Economic development and conservation of biodiversity: understanding the interface of ape conservation and industrial agriculture

Tropical ecosystems sustain much of the Earth's biodiversity, provide countless natural products and services—both locally and globally—and play critical roles in the regulation of the climate and the carbon and hydrological cycles. The expansion of agriculture into tropical forest ecosystems will therefore have enormous impacts on factors such as human and animal health (Karesh et al., 2012), energy options and prices, biodiversity conservation and infrastructure (see Box 1.1). In addition, this expansion might drive, or be affected by, conflict in areas of resource scarcity. These factors all directly affect human survival and that of countless other species. The rapid expansion of agriculture is the main driver of tropical forest loss (Sodhi et al., 2010). In much of the world, such expansion is led by large-scale, industrial agriculture, although small-scale agriculture also has a significant impact in some countries, particularly those in Africa

Economic development and conservation of biodiversity: understanding the interface of ape conservation and industrial agriculture

Tropical ecosystems sustain much of the Earth's biodiversity, provide countless natural products and services—both locally and globally—and play critical roles in the regulation of the climate and the carbon and hydrological cycles. The expansion of agriculture into tropical forest ecosystems will therefore have enormous impacts on factors such as human and animal health (Karesh et al., 2012), energy options and prices, biodiversity conservation and infrastructure (see Box 1.1). In addition, this expansion might drive, or be affected by, conflict in areas of resource scarcity. These factors all directly affect human survival and that of countless other species. The rapid expansion of agriculture is the main driver of tropical forest loss (Sodhi et al., 2010). In much of the world, such expansion is led by large-scale, industrial agriculture, although small-scale agriculture also has a significant impact in some countries, particularly those in Africa

Great Apes and Biodiversity Offset Projects in Africa: The Case for National Offset Strategies

The development and private sectors are increasingly considering “biodiversity offsets” as a strategy to compensate for their negative impacts on biodiversity, including impacts on great apes and their habitats in Africa. In the absence of national offset policies in sub-Saharan Africa, offset design and implementation are guided by company internal standards, lending bank standards or international best practice principles. We examine four projects in Africa that are seeking to compensate for their negative impacts on great ape populations. Our assessment of these projects reveals that not all apply or implement best practices, and that there is little standardization in the methods used to measure losses and gains in species numbers. Even if they were to follow currently accepted best-practice principles, we find that these actions may still fail to contribute to conservation objectives over the long term. We advocate for an alternative approach in which biodiversity offset and compensation projects are designed and implemented as part of a National Offset Strategy that (1) takes into account the cumulative impacts of development in individual countries, (2) identifies priority offset sites, (3) promotes aggregated offsets, and (4) integrates biodiversity offset and compensation projects with national biodiversity conservation objectives. We also propose supplementary principles necessary for biodiversity offsets to contribute to great ape conservation in Africa. Caution should still be exercised, however, with regard to offsets until further field-based evidence of their effectiveness is available

Sites in Africa where private sector or development projects are seeking to use offsets and compensation projects to counterbalance residual negative impacts to great apes and their habitat.

<p>Sites include (1) the Simandou Project in the Republic of Guinea, (2) the Global Alumina Project (GAP) in the Republic of Guinea, (3) the Bumbuna Hydroelectric Project (BHP) in Sierra Leone, and (4) the Lom Pangar Dam in the Republic of Cameroon.</p

Summary of predicted project impacts on great apes and proposed mitigation measures.

<p>Summary of predicted project impacts on great apes and proposed mitigation measures.</p

Summary of project’s implementation of international best practice principles for biodiversity offsets with respect to great ape conservation.

<p>Summary of project’s implementation of international best practice principles for biodiversity offsets with respect to great ape conservation.</p

Publicly available documentation for each site.

<p>Publicly available documentation for each site.</p