. The Cost of Policy Inaction: The case of not meeting the 2010 biodiversity target. extinctions is becoming much worse and as most terrestrial and aquatic species occur on continents they are facing growing threats to their survival and persistence. Box : Great Apes - habitat destruction and population decline The great apes are our closest living relatives yet are among the most endangered species on the planet. All are listed on the IUCN/SSC Red List as endangered or critically endangered, and all are in decline. A recent survey of 24 protected areas on both continents revealed that grea
. The Cost of Policy Inaction: The case of not meeting the 2010 biodiversity target. extinctions is becoming much worse and as most terrestrial and aquatic species occur on continents they are facing growing threats to their survival and persistence. Box : Great Apes - habitat destruction and population decline The great apes are our closest living relatives yet are among the most endangered species on the planet. All are listed on the IUCN/SSC Red List as endangered or critically endangered, and all are in decline. A recent survey of 24 protected areas on both continents revealed that great apes were declining in 96% of them due to habitat loss/degradation and hunting. As flagships for conservation in these regions, and generating significant tourism revenues as a result of their charisma and raritv, they are righdy a global conservation priority (Nellermann & Newton, 200?; Caldecott & Miles, 2005). GREAT APE DISTRIBUTION OP THE WORLD. WM m.' :*~ Orangutans There are 57,000 Orangutans remaining in Borneo, and only 7,300 in Sumatra. They have declined by 75% and 93%, respectively, since 1900, mosdv as a result of habitat loss. In Borneo 55,000 knf of breeding habitat was lost between 1993 and 2002 through logging and forest fires, and the draining of peat swamp for rice cultivation destroys many more thousands of km2 of prime Orangutan habitat. Subsistence agriculture was also reported to have affected 27% of the land area of Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo), 87% of which was considered prime Orangutan habitat. Forests are increasingly being transformed into oil palm plantations, whilst fire has been responsible for massive forest loss. The fires of 1997/98 destroyed 95% of lowland forest in Kutai National Park, and large numbers of Orangutans were killed by people fleeing the flames, or by smoke. As a result of the fires, 1/3 of Borneo's Orangutans may have been lost in one year alone. The situation for the critically endangered Sumatran Orangutan is even
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Keywords: ., bhlconsortium, bookcollectionbiodiversity, bookcont, bookyear2008
