Extractive Industries and Ape Conservation

Description

Current dominant thinking and practice in the private and public sectors asserts that peoples' development needs are in conflict with, or mutually exclusive to, the need to conserve the biosphere on which we depend. Consequently, we are asked to either diminish development in the name of conservation or diminish conservation in the name of development. Efforts to identify complementary objectives, or mutually acceptable trade-offs and compromises indicate, however, that this does not always have to be the case. This first volume in the State of the Apes series draws attention to the evolving context within which great ape and gibbon habitats are increasingly interfacing with extractive industries. Intended for a broad range of policy makers, industry experts, decision makers, academics, researchers and NGOs, these publications aim to influence debate, practice and policy, seeking to reconcile ape conservation and welfare, and economic and social development, through objective and rigorous analysis.

The Arcus Foundation is a private grant-making foundation that advances social justice and conservation goals. The Arcus Foundation works globally and has offices in New York City, USA, and Cambridge, UK.

'... a very good overview ... The authors are experts and the explanations and examples are up-to-date.' Gorilla Journal 'This book is about the consequences that extractive industry is having on the tropical forests of Africa and Asia and the remaining apes that live within them. It is about the local, regional, and national policies that govern the extractive industry and the steps towards mitigation that stakeholders can consider. It has no fairy tale ending; it proposes no silver bullet. Rather, it is an attempt to lay out the consequences of today's resource extraction practices on ape communities and more importantly, encourage a shift towards acceptance that this industry and the environment are inexplicably connected ... an important contribution towards identifying both the challenges and potential solutions involved in ape habitat conservation, written by a foundation that is a world leader in safeguarding wild and captive apes ... Anyone interested in being familiar with how best to resolve this broader, widespread conflict must read this book.' Alex K. Piel, Primate Eye