Chapter 14 the Greatape World Heritage Speciesproject
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Chapter 14 The GreatApe World Heritage SpeciesProject RichardW Wrangham,Gali Hagel.Mark Leighton. Andrew.l. Mar-shall,Paul Waldau. antl Tosl.risadaNishida l. lntroduction Thc nission (;fcal 01'rhc Apc Wor.ltlHcrilage Spcciesprojcct is to oflcr a nc\,vway to help aver.tthe cxtilctior.rcrisis that curn.cntlyfuces chirrrpanzees, bonobos.gor-illas. and oralgutans. ald in so doing to assistthe pltght of tllcseapcs ln captivity also. Wc belicvethiit a highcl intcrltatioral pr.olilefbr the gr.elitapes is neccs_ sary if thev (rli tre to sLtrvivein the rvilcl.Our goal is tlrercforelo 1au,,.,,a cor_ liiboration that ivill icad to dcsiguatilg the gr.satapes as Wor-ld Heritage Spccies. This desiglatiol ol World Hcr.ira-ucSpccie.s woulcl denore a tew ;ii internntiol'tally protecteclcategory ol specics.The esscDtiall.}o1ion ol World ,=:ri Heritage SpecicsstalLrs is that any specicsso nanecl woLrldbc recogtrizedto be o1'outstandiug rilivcrsal I'erlue.iLr.rcl 1o lccd spccialhclp il.they are to be colserved t,ul in thc wilcl. Outslandilg rilivcrsai valuc is thc oper.atiorralcitc_ rioD lbr lton]iuatiotlsto thc World I{critagc Conventiou. so ciesignatiolof Wolld Ileritagc tr; Speciesnright bc thr.ougha prctocol to this conveitron. l.he ,*{:: grciLlapcs \\'ould bc thc llrst sct of spcciest. be so'antccl. Others wo.kl be cxpecleclto follow. We considcr.thatthe dcsignationol great apesas Worltl Hcr.itageSpccies would advancethcir colscrvatiorrbi,'. accelcrating intcrt.tatioual co-opcration in thtee tlain ivlirs. siglifiecl by o ct.ttiot.t.tt,,rr.,irrn,.it ancl ntt,t.ltttni,ynt_ ,l clttion titeallseleliLting a$,at.clless of thl] value and plight ol.gteaLapes. parlicularly anrongpolilical lcacler.s. RcsoutLcs nreansincleasilg the rcsollfccsncccled ro hclp thc grcartapcs. espccially by tapping into thc u,orldwidc inlcr.esril grext apc *,!lfur-" o, o lesult of theif uniqLrerclatiolship rvith hunrans. flaclttutistnnteans creatiltg a ltew ittertationill ntechanismfor olg,Lnizing gfent apc co'servatio' ir tlrc wikl. gi'cn thal lo such mecl]anismcu'.ctrtlv The Gteat Ape Wor-ld prqcct , Her.itageSpecics (GAWHSp) was iniriatcdir Janrary 2001 with the appointnent by the Ilter.national pfinarological Societv of an Atl-hoc Conrrittee lbr thc Wor.ldl{critagc Statuslbr the Gr.eat 132 14.The GreatApe World Heitage SpeciesPrqect was .t' Apes (Anon, 2001). ToshisadaNishida proposed the project' and aipointed as the first chair of GAWHSP,a position that he contlnuesto t hoid.nichard Wranghamhas acted as co-chair since August 2002' international ld Heritase j Since August 2002, GAWHSP has been an independent meetingsin I initiative.with activistsunited through email and occasional JaDan.the United States,Europe, and Africa. Key participantsand supporters have been the InternationalPrimatological Society, the Chimpanzee the Mark Leighton, Collaboratory(initiated and fundedby the GlaserProgress Foundation)' SAGA' Japan ndToshisada Nishrda PrimateSociety of Japan,rhe Wild ChimpanzeeFoundation, (Supportfor African/AsianGreat Apes),the Great Ape Action Group and ihe dreat Ape World HeritageSpecies Project, Inc This chaptersummartzes its the rationalefor GAWHSB its developmentover its first two years'and prospectsfor promotinggreat ape conservation [Note that threeyears have elapsedsince ihis chapiet was acceptedfor publicationin this volume' and significantdevelopments have occurred to further efforts for collaborative the evolutionof leritageSpecies Project is to offer a iniernationalgreat ape consewation. These chiefly concern underajoint iisthat cunently faceschimpanzeeg GRASB the GreatApe SurvivalProject Partnership established We provide an in so doing to assistthe plight of UNEP and UNESCO Secretariat(www unep'org/grasp) addendumat theend of thischapter to updatereaders of relevantdevelopments I profilefor the great apesis neces- whilepreserving the historicaltime frame of this chapter'] ur goalis thereforeto launch a col- I the greatapes as World Heritage ritageSpecies would denote a new 2. The Severityof the Problem rcies.The essentialnotion of Wodd Sumatranand :sso named would be recognizedto Curently, six speciesof nonhumangreat ape are recognized: and bonobos' o needspecial help if they are to be Bornearrorangutans,eastern and westerngorillas, chimpanzees, as 1867(Daruin' ,ersalvalue is the operationalcrite- Predictionsoigreat apeextinctions began at leastas early becauseof the tageConvention, so designationof 1871).PessimiJc forecastshave subsequently been common competitionwith h a protocolto this convention.The greatapes' slow reproductive rates, need for largeareas, and crisis are elusive' esto be so named.Others would be ilr,rnu* ou", habiiat. Reliabledata on the severityof the however,because great ape population densitiesare diffrcult to measure' predictedrates of lbrest reatapes as World HeritageSpecies Estimatestherefore come from indirectdata such as the countingof leleratinginternational cooperation loss,calculations of lossesfrom hunting,and occasionaldetailed arethat without t, resources,and mechanism. nestsin a few key arcas.Frequent conclusions from suchmethods of great f thevalue and plightof greatapes. dramaticchanges to currentconservation strategy, global extinctions apespecies wil'i stafi during the presentcentury (e g', Rijksenand Meijaard' orangutan rcesneeded Lo help the greatapes, t-qSS;Nithiaa et ul., 2001 van Schaiket al',2001) The Sumatran that thereare currently only b interestin great ape welfare as a will probablygo first. Rec€ntsurvey work suggests 7,50boraltgut-arls remaining on Sumatra,and that by 2010they will becomethe lumans. first ape s!""ies to be functionallyextinct in the wild (Wich.e/ al'' 2003" fnationalmechanism for organizing suggestthat chimpanzeesin centraland I thatno suchmechanism currently Singleioner a/., 2004).Some estimates easiernAfrica arethe only greatape that is likelyto survivein the wild to 2100' 2001)' Project(CAWHSPl was initiated in and eventhen in muchdiminished numbers (Nishida el a/', reed large the International Primatological The problemis acutebecause almost all greatape populations throughout brldHeritase Status for the Great e"panse,of fruit-rich forest.These habitats are in steepdecline 284 RichardW \&ranghametal. the tropicsas a resultboth of conversionto agricultureand of logging.The effectsof loggingon apepopulations vary with the intensityof timber extrac- tion. Light to moderateselective logging need not completelytlestroy ape habitat,and most evidencesuggests that apepopulations can be maintained at somewhatreduced densitiesin degraded habitats (e.g., Rijksen and Meijaard, 1999;Felton et a1.,2003).However, as apeshave long lifespans and slow reproductiverates, the long-termeflects of habitat degradationon individual fitness,and thereforeultimately population viability, are diflicult to assess.Nevertheless, it is reasonableto assumethat habitat degradation will lower lemale fecundity and lead to additional time-delayedbut deter- ministic population declines("extinction debt', sezsaTilman. 1994). Furthermore, many logging operations are accompaniedbv collateral damagethat endangersape populations even more graveJythan doesthe timber extraction itself. For example,unsustainable levels of hunting and elevatedtransmission rates of epidemicdiseases associated with logging operationswill likely resultin the local extinctionof severalape populations in Africa (Rose,1998; Wilkie and Carpenter,1999; peterson,2003). If the crisis itself is not surprising,it has neverthelessemerged into the consciousnessof the primatologicalcommunity with surprisingsuddenness during the 1990s.Until that timg particularpopulations such as the Virunga gorillaswere famously under threat and were the subject of majorconservation efforts.The changeduring the last decadeis that overmost of their ranges,it hasnow becomeclear that themajority (ratherthan a selectminority) of great apepopulations are rapidly losing numbers and habitat(Beck et a1.,2001). In spiteof the newlyappreciated scale of the problem,attempts to solveit havefollowed traditional paths. Thus, they havebeen directed largely Lowaro particularpopulations or areasthat happento be of interestto specificsup- portersor donors (e.g.,the Virunga gorillas,Tanjung puting orangutans,or National Parksand Reservessuch as Tai, Mahale,Korup, and others).Th€se local effortshmle had important successes.For examplg the Virunga gorilla populationhas risen in numbersteadily since the 1970sand continues to flourish despiteoccasional episodes of diseaseand poaching(Robbins et a\.,2001). More often,however, they havefailed. Even some of the best-knowngrear apepopulations have suflered heavily. Logging has advancedrapidly in the key orangutanhabitats of TanjungPuting and Gunung palung in Borneo, despitestrong protests (C. Knott, personalcommunication). There has been severepopulation loss of gorillas in Kahuzi-Biega,Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) (J. Yamagiwa,personal communication).In Gombe, Tanzanta,only one community of chimpanzees(the researchand tounsm communityof Kasekela)appears viable (A. pusey,personal communication). Poachinghas begun in the longest-studiedbonobo community, at Wambain DRC (T. Kano, personalcommunication). It might be arguedthat somesuch reversalsare bound to happen,given that thereare many populations of greatapes. But the emergingpicture does not supportsuch a comlortingview _____.| 14.The Great Ape World Heritage Species proiect 2g5 to agricultureand of logging.The Instead,we must reluctantlyconclude that the currentstrategy is a failure.