Recipes for Survival_English_tcm46-28192

WSPA/APE ALLIANCERECIPES FOR SURVIVALThompson-Handler et al (1995) described the bonobo situation and set out potentialsolutions:Surveys completed in 1995 showed that, until recently, bonobos occurred in highdensities throughout the proposed Lomako reserve, DRC, but as a result ofdeterioration of the economy, road and river transport systems, profits from agriculturehave decreased and bushmeat hunting increased.The south-central part of the proposed reserve still contains high densities of bonobos(1.1 – 3.4 individuals per km 2 ) and lacks human settlement. But commercial huntersare now entering the proposed reserve area and rapidly decimating bonobo and otherprimate populations.Old logging roads, where concessions have been abandoned, are facilitating accessfor commercial hunters. Bushmeat has a high value in DRC and is transported as faras Kinshasa, using logging company boats.POTENTIAL SOLUTIONSPotential solutions relating specifically to bonobos include targeting efforts to:• Survey areas where bonobos are most concentrated.• Implement immediate research and local conservation education where bonobopopulations are on the brink of extinction.• Carry out longer-term research and conservation programmes where larger, lessdisturbedpopulations exist, and develop tourism in these areas.• Establish reserves in areas other than Salonga (as recommended on a number ofoccasions, for example, Lee et al, 1988; Thompson et al, 1995; WWF, 2003), withthe financial and technical means to protect these areas and prevent poaching.Salonga’s importance remains dependent on surveys to confirm a sizeable bonobopopulation within the park. If significant numbers are confirmed, funding will beneeded to improve park infrastructure.• Use social marketing methods, including television, radio, street theatre and music,to make people identify more with bonobos and to raise the species to emblem status.The plight of the okapi generated public sympathy due to its status as a nationalsymbol and profile on products such as Okapi Cigarettes and the Hotel Okapi.In DRC, gorilla and elephant comic books were produced as education tools anddistributed through zoos and conservation sponsors, as well as through regularmarket channels; the comics included succesful quizzes with prizes such as t-shirts.School notebooks containing conservation messages were distributed (and read byother family members as well as schoolchildren). Soap (a highly prized and frequentlytraded commodity) was embossed with a conservation message.The role of primate bushmeat in the spread of disease could be a suitable target forsocial marketing.The most up-to-date summary of what is known of the bonobo’s current situation isto be found in the World Atlas of Great Apes and their Conservation (Lacambra et al,2005). Many of these ideas have informed the newly published (September 2005)‘Strategie et Plan d’Action pour la Survie des Grandes Singes en RepubliqueDemocratique du Congo’. This was produced, with the assistance of GRASP, aftera national workshop and extensive consultation with all the stake-holders. It forms thebasis for government policy in relation to all great apes and their habitats in the DRC.Several range states have now adopted such policy documents thanks to the effortsof GRASP, and as a result, the political climate for effective conservation action ismuch improved.97WSPA/APE ALLIANCE96Below: Bushmeatsurvivors - bonobomother and infantin Lola ya BonoboSanctuary, DRC© WSPA