This atlas provides a comprehensive overview of what is currently known about all six species of great apes - chimpanzee, bonobo, Sumatran orangutan, Bornean orangutan, eastern gorilla, and western gorilla. It gives a thorough background on ape behaviour and ecology for each species, including detailed habitat requirements, the apes' ecological role, and the possible consequences of their decline.
Despite the dedicated efforts of many individuals and organizations, the great apes all fall into the Endangered or Critically Endangered category of the IUCN Red List. This atlas offers a full description of the threats, current conservation efforts, and additional protection needed for each species across its entire range.
•Covers all six species of great apes
•Provides the most up-to-date and comprehensive data available
•More than 150 full-colour photos
•More than 40 full-colour maps and diagrams
•References online
Datasets Available from UNEP-WCMC: Excluding WDPA
Access to UNEP-WCMC datasets is provided on the understanding that you read and consent to be bound by the Terms and Conditions attached. For the purposes of this Agreement the “Data” comprise any of the spatial data and associated attribute data downloadable from the UNEP-WCMC website, excluding the World Database on Protected Areas.
This dataset shows the global distribution of cold-water coral reefs. Data was compiled and imported into GIS format by UNEP-WCMC sourced from A. Freiwald, Alex Rogers and Jason Hall-Spencer, and other contributors. Full source information is provided within the attributes for each record within the database. Points on the map indicate observed reefs of varying size and stages of development, but not the actual area covered. The high density of reefs shown in the North Atlantic most probably reflects the intensity of research in this region. Further discoveries are expected worldwide, particularly in the deeper waters of subtropical and tropical regions
Resource Type: Spatial Data / MapsProtected Planet is a new initiative to showcase the world's protected areas and is the most complete global dataset on terrestrial and marine protected areas. The initiative puts digital information about national parks and protected areas at the fingertips of global internet users, with the 'citizen science’ approach enabling anyone to edit and contribute to protected areas information.
Resource Type: Spatial Data / MapsThis report presents comprehensive and up-to-date information and data on marine cold-water coral reefs from around the world. Cold Water Coral Reefs: Out of Sight - No Longer Out of Mind aims to provide policy makers with the information required to take concerted action in the conservation, protection and sustainable management of these beautiful, largely unexplored and fragile coral reefs.
The Protected Planet Report 2012 reviews progress towards the achievement of international protected area targets.
Resource Type: ReportsThis report documents and analyses good practice examples of ecosystem-based approaches to climate change mitigation and adaptation in Europe. Case studies on ecosystem-based approaches to mitigation involved peatland restoration or conservation (11 projects) and forest conservation, restoration and reforestation (2 projects). Case studies on ecosystem-based approaches to adaptation were divided into inland waters (28 projects), coastal zone (10 projects), agriculture and forestry (11 projects) and cities (9 projects).
Resource Type: ReportsThe Great Apes, including the chimpanzee, gorilla and orangutan, are threatened with extinction. All species are rapidly declining in abundance, even within protected areas.The main factors responsible for this decline are loss and degradation of habitat, and hunting. Construction of roads in forest areas is particularly damaging, as such development facilitates hunting and other activities which lead to habitat destruction.
This report assesses the impact of infrastructural development on great ape populations, using the GLOBIO modelling approach. GLOBIO is a multivariable spatial model, which estimates the extent of land area with reduced abundance and diversity of living organisms, as a result of infrastructural development. The model can also be used to develop scenarios of possible future impacts, based on the current rates of infrastructural development.
Resource Type: ReportsThe Last Stand of the Orangutan was prepared by a Rapid Response Team at UNEP/GRID-Arendal and UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre as a broad collaborative effort, involving contributors from the Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Forestry, Indonesia, and partners of the Great Apes Survival Project (GRASP).
Resource Type: ReportsUNEP-WCMC has been providing technical support to the work of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) on biodiversity and climate change. We carried out three reviews of the recent scientific literature and these fed into the deliberations of the CBD’s Second Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group (AHTEG) on Biodiversity and Climate Change. These reviews, entitled Links between Biodiversity and Climate change: Impacts, Adaptation and Mitigation, have now been published as no 42 of the CBD Technical Series. This publication complements the main report from the CBD AHTEG which appears as CBD Technical Series No. 41 Connecting Biodiversity and Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation.
Resource Type: Reports©2013 UNEP All rights reserved