Stolen Apes

PREFACE

The trafficking of great apes adds additional and unwelcome pressures on charismatic fauna that provide

an impetus for tourism and thus revenues to the economy.

The illegal trade in wildlife makes up one part of the multi-billion dollar business that is environmental crime and is increasingly being perpetrated at the cost of the poor and vulnerable.

These criminal networks, operating through sophisticated chains of intermediaries, steal the heritage and the natural resources of countries and communities working towards sustainable devel- opment, jeopardizing existing successes in the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and undermining the tran- sition towards resource-efficient Green Economies. UNEP, working with partners such as INTERPOL and operat- ing under agreements like the UNEP-hosted Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the UNEP/UNESCO Great Apes Sur- vival Partnership (GRASP), is attempting to bring attention to the issue, build awareness at the political and public levels and catalyze a response. This report focuses on the trade of great apes – bonobos, chim- panzees, gorillas and orangutans. The trafficking of these ani- mals adds additional and unwelcome pressures on the already endangered species, which in many of their range States, at- tract tourism and thus contribute to the local economy.

lined in this report underlines how important it is that the in- ternational community and the organizations responsible for conserving endangered species remain vigilant, keeping a step ahead of those seeking to profit from illegal activities. The illegal trade in great apes mirrors the recent spike in ele­ phant and rhino poaching, as well as the rise in illegal log- ging. UNEP and INTERPOL recently launched a report show- ing that between 50 and 90 per cent of the logging taking place in key tropical countries of the Amazon Basin, Central Africa and Southeast Asia is being carried out by organized crime, threatening not only local species – including many great apes where they occur – but also jeopardizing efforts to combat climate change through initiatives such as the United Nations Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (UN-REDD) In a world where natural resources are increasingly scarce, addressing illegal activities on the ground and across sup- ply chains is increasingly challenging. However, such action should be also an opportunity to improve cooperation between nations and ensure a more sustainable planet.

The trafficking of great apes is not new – it has gone on for well over a century. But the current scale of trafficking out-

Achim Steiner UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director

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