World's great apes face disaster, says Leakey - Guardian

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

World's great apes face disaster, says Leakey

Hunting, disease, logging and demand for biofuels
cited among prime threats

David Adam, environment correspondent
Thursday May 31, 2007
The Guardian

One of the world's most prominent conservation experts yesterday issued
a rallying cry to save the great apes, man's closest biological cousins,
which are under serious threat of extinction.

Richard Leakey, former head of the Kenya wildlife service and now chair
of Wildlife Direct, said apes across the world faced unprecedented threats
from the combined effects of hunting, disease and logging. And he said
efforts to tackle global warming through the use of biofuels could cause
more damage to ape populations because of pressure to chop down their
tropical forest homes.

About 80% of orang-utan habitat in south-east Asia has been destroyed in
the past 20 years because of soaring demand for land to produce palm oil
for western markets. Experts warn that increased uptake of alternative
fuels could mean the disappearance of the remaining 50,000 animals there
within a generation.

Dr Leakey, who will outline his concerns in a public lecture tonight at the
Royal Geographical Society in London, said human activity was directly
to blame for the deaths of millions of gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos
across the world. He urged politicians working on a new international
treaty to regulate greenhouse gas emissions to focus more on incentives
to conserve forests across south-east Asia, Africa and central and south
America.

-snip-

Read more: http://environment.guardian.co.uk/conservation/story/0,,2091822,00.html

[Double T]

1. mankind is a selfish destructive SOB

[BootinUp]

2. This threat of extinction can't be allowed to continue. n/t

[GliderGuider]

3. Sure it can.

We gotta drive, you know?

When did you last buy gasoline? When did you last buy an orang-utan? There ya go...

[Nihil]

4. Your car runs on orang-utans?

Cool!

:silly:

[JohnF]

5. Links to an excellent video and a great article

Our activities are causing the "sixth extinction." I featured a very good video about it in this article:

http://growthmadness.org/2007/02/22/the-specter-of-mass-extinction/

It features Leakey and others talking about it.

And Julia Whitty has undoubtedly the best article about it here:

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/05/gone.html

[pscot]

6. That would include us

Dance, monkey. Dance.