Monkeys And Apes Threatened--Tourism Might Help

Deforestation and hunting for food are threatening the world's monkey and ape population. Russell Mittermeier, president of Conservation International and head of the INternational Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) primate specialist group issued a statement saying, "We Have solid data to show that the situation is far more severe than we imagined."

According to the latest IUCN assessment, 48% of the 634 known species and sub-species of primates are at risk of extinction. Five years ago the percentage was at 39, and the organization ruled that it appears a lot more people are eating monkeys for dinner these days--no joke.

"Gorilla meat, chimpanzee meat and meat of other apes fetches a higher price than beef, chicken or fish" in some African countries Mittermeier told Reuters. He says some species are "literally being eaten into extinction."

A large part of why hunters have been able to persevere is because of deforestation. The burning and clearing of tropical forests not only destroys the creatures' habitats, but newly forming farmlands and roads cut to help loggers are opening up previously inaccessible regions to poachers.

Primates are feeling the most heat in Asia, with 71% of all species at risk, versus Africa where the rate sits at 37%.

Mittermeier believes the trends can "absolutely" be reversed, however. Pushing global warming legislation that would regulate deforestation is certainly a helpful measure, but he also believes "eco-tourism" can play a hefty role. According to his logic, local people will have a greater stake in conservation if their income from tourism is higher than from hunting--saving the planet through straight economics. The only difficulty is trying to generate greater interest in nature-based tourism. Mittermeier plans to do his part by helping to promote a new trend in "primate watching." Bird watching is already extremely popular around the globe, and believes primates can be just as fascinating if not more so to look out for.

He himself has seen 350 out of the 634 known species and sub-species of primate in the wild, making him one of, if not the world's greatest record-holder. He plans to launch a website that lists the the top experts' sightings in hopes of making the hobby more popular. Of course, monkeys and apes aren't nearly as common to spot as birds, and will require expensive plane tickets to exotic lands, so whether or not this becomes a viable method to save endangered primates has yet to be seen.

www.WeEarth.com