Climate change: end for great apes?

 
One of the world's most prominent conservation experts recently 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 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.

Habitat destroyed
About 80 percent of orangutan 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 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.

(The Hindu,7th  June  2007)