Africa’s Great Apes On The Verge Of Extinction, Say Expert

By Staff Writer

Apes face extinction within decades, warned Chimpanzee expert Jane Goodall on Tuesday July 29 in a call to ensure man's closest relative is not phased out in Nairobi, Kenya.

"If we don't take action the great apes will disappear, because of both habitat destruction as well as trafficking," Goodall said in an interview.

Goodall 80, a British scientist who spent more than five decades studying chimpanzees in Tanzania's Gombe National Park said chimpanzee numbers have since dropped drastically from 2 million to just 300 000 in the last 50 years, spreading over 21 countries.

"If we don't change something, they certainly will disappear, or be left in tiny pockets where they will struggle from inbreeding,” she said.

Goodall is also the first scientist to observe that apes as well as humans use tools.

Experts predict that at the current rate, human development will have impacted 90% of the apes' habitat in Africa and 99% in Asia by 2030, according to a UN-backed report last month.

Developments in construction sector and mining of natural resources such as minerals, oil, gas and lumber activities have largely affected the primary habitat of apes and pushed chimpanzees, colobus monkeys, gorillas, bonobos, orangutans and gibbons closer to extinction.

Goodall believes, the rate of destruction taking place is part of mankind's wider scheme on nature.

"If we don't do anything to protect the environment, which we've already partially destroyed, I wouldn't want to be a child being born in 50 years time," she added."We're schizophrenic: we've got this amazing intelligence, but we seem to have lost the power of working in harmony with nature."

A side from being a huge loss, Goodall said the extinction of man's closest relatives would serve as a stern warning sign of the effects of climate change and global warming.

"If we lose them [apes], it is probably because we have also lost the forests, and that would have a totally devastating impact on climate change," said Goodall."Climate change is so evident everywhere. There are leaders who say they don't believe in climate change, but I can't believe they really believe that, maybe they are just stupid."

All species of apes are listed as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), some critically so.

"You'd think that the most intellectual creature on the planet would know better than to destroy its only home, but we are destroying the planet very, very quickly."

Goodall, who has set up volunteer conservation groups across the continent, urged people not to despair but rather take action.

"Climate change threatens every little part of the planet, and we can't stop that, but if we get together we can help to slow the effects," she said.

She also recounted how in war-torn  Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), children inspired by her conservation group persuaded a puzzled commander of a local militia to allow them access to replant trees on a hillside.

"Within 30 minutes, all four soldiers with them had laid aside their guns and were helping the children to plant the trees," she said. "It is symbolic of what can happen if we can work together."