No. 196, Oct. 17-23, 2002

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Threats to primates are escalating

By Cat Lazaroff

Washington, DC, Oct. 8 (ENS)— One in every three of the world’s apes, monkeys, lemurs and other primates are now threatened with extinction, warns a new report by international conservation groups. The report notes that primate species and subspecies classified as endangered or critically endangered has jumped by almost 63 percent — from 120 to 195 — since the last version of the report was issued in January 2000.

“The World’s Top 25 Most Endangered Primates-2002,” compiled by Conservation International (CI) and the Primate Specialist Group of IUCN - The World Conservation Union, was finalized during a recent gathering of the International Primatological Society, at its 19th Congress in Beijing, China.

Asia now accounts for almost 45 percent of the world’s most endangered primates, the report shows, with 11 listed in the top 25, including six that are new additions. Africa has eight primates on the list, the Neotropics hosts three endangered primates, and Madagascar is home to the final three primates represented on the list.

“The latest information made available at the International Primatological Society Congress in Beijing highlighted the fact that Asia has now become the world leader in endangered primates,” said Conservation International president Russ Mittermeier.

“Of particular concern is the situation in Vietnam and China,” Mittermeier continued. “Indeed, with several primates now numbering only in the dozens or low hundreds of individuals, Vietnam is at risk of undergoing a major primate extinction spasm within the next few years if rapid action is not taken. Fully 20 percent of the top 25 primates are located in Vietnam, with another 16 percent from China and 12 percent from Indonesia.”

Twenty-three of the 25 primates are found in the world’s biodiversity hotspots: 25 regions identified by Conservation International which cover just 1.4 percent of Earth’s land surface but harbor more than 60 percent of all terrestrial plant and animal diversity.

According to the report, 48 of the 55 critically endangered primates — 87 percent — and 124 of the 140 endangered primates — 89 percent — are found only in the biodiversity hotspots. Six of the hotspots are considered the highest priorities for the survival of the world’s most endangered primates, including Indo-Burma, Madagascar, Sundaland, the Guinean Forests of West Africa, the Atlantic Forests of Brazil, and the Western Ghats/Sri Lanka.

“It’s important to point out that the Top 25 list is just the tip of the iceberg and a call for more conservation action,” said Bill Konstant of Conservation International and co-author of the report. “Essentially, for each primate on it, any one of several other equally threatened species might have been chosen instead. Changing conditions in any of the represented countries can lead to the rapid decline of any of the 195 species threatened with extinction.”

Habitat loss due to the clearing of tropical forests for agriculture, timber extraction and the collection of fuel wood continues to be the major factor in the declining number of primates according to the report. However, hunting has been an insidious and major threat, especially in Africa and Asia.

While hunting was once done mainly for subsistence purposes, it has now taken on a major commercial dimension. Live capture for the pet trade and export for biomedical research have become lesser concerns in recent decades, but still pose a threat to some species.

As flagship species, primates are important to the health of their surrounding ecosystems. Through the dispersal of fruit seeds and other foods they consume, primates help support a wide range of plant and animal life that make up the earth’s forests.

The loss of nonhuman primates is directly linked to the global extinction crisis, the report’s authors warn.

“These 25 are facing a very serious risk of extinction due to the ongoing and rapid loss of their forests and, especially in Asia and Africa, their widespread and devastating exploitation for food and body parts, bizarre decoration, and charms or potions,” noted Anthony Rylands of the species program at Conservation International’s Center for Applied Biodiversity Science (CABS). “The key factor is that all of the species listed as ‘critically endangered’ and ‘endangered’ are declining dramatically and require urgent measures for their protection.”

Although still highly endangered, a number of species have been removed from the list first issued in 2000. The golden lion tamarin and the black lion tamarin, for example, have benefited from the protection efforts of the Brazilian government. Comprehensive conservation and management programs are in place for each — that for the black lion tamarin run by the NGO IPÊ (Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas) in collaboration with the Wildlife Preservation Trust, Philadelphia; and that for the golden lion tamarin by the Associação Mico-Leão-Dourado (AMLD) in collaboration with the National Zoological Park, Smithsonian Institution.

ENVIRONMENT BRIEFS

US polluters escape sanctions under Bush

A new study bolsters charges by environmentalists that the US EPA has drastically cut back its pursuit of polluters.

Using EPA data, researchers in the office of Democratic Congressman Edward J. Markey found that the Bush administration brought nearly 50 percent fewer administrative actions against polluters than were undertaken under the tenure of former president Bill Clinton.

Titled “Does Honesty Pay at the EPA?,” the study reviewed 20,000 EPA actions against polluters in the last 13 ½ months of the Clinton presidency and the first 14 months under Bush.

Fines settled against polluters fell by 80 percent under Bush, from about $845 million to $165 million, according to the study. Furthermore, many of the fines and lawsuits culminating in 2001 were really the product of actions taken under the Clinton administration, since the cases can take years to resolve.

Markey accuses the administration of encouraging companies to pollute through lack of incentives to clean up their operations. Businesses that fully comply with existing laws, he said, are harmed when those who fail to comply are not subject to enforcement action.

Examples of the reality behind the study are numerous. For example, Hilton Kelley lives in Port Arthur, TX, a predominantly African-American town that has four big oil refineries. He says residents are plagued by cancers, headaches, respiratory and skin problems, but that the EPA is actually trying to roll back emissions standards to allow these companies to return to 10-year-old pollution baselines.

Port Arthur is one of 25 highly polluted communities spotlighted in a new Sierra Club report. Each of these areas have been directly harmed by the Bush administration’s bid to cut the EPA’s enforcement and clean-up budget, the group says. (IPS)

Climate-related perils could bankrupt insurers

Climate change is causing natural disasters that the financial services industry must address, a group of the world’s biggest banks, insurers and re-insurers warned today. They estimated the cost of financial losses from events such as this summer’s devastating floods in central Europe at $150 billion over the next 10 years.

“Climate Change and the Financial Services Industry,” a report supported by 295 banks and insurance and investment companies, was launched Oct. 7 at the Swiss Re Greenhouse Gas conference in Zurich, Switzerland. A partnership between the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the financial institutions, known as UNEP Finance Initiatives, commissioned the report. The report shows that losses as a result of natural disasters appear to be doubling every decade and have reached $1 trillion in the past 15 years. The report concludes that the increasing frequency of severe climactic events, coupled with the subsequent social instability, has the potential to “stress insurers, reinsurers, and banks to the point of impaired viability or even insolvency.”

Linked to heat-trapping emissions from the combustion of coal, oil and gas, the environmental implications of global warming are serious. Melting polar ice caps and glaciers, rising sea levels, distorted weather patterns, and drought are widely forecast. Coastal cities, crops, and animal habitat could be destroyed. But too few financial companies are taking the risks and opportunities posed by climate change seriously, a survey of mainstream financial institutions carried out by the UNEP Finance Initiatives report indicates. This lack of action is most likely due to prolonged wrangling over the Kyoto Protocol, the international environmental agreement stymied last year by the US and Australia. (ENS)

Locals claim win: World Bank rejects Romanian mine

The World Bank has backed away from funding a controversial mining project in Romania after environmentalists and economists insisted the operation could become an ecological nightmare for the European country.

The contentious Rosia Montana gold mine project in Romania’s Apuseni Mountains would have required $100 million from the Washington-based Bank’s private arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

An international coalition of non-governmental organizations opposed the project because of flaws in the proposal, its potential environmental impact, and concerns about the record of Canadian sponsor Gabriel Resources.

The IFC released a statement Oct. 10 stating its decision not to pursue the project. The decision came just weeks after dozens of civil society groups protested Bank financing of fossil fuel and mining projects.

Had it gone ahead, Rosia Montana would have been Europe’s largest opencast or open-pit mining operation. The pits would have generated millions of tons of cyanide-laced waste.

In a statement released Friday, the international coalition described a catastrophe at the Baia Mare gold mine in Romania, where a cyanide spill in 2000 polluted the Tisza and Danube Rivers, contaminating the drinking water supply of 2.5 million people and reportedly killing 1,200 tons of fish. (IPS)

 

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