THE LAST STAND OF THE - GRASP

SCENARIOS OF GORILLAS –
THE LAST STAND
Scenarios developed in 2002 on the role of infrastructure development on resource extraction
and poaching suggested that great ape habitat and subsequently populations
in the greater Congo Basin could decline by to as little as 10% of their original range by
2032. Since then, however, reports and interviews conducted in the region, though difficult
to quantify, suggest that poaching for bushmeat is substantially on the rise, so is
the extent of logging and cutting for charcoal. Several areas are reporting lowered wildlife
abundance, and poachers are even using bicycles to transport meat on trails and poor
roads far beyond the main road system.
Partial gorilla, and full chimpanzee carcasses are sold for 20–30
USD on the markets. In some areas smoked gorilla meat has
been sold for as little as 25 cents per pound (Raffaele, 1005; Ape
Alliance, 2006). Estimates in the late 1990s were that around
4,5000 gorillas were killed annually (Marshall et al., 2000).
The estimates presented earlier around the town of Kindu suggested
around 76,000 animals per year extracted from about
6000 km 2 of forest, of which 225 were bonobo carcasses. A
recent investigation by the Ape Alliance suggested that apes
were now present at around 0.5–2% of all the bushmeat (Ape
Alliance, 2006) – which would be equivalent to tens of thousands
of chimpanzees, gorillas and bonobos ever year. Great
uncertainty exists around these estimates, but it is clear that
bushmeat is rising across large parts of the ten gorilla range
states, even though great ape meat is still taboo in some areas.
Estimates based on modeling of habitat loss caused by agricultural
expansion and logging around the growing road network
in 2002, and projections onwards to 2050, suggested that less
than 10% of the gorilla habitat would be left by 2032 (UNEP,
2002). However, these estimates did not take into account the
rise in logging and widespread burning of charcoal initiated
by militias in the national parks, the outbreaks of Ebola and
the most likely rising bushmeat trade including significant
great ape proportions as reported to feed a now much more
rapidly rising population in the Congo Basin (Wilkie and Carpenter,
1999; Fa et al., 2000; Brashares et al., 2004; Ryan and
Bell, 2005; Poulsen et al., 2009). Neither did these former estimates
take into account the extensive mining and logging,
with a subsequent large labor force in need of bushmeat, especially
in the logging camps (Brashares et al., 2004; Poulsen
et al., 2009). Many of the professional bush meat hunters also
benefit heavily from the logging “road” systems established by
the loggers, to more easily penetrate and kill great apes, that
become easy prey.
It is therefore highly likely, even with the uncertainty in absolute
numbers, that the previous estimate given in 2002 suggesting
a reduction by 2032 to only 10% of the original range,
was far too optimistic. This low may already be reached in a
little more than a decade from now.
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