The Section on Great Apes of the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group

The Section on Great Apes
of the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group

Great apes are special in many respects. More than any other species, they are genetically, behaviorally and physically similar to humans. They have enduring bonds between family members, use a variety of different objects as tools, hunt cooperatively, and many of their gestures and postures for communication are very similar to ours. As such they are an important link to our evolutionary history. All have large territories, and protection of their habitats also provides refuge and the means for survival of the extraordinarily rich and likewise threatened biodiversity in their tropical forests. Great apes are ideal as “flagships” for protecting tropical forests worldwide.

Traditionally, the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group has dealt with great apes through its regional sections for Africa and Asia. However, it has become clear in recent years that we need a separate section to address the multiple crises that now confront these very important animals, and also to liaise with other efforts such as GRASP (Great Ape Survival Project) and GAWHSP (Great Ape World Heritage Species Project).

To address this growing need, we decided to create a separate section within the PSG to focus on great ape conservation in both Africa and Southeast Asia. Members of this section, called the Section on Great Apes (SGA) were selected by expert advice. A balance was sought across the regions and taxa of great apes. The SGA is a group of 87 of the leading great ape scientists and conservationists worldwide, with an Executive Committee of 20 people.

The objective of the SGA is to prevent the extinction of Great Apes by providing sound technical advice on issues regarding their survival and the most up to date information on their numbers and distributions and the threats they face.

The goals of the SGA are therefore:

to provide scientific information about great apes upon which sounds policy decisions can be made;
to act as a clearinghouse of information for great apes.

The SGA Mission Statement:
“The Section on Great Apes is a group of experts active in research on and conservation of great apes. Its role is to promote conservation action on behalf of the great apes, based on the best-available technical information. It serves as a forum for discussion and information exchange; it establishes guidelines for best practices in research and conservation; it formulates action plans, and advises on effective protection of great ape populations.”
Activities
Activities of the SGA are traditional of IUCN/SSC Specialist Groups and are as follows:
1. The SGA is responsible for the Red List Assessments for each species and sub-species of great ape.
The Red List assessment for each species and sub-species of great ape is conducted by the Global Mammal Assessment (GMA). It is then the task of the SGA to review assessments, to make any recommendations for a change in status and to provide relevant documentation to support suggested changes.
2. The SGA as a section of the Primate Specialist Group is responsible for making recommendations on taxonomic decisions regarding great apes to the Primate Specialist Group, which in turn informs IUCN policy as a whole.
3. The SGA is producing IUCN endorsed “Best Practices” or “Guidelines” that document the most up-to date cutting edge information on issues concerning great ape conservation.
One of the tasks of the SGA is the production and distribution of “Guidelines” and “Best Practices” for great ape conservation. These focus on cutting edge issues and draw on the expertise within the SGA network. These guidelines or best practices aim to provide guidance not only to great ape scientists and field researchers, but also to development organizations, donors, and governments involved in projects concerning great apes. These publications will be endorsed by the IUCN, thus adding weight and credibility to their conclusions.
The following five subjects will be covered in the next three years:
Tourism with great apes;
Disease control and monitoring in great ape populations;
Survey and monitoring methodologies of great ape populations;
Reintroduction to the wild of great apes from sanctuaries;
Human-great ape conflicts.
4. The SGA will issue IUCN endorsed “Statements” that aim to guide practices and influence public opinion in a way to benefit great ape conservation.
The following are the subjects upon which the SGA plans to develop statements:
Great apes as diplomatic gifts;
Great apes and the pet trade;
Great apes in entertainment, advertising, publicity and promotions.
5. The SGA manages a Great Ape Emergency Conservation Fund to rapidly provide small grants in emergency situations threatening great apes.
Very few funds exist that target great apes in particular. There are often urgent needs for funds to respond to emergency situations such as civil conflict or disease outbreaks. During civil conflict, larger donors may withdraw funds and emergency funds are needed to support staff during this critical time. The recent Ebola outbreak in Central Africa is another example of a situation in which the quick release of emergency funds could have been extremely useful. Urgently needed is an agile fund that can provide timely support in the form of small grants for the conservation of great apes worldwide. A small fund specifically for great apes has therefore been created in the hopes that it could be catalytic in stimulating further donations. As such it could provide the means for the establishment of a permanent resource for supporting field conservation and research, monitoring programs of threats and population status and, most importantly, pressing conservation measures and the resolution of short-term threats to their survival and to the protected areas where they occur. The SGA will be responsible for reviewing proposals and making recommendations for the disbursement of these funds. 6. The SGA will produce IUCN/SSC Status Survey and Conservation Action Plans that outline consensus expert opinion on the priority sites and priority actions for each species of great ape worldwide.
In September 2002 a workshop was held in Abidjan to develop an action plan for the conservation of chimpanzees in West Africa. Participating in the creation of this action plan were government officials from range countries, scientists, researchers, protected areas managers, as well as national and international NGOs. As a result of this workshop, an IUCN/SSC publication has been produced, as well as a regional summary of priority sites and activities.
In May 2005, a second workshop was held in Brazzaville on chimpanzees and gorillas in Western Equatorial Africa, resulting in the regional action plan for these species. The production of an IUCN/SSC status survey and action plan for this region is currently underway.
The process involved in the compilation of the information for these action plans results in thorough baseline data for these species that can be built upon in years to come. One of the activities of the SGA is therefore to aid in the production of the action plans for all species of great ape.
7. The SGA is working in partnership with the Lincoln Park Zoo, Max Planck Institute, the Jane Goodall Institute and Harvard University on establishing linked databases on great ape populations. The SGA will help gather, update and validate information in these databases.
Much of the information on great ape status and distribution and threats is widely distributed throughout the published literature and unpublished reports. Linked databases will fulfil the following roles:
1) an informational clearinghouse about great ape conservation;
2) a place to store great ape distribution population/monitoring information;
3) hypothesis testing;
4) policy advising.
For over a year, Lincoln Park Zoo has been working on a centralized database for Great Ape Conservation. This database has already been populated with information from the literature and web searches. What is needed now is confirmation from scientists in the field and a mechanism by which the database can be kept alive and up-to-date. Lincoln Park Zoo and the SGA are establishing a partnership whereby the SGA could facilitate this process.
Other databases are being developed by the Max Planck Institute in Germany, Woods Hole at Harvard University and the Jane Goodall Institute. These will be georeferenced, spatial database containing maps, survey information, population distributions, as well as information on habitat coverage of great ape range areas.
Developers of each database will pursue means of linking them to each other. The SGA is a partner in these endeavours and will help gather, update and validate information. The SGA will provide advice on data sharing and access, design of the databases and will endorse this integrated effort.
8. The SGA will aid in establishing and maintaining networks, through a newsletter.
The purpose of an SGA newsletter is to help raise awareness about all aspects of great ape conservation, as well as to facilitate communication and networking amongst those working in various fields. While many newsletters on primate issues exist already, none specifically target great apes and their conservation as a group. The SGA newsletter will be linked to the IUCN website http://www.iucn.org/themes/ssc/index.htm and will be published in English, French and Bahasa Indonesia.
Summary Above is a list of specific activities that the SGA aims to pursue. This group however, has the potential for much greater impact through a united force for great ape conservation. As this group of the world’s technical experts on great ape conservation becomes more established it is hoped that its expertise will be used to guide policy decisions and actions worldwide for the conservation of great apes.