Apes in the News

mongabay.com

September 19, 2010

Plantations on peatlands will no longer be supported by the Clean
Development Mechanism (CDM), a framework for industrialized countries
to reduce their emissions via projects in developing countries,
reports Wetlands International.

The decision, which came last Friday during the executive board
meeting, will bar biofuel plantations established on peatlands from
earning carbon credits that could then be sold to industrialized
countries to "offset" emissions. The concern is that under the CDM,
carbon finance is used to perversely subsidize conversion of
carbon-dense peatlands for oil palm plantations, a process that
generates substantial greenhouse gas emissions, thereby undermining
any potential carbon dioxide savings from use of palm oil-based
biodiesel.

 http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0919-cdm_oil_palm_peat.html

19/09/2010
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Climate change regularly makes the front page, but very few people know
about, or understand, the cost of species loss

Adam Vaughan
guardian.co.uk Blogposts

COP15 Activists hold a demonstration in support of Tuvalu at Copenhagen
Thousands of activists demonstrated at the UN Climate Conference in
Copenhagen, but will similar efforts be made at the equivalent summit on
biodiversity in Nagoya.

Why is there a Climate Camp for protesters who object to high-carbon
industries but no "biodiversity bivouac" for people who want action on
species loss? One reason, a new survey suggests, is that the public
knows very little about efforts to protect biodiversity.

16/09/2010
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Grave threat to chimps population in Sierra Leone

FREETOWN - Local wildlife experts in Sierra Leone on Thursday
highlighted what they called a "grave threat to the chimps population"
in the west African state.

At a meeting to develop a comprehensive conservation action plan for
chimpanzees in the country, the office of the director-general of the
ministry of agriculture warned that "the estimated 5,000 chimp
population is under grave threat mainly due to the desire of local rural
communities for bush meat."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gWRKDrfE_dpjAQPhenglKjeZ7dVw

16/09/2010
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Despite government assurances that it would crack down on the rosewood trade, illegal logging continues in Madagascar's rainforest parks, according to new information provided by sources on the ground.

The sources report logging in three parks: Mananara, Makira, and Masoala. All three are known for their high levels of biodiversity, including endangered lemurs.

Rosewood logs are being transported to Tamatave (Toamasina), Madagascar's main port, despite a national moratorium on logging and export of precious hardwoods. Most rosewood ends up going to China, where it is in high demand for furniture.

http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0906-madagascar_mananara.html

06/09/2010
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We are please to announce that a new publication has just been posted
on the PSG website:

Best Practice Guidelines for Great Ape Tourism

Elizabeth J. Macfie and Elizabeth A. Williamson

with contributions from Marc Ancrenaz, Chloe Cipolletta, Debby Cox,
Christina Ellis, David Greer, Chloe Hodgkinson, Anne Russon and Ian
Singleton

The PDF can be downloaded via the following link:

http://www.primate-sg.org/BP.tourism.htm

We hope to have printed copies available at the IPS Congress next
month. Translation into French and Bahasa Indonesia is underway.

We are very grateful to the Arcus Foundation and the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service for supporting the production of this document.

02/09/2010
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www.conservationtraining.org
<http://www.4apes.com/lists/admin/FCKeditor/editor/www.conservationtraining.org>

The Nature Conservancy; Conservation International; the Climate,
Community, and Biodiversity Alliance; Rainforest Alliance, the World
Wildlife Fund, and GTZ have updated their online introductory course
on reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation and
conservation and enhancement of forest carbon stocks (REDD+) with new
information and activities.

This course provides a basic level of understanding regarding the
REDD+ concept. It begins with background information on climate change
and drivers of deforestation, then covers the essential aspects of the
technical, political, financial, social and environmental issues
related to REDD+, and finalizes with a basics on implementing REDD+
activities at a national or sub-national scale. The course is meant to
enable participants to more fully understand and better engage in
REDD+ policy negotiations at the national and international levels and
to facilitate the development of credible REDD+ activities in
developing countries through basic capacity building.

The course is free and publicly available at:

www.conservationtraining.org
<http://www.4apes.com/lists/admin/FCKeditor/editor/www.conservationtraining.org>

02/09/2010
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