as an indicator for conservation CITES Resolution Conf. 13.4. Both countries had reportedly been success. Furthermore, as funding and needs arise, the Scientific receiving significant amounts of illegally traded orangutans. The Commission will conduct studies of alternative conservation team visited facilities reported to be in possession of orangutans that had been illegally imported such as Safari-World type entertainment/ strategies and investments to improve conservation effectiveness.