Responsible forestry can benefit great apes

Great Apes and Logging, released today, states that more great apes live in areas where logging permits have been issued than in protected nature parks and nature reserves. The report also concludes that logging compliant with FSC standards – the quality mark for responsible forest management – is a useful instrument in the conservation of great apes.

“The gorilla success story is more evidence that buying FSC helps reduce the impact of logging on wildlife,” says Steven Price, Senior Director, Conservation Science and Practise for WWF-Canada. “This is an important point for Canadians, since 25 per cent of Canada’s commercial forests are now FSC-certified.”

The authors compared the impacts of logging on various species, and for great apes in particular. This comparison was based on scientific studies and information provided by large timber companies and conservation societies.

The authors found that in contrast to other types of logging, responsible logging in accordance with FSC principles offers increased assurance that adequate living conditions for great apes are maintained. In tropical forests, FSC logging removes only a selected few trees, leaving the remaining forest standing.

FSC principles also require that habitat conditions for rare and threatened species must be preserved. For great apes, this means that selected fruit trees – an important food source – are preserved under FSC standards.

The report states that the main threat to great apes – particularly in Africa – is illegal hunting. Under FSC standards, illegal hunting and illegal logging must be controlled, while it is up to governments to ensure that anyone found illegally hunting is prosecuted.

The report concludes that though large protected areas such as national parks and nature reserves offer ideal habitats for great apes, FSC-certified forests can be useful supplements to such protected areas and can also form ‘corridors’ between individual, isolated great ape habitats.

In the past 50 years, the number of great apes living in the wild has halved. All four great ape species – bonobo, chimpanzee, gorilla and orang-utan – are considered ‘endangered’ or ‘critically endangered’ and are at risk of extinction. The great apes live in countries where governance and law enforcement is generally poor. In addition to hunting and disease, the disappearance of its habitat constitutes a serious threat to these species. Scientific studies have shown that expansive home ranges are necessary for the protection of great ape populations.

For further information:
Clarisse Buma, WWF Netherlands, +31 (0)30 693 7374 , or +31 (0)621548657, [email protected]

About WWF
WWF is one of the world’s largest and most respected independent conservation organizations, with almost 5 million supporters and a global network active in over 100 countries. WWF’s mission is to stop the degradation of the earth’s natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by conserving the world’s biological diversity, ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable, and promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption.