The purpose of H.R. 4320 is to assist in the conservation of great apes by supporting and providing financial resources for the conservation programs of countries within the range of great apes and projects of persons who demonstrated expertise in the conservation of great apes. The vast majority of endangered or threatened species throughout the world receive little, if any, U.S. funding. Since the 1980s, the conservation of endangered and threatened species, and their critical habitat, has become an ever-increasing challenge that needs to be fought on multiple fronts. Numerous species are critically endangered in all parts of the world. It is, therefore, necessary for the United States and the international community to take a leadership role in trying to stop the disappearance of these irreplaceable flagship species, such as great apes.
Great apes inhabit areas where their study and conservation is an enormous challenge.
Once protected by the isolation of densely forested, and sometimes unexplored, habitat, great apes experience increased pressure from human populations invading and changing their world. While wildlife has been part of the diet of Africans and Asians for centuries, the bushmeat trade has evolved into a heavily commercialized business seriously threatening the future of great apes in the wild. For example, according to a recent study by the World Society for the Protection, an estimated 800 western lowland gorillas are killed annually for the bushmeat trade in just one small area of Cameroon. If current unsustainable rates of exploitation continue, the commercial bushmeat trade will decimate, if not eliminate, some of the most endangered species, especially great apes. From a biological perspective, forest wildlife productivity is very low compared to savannas and cannot sustain such protective demands from the bushmeat trade for growing human populations in West and Central Africa.