Donations go a long way in ape range countries

Des Moines, Iowa – October 31, 2008 – The challenge of great ape conservation is daunting, but small amounts of money can make big differences in range countries where all types of great ape face an uncertain future, said Dr. Benjamin Beck, Great Ape Trust’s director of conservation.

For example:

• $3 buys an energy-efficient stove for a family in Rwanda, where critically endangered mountain gorillas and endangered chimpanzees are found in the wild. This reduces the demand on wood from the rain forest and the time to collect it, thus improving villagers’ quality of life.
• $150 per acre per year pays for seedlings of native forest trees and the cost of monitoring the reforestation effort. $150 also provides transportation, a snack and teacher time for a visit of 30 school students to a nature center in an ape range country.
• $250 per month pays salary and benefits for a surrogate human mother for a baby ape orphaned by the bushmeat trade, habitat destruction and other natural and manmade threats to the survival of great apes.
• $300 per month pays the rent on a building near the Gishwati Forest in Rwanda. The building serves as an office for the director of the Gishwati Area Conservation Program and living quarters for scientists studying an isolated group of 13 chimpanzees in the Gishwati Forest. $300 per month also pays salary, transportation and supplies for a forest eco-guard in protected areas in Africa where endangered great apes live.
• $500 pays for global positioning satellite system (GPS) equipment, backpack, rain gear, boots, wristwatch, flashlight, compass and clipboard for a ranger working in protected areas.
• $1,000 per month pays the salary of a college-educated research assistant responsible for collecting data on faunal and floral ecosystems in field sites where endangered great apes are protected and studied.
• $2,500 per year pays for one year’s tuition for a graduate student – one of tomorrow’s primatologists – enrolled at an in-country university.
• $3,000 buys a solar-powered electric charging station that allows field staff to use GPS equipment, cell phones and computers.
• $25,000 per year pays the hardware, software and “wetware” costs for a corridor planner for the Gishwati Area Conservation Program in Rwanda.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Great Ape Trust of Iowa is a scientific research facility in Des Moines dedicated to understanding the origins and future of culture, language, tools and intelligence.  When completed, it will be the largest great ape facility in North America and one of the first worldwide to include all four types of great ape – bonobos, chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans – for noninvasive interdisciplinary studies of their cognitive and communicative capabilities.  Great Ape Trust is dedicated to providing sanctuary and an honorable life for great apes, studying the intelligence of great apes, advancing conservation of great apes and providing a unique educational experience about great apes.