The UN Environment Programme has launched a project to save the great apes of
Africa and South-East Asia. UNEP director Klaus Toepfer says that poaching and
habitat loss could drive the apes to extinction in five to ten years. Mining in
Congo for the mineral tantalite is worsening the situation as prospectors kill
apes for food. “The clock is standing at one minute to midnight for the great
apes,” says Toepfer. UNEP has donated $150,000 to jump-start the Great
Apes Survival Project (GrASP), which will help police the forests, link patches
of habitat, encourage ecotourism and educate local people.…
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