scholarly journals Primates in peril: the significance of Brazil, Madagascar, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo for global primate conservation

PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e4869 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro Estrada ◽  
Paul A. Garber ◽  
Russell A. Mittermeier ◽  
Serge Wich ◽  
Sidney Gouveia ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
Habitat Loss ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Global Market ◽  
Primate Species ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Primate Conservation ◽  
Worst Case ◽  
Populations At Risk ◽  
Republic Of The Congo

Primates occur in 90 countries, but four—Brazil, Madagascar, Indonesia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)—harbor 65% of the world’s primate species (439) and 60% of these primates are Threatened, Endangered, or Critically Endangered (IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017-3). Considering their importance for global primate conservation, we examine the anthropogenic pressures each country is facing that place their primate populations at risk. Habitat loss and fragmentation are main threats to primates in Brazil, Madagascar, and Indonesia. However, in DRC hunting for the commercial bushmeat trade is the primary threat. Encroachment on primate habitats driven by local and global market demands for food and non-food commodities hunting, illegal trade, the proliferation of invasive species, and human and domestic-animal borne infectious diseases cause habitat loss, population declines, and extirpation. Modeling agricultural expansion in the 21st century for the four countries under a worst-case-scenario, showed a primate range contraction of 78% for Brazil, 72% for Indonesia, 62% for Madagascar, and 32% for DRC. These pressures unfold in the context of expanding human populations with low levels of development. Weak governance across these four countries may limit effective primate conservation planning. We examine landscape and local approaches to effective primate conservation policies and assess the distribution of protected areas and primates in each country. Primates in Brazil and Madagascar have 38% of their range inside protected areas, 17% in Indonesia and 14% in DRC, suggesting that the great majority of primate populations remain vulnerable. We list the key challenges faced by the four countries to avert primate extinctions now and in the future. In the short term, effective law enforcement to stop illegal hunting and illegal forest destruction is absolutely key. Long-term success can only be achieved by focusing local and global public awareness, and actively engaging with international organizations, multinational businesses and consumer nations to reduce unsustainable demands on the environment. Finally, the four primate range countries need to ensure that integrated, sustainable land-use planning for economic development includes the maintenance of biodiversity and intact, functional natural ecosystems.

scholarly journals Cost of a new method of active screening for human African trypanosomiasis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rian Snijders ◽  
Alain Fukinsia ◽  
Yves Claeys ◽  
Alain Mpanya ◽  
Epco Hasker ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human African Trypanosomiasis ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Active Case Finding ◽  
Active Screening ◽  
Populations At Risk ◽  
Republic Of The Congo ◽  
Cost Effective Alternative ◽  
The Cost

ABSTRACTBackgroundHuman African trypanosomiases caused by the Trypanosoma brucei gambiense parasite is a lethal disease that killed thousands of people at the start of the 20th century. Today, less than 1,000 cases are reported globally, and the disease is targeted for elimination and eradication. One of the main disease control strategies is active case-finding through outreach campaigns. In 2014, a new method for active screening was developed with mini, motorcycle-based, teams. This study aims to compare the cost of two approaches for active HAT screening, namely the traditional mobile teams and mini mobile teams.MethodsWe estimated annual economic costs for the two active HAT screening approaches from a health care provider perspective. Cost and operational data was collected for 12 months for 1 traditional team and 3 mini teams in the health districts of Yasa Bonga and Mosango in the Kwilu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The cost per person screened and per person diagnosed was calculated. Univariate sensitivity analysis was conducted on important cost drivers.ResultsThe study shows that the cost per person screened is lower for a mini team compared to a traditional team in the study setting (US$1.86 compared to US$2.08) as well as in a simulation analysis assuming both teams would operate in a setting with similar disease prevalence.DiscussionActive HAT screening with mini mobile teams has a lower cost and could be a cost-effective alternative for active screening campaigns. Further research is needed to determine if mini mobile teams have similar or better yields than traditional mobile teams in terms of detections and cases successfully treated.AUTHOR SUMMARYHuman African Trypanosomiasis (HAT) used to be a major public health problem in Sub-Saharan Africa, but the disease is becoming less frequent today as a result of sustained control efforts. Currently, the elimination of sleeping sickness is targeted as a public health problem by 2020 with interruption of transmission by 2030. To achieve these targets, a long-term commitment towards HAT control activities will be necessary with innovative disease control approaches accompanied by economic evaluations to assess their cost and cost-effectiveness in the changing context. Today, active case finding conducted through mass outreach campaigns accounts for approximately half of all identified cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. However, this strategy has become less efficient, with a dwindling “yield” in terms of the number of identified cases, translating to a higher cost per diagnosed HAT case. Therefore, different approaches to outreach campaigns need to be evaluated with a focus on reaching populations at risk for HAT.This article presents the costs and outcomes of two approaches to active screening: traditional mobile teams and mini mobile teams.This study shows that mini mobile teams could be a cost-effective alternative for active screening with a cost-per-person screened of US$1.86 compared to US$2.08. This approach could increase the screening coverage of populations at risk for HAT that are currently not being reached through the traditional approach. Future research is needed to evaluate the difference in HAT cases identified and treated by both approaches. This would allow a cost-effectiveness comparison of both strategies based on the cost-per-person diagnosed and treated.

scholarly journals Repenser Le Rôle Des Institutions De Conservation De La Nature À L’ère De La Globalisation En Afrique: À Propos Du Parc National De La Salonga (RDC)

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 92
Author(s):  
Mampeta Wabasa Salomon
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
National Park ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
The Other ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Republic Of The Congo ◽  
Contemporary Management

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the protectionist conservatism influenced by colonialism, which exploited African countries for the prosperity of the colonizing countries, still has a high visibility in the Salonga National Park (PNS). If, in theory, the Central Africans seem to free themselves from the colonial powers on their land, in practice they are still there. The hostility of settlers who have become neo-colonists to the development of Central Africa remains intact, he adds (Ndinga, 2003). This reflects a "logic from above" that has disregarded local values. Yet, in the era of sustainable development and globalization, African protected areas appear to be essential tools for States to reposition themselves in a complex set of actors with the aim of capturing and using the new environmental rent (Giraut, Guyot, & Houssay-Holzschuch, 2003). This is a "bottom-up logic", placing people at the heart of all activities and aiming to reorganize their long-term relationships with the environment. From these two logics, a third "logic from the other side" emerges, reflecting a collective awareness of the fragility of the planet. The restoration of the rights of Africans in the various national frameworks constitutes a major challenge for the contemporary management of African protected areas. Because the protected areas inherited from the different colonial systems must accompany the change in management methods and the redefinition of their functions in order to better serve the local community in the long-term.

scholarly journals Preliminary inventory of bats (Mammalia, Chiroptera) in three Protected Areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
André B. Malekani ◽  
◽  
Prescott A. Musaba ◽  
Guy-Crispin T. Gembu ◽  
Elie P. Bugentho ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Republic Of The Congo

scholarly journals Proximate Causes of Forest Degradation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Vary in Space and Time

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aurélie C. Shapiro ◽  
Katie P. Bernhard ◽  
Stefano Zenobi ◽  
Daniel Müller ◽  
Naikoa Aguilar-Amuchastegui ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Spillover Effects ◽  
Forest Degradation ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Targeted Interventions ◽  
Republic Of The Congo ◽  
Proximate Causes ◽  
The Impact

Forest degradation, generally defined as a reduction in the delivery of forest ecosystem services, can have long-term impacts on biodiversity, climate, and local livelihoods. The quantification of forest degradation, its dynamics and proximate causes can help prompt early action to mitigate carbon emissions and inform relevant land use policies. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is largely forested with a relatively low deforestation rate, but anthropogenic degradation has been increasing in recent years. We assess the impact of eight independent variables related to land cover, land use, infrastructure, armed conflicts, and accessibility on forest degradation, measured by the Forest Condition (FC) index, a measure of forest degradation based on biomass history and fragmentation that ranges from 0 (completely deforested) to 100 (intact). We employ spatial panel models with fixed effects using regular 25 × 25 km units over five 3-year intervals from 2002 to 2016. The regression results suggest that the presence of swamp ecosystems, low access (defined by high travel time), and forest concessions are associated with lower forest degradation, while built up area, fire frequency, armed conflicts result in greater forest degradation. The impact of neighboring units on FC shows that all variables within the 50 km spatial neighborhood have a greater effect on FC than the on-site spatial determinants, indicating the greater influence of drivers beyond the 25 km2 unit. In the case of protected areas, we unexpectedly find that protection in neighboring locations leads to higher forest degradation, suggesting a potential leakage effect, while protected areas in the local vicinity have a positive influence on FC. The Mann-Kendall trend statistic of occurrences of fires and conflicts over the time period and until 2020 show that significant increases in conflicts and fires are spatially divergent. Overall, our results highlight how assessing the proximate causes of forest degradation with spatiotemporal analysis can support targeted interventions and policies to reduce forest degradation but spillover effects of proximal drivers in neighboring areas need to be considered.

scholarly journals Current and future trends in socio-economic, demographic and governance factors affecting global primate conservation

PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e9816
Author(s):  
Alejandro Estrada ◽  
Paul A. Garber ◽  
Abhishek Chaudhary
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Global Market ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
Primate Species ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Future Trends ◽  
Economic Output ◽  
Extant Primate

Currently, ~65% of extant primate species (ca 512 species) distributed in 91 countries in the Neotropics, mainland Africa, Madagascar, South Asia and Southeast Asia are threatened with extinction and 75% have declining populations as a result of deforestation and habitat loss resulting from increasing global market demands, and land conversion for industrial agriculture, cattle production and natural resource extraction. Other pressures that negatively impact primates are unsustainable bushmeat hunting, the illegal trade of primates as pets and as body parts, expanding road networks in previously isolated areas, zoonotic disease transmission and climate change. Here we examine current and future trends in several socio-economic factors directly or indirectly affecting primates to further our understanding of the interdependent relationship between human well-being, sustainable development, and primate population persistence. We found that between 2001 and 2018 ca 191 Mha of tropical forest (30% canopy cover) were lost as a result of human activities in the five primate range regions. Forty-six percent of this loss was in the Neotropics (Mexico, Central and South America), 30% in Southeast Asia, 21% in mainland Africa, 2% in Madagascar and 1% in South Asia. Countries with the greatest losses (ca 57% of total tree cover loss) were Brazil, Indonesia, DRC, China, and Malaysia. Together these countries harbor almost 50% of all extant primate species. In 2018, the world human population was estimated at ca 8bn people, ca 60% of which were found in primate range countries. Projections to 2050 and to 2100 indicate continued rapid growth of the human populations in these five primate range regions, with Africa surpassing all the other regions and totaling ca 4bn people by the year 2100. Socioeconomic indicators show that, compared to developed nations, most primate range countries are characterized by high levels of poverty and income inequality, low human development, low food security, high levels of corruption and weak governance. Models of Shared Socioeconomic Pathway scenarios (SSPs) projected to 2050 and 2100 showed that whereas practices of increasing inequality (SSP4) or unconstrained growth in economic output and energy use (SSP5) are projected to have dire consequences for human well-being and primate survivorship, practices of sustainability-focused growth and equality (SSP1) are expected to have a positive effect on maintaining biodiversity, protecting environments, and improving the human condition. These results stress that improving the well-being, health, and security of the current and future human populations in primate range countries are of paramount importance if we are to move forward with effective policies to protect the world’s primate species and promote biodiversity conservation.

scholarly journals Conservation planning for Africa's Albertine Rift: conserving a biodiverse region in the face of multiple threats

Oryx ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Andrew J. Plumptre ◽  
Sam Ayebare ◽  
Deo Kujirakwinja ◽  
Dan Segan
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
Conservation Planning ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Area Network ◽  
Restricted Range ◽  
Albertine Rift ◽  
Agricultural Conversion ◽  
Conservation Costs ◽  
The Face ◽  
Republic Of The Congo

Abstract The Albertine Rift is one of Africa's most biodiverse regions, but is threatened by habitat loss as a result of agricultural expansion and human development. Previous studies estimated that 30% of the region has been lost to agricultural conversion and we estimate here that 33% is allocated for mining concessions. For conservation planning, we used niche models for species endemic to the Albertine Rift and those that are globally threatened. We assessed where to conserve these species using three scenarios: (1) a baseline assuming equal conservation costs across all grid cells in the study area, (2) a scenario locking in existing protected areas (i.e. always selecting them by default) and assessing which unprotected areas require conservation, and (3) a scenario considering mining planned across the region. Marxan analyses produced similar results for the three scenarios, highlighting the importance of existing protected areas and the value of several community-managed or provincial protected areas in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. The current protected area network covers 134,246 km2 and an additional 64,586 km2 would be required to ensure the conservation of all threatened and endemic species outside the parks and wildlife reserves. However, if trying to avoid mining concessions this increases to 145,704 km2, an area larger than the existing protected areas. Some mining concessions harbour species with a restricted range and would thus need to be protected to ensure the persistence of threatened and endemic fauna and flora. These mining concessions should be challenged by the conservation community.

scholarly journals Predicting Hotspots and Prioritizing Protected Areas for Endangered Primate Species in Indonesia under Changing Climate

Biology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 154
Author(s):  
Aryo Adhi Condro ◽  
Lilik Budi Prasetyo ◽  
Siti Badriyah Rushayati ◽  
I Putu Santikayasa ◽  
Entang Iskandar
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
Species Distribution ◽  
Habitat Restoration ◽  
Species Distribution Modeling ◽  
Alpha Diversity ◽  
Primate Species ◽  
Worst Case ◽  
Distribution Modeling ◽  
Primate Diversity

Indonesia has a large number of primate diversity where a majority of the species are threatened. In addition, climate change is conservation issues that biodiversity may likely face in the future, particularly among primates. Thus, species-distribution modeling was useful for conservation planning. Herein, we present protected areas (PA) recommendations with high nature-conservation importance based on species-richness changes. We performed maximum entropy (Maxent) to retrieve species distribution of 51 primate species across Indonesia. We calculated species-richness change and range shifts to determine the priority of PA for primates under mitigation and worst-case scenarios by 2050. The results suggest that the models have an excellent performance based on seven different metrics. Current primate distributions occupied 65% of terrestrial landscape. However, our results indicate that 30 species of primates in Indonesia are likely to be extinct by 2050. Future primate species richness would be also expected to decline with the alpha diversity ranging from one to four species per 1 km2. Based on our results, we recommend 54 and 27 PA in Indonesia to be considered as the habitat-restoration priority and refugia, respectively. We conclude that species-distribution modeling approach along with the categorical species richness is effectively applicable for assessing primate biodiversity patterns.

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