Illegal Deforestation Threatens the Last 23 Hainan Gibbons

The world?s final 23 Hainan black-crested gibbons (Nomascus hainanus) are making what may be their last stand in China, where their jungle habitat is being wiped out at a rate of 200,000 square meters a day, according to a new report from Greenpeace International.

Hainan gibbons are the world?s rarest primates. Sixty years ago they could be found all across Hainan Island in the South China Sea. Now they are limited to the 2,100-hectare Bawangling National Nature Reserve on the western side of the island. While the gibbons are legally protected, lack of enforcement has allowed illegal loggers and pulp paper plantation growers to take over 25 percent of the island?s rainforests, including a portion of the apes? reserve habitat, in the past 10 years.

Via satellite images and field work, Greenpeace found that more than 72,000 acres of Hainan rainforest have been illegally cut down since 2001.

?This illegal deforestation comes in response to market demand and disrespect for nature,? Greenpeace forests campaigner Yi Lan said in a prepared statement. ?A lack of enforcement brought about this rapid loss of rainforest and it?s about to bring about the extinction of a species.?

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), the population of Hainan gibbons numbered more than 2,000 individuals in the 1950s. By 1993 that had declined to less than 60 apes due to hunting and habitat loss, much of it to build rubber tree plantations. A 2003 survey found only 15 apes, some of which have bred since then, bringing the total population today to 23. Female gibbons only breed once every two to three years, so the population?s opportunities for further growth are slim.

?When you have just 23 of a particular animal species left in the wild, that says we humans aren?t being good stewards of the environment,? Lan said.

Greenpeace released this video (in Chinese with English subtitles) about the Hainan gibbons and the shocking deforestation in the area:

In addition to the illegal plantations, legal pulp paper plantations have also been established along the banks of the gibbons? protected reserves. These pulp trees require so much moisture that water levels have been depleted in some areas, causing native eucalyptus trees and plants to suffer and die. As they disappear, so goes more of the gibbons? habitat and food supplies.

Conservation efforts to preserve the Hainan gibbon have been slow to get off the ground. A conservation action plan (pdf) was established in 2003, but according to the IUCN Primate Specialist Group, its success has been limited by lack of coordination between the eight participating government bodies, universities and organizations. Most efforts to date have been restricted to surveying the apes and their habitat.

Greenpeace is calling for the Hainan government to enforce its laws for protecting the gibbons as well as the island?s rainforests.

Photo: A female gibbon in Hainan. Courtesy of Greenpeace

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EU foreign ministers fail to agree on Iran oil ban

Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, left, and British Foreign Secretary William Hague, center, listen to Spain's Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez prior to the start of an EU foreign ministers meeting at the European Council building in Brussels, Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011. The British foreign minister is accusing Iran's government of supporting repression in Syria as EU foreign ministers are expected to impose more sanctions on both countries. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)

Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, left, and British Foreign Secretary William Hague, center, listen to Spain's Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez prior to the start of an EU foreign ministers meeting at the European Council building in Brussels, Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011. The British foreign minister is accusing Iran's government of supporting repression in Syria as EU foreign ministers are expected to impose more sanctions on both countries. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)

BRUSSELS (AP) ? EU foreign ministers failed Thursday to reach an agreement to impose an oil embargo against Iran ? a measure that some argued would have choked off funding for Iran's alleged program to develop nuclear weapons.

But the ministers, incensed by the attack Tuesday by an angry mob on the British embassy in Tehran, did impose a new round of sanctions targeting dozens of people, groups and businesses in the country.

The ministers also imposed new sanctions on Syrian individuals and businesses in hopes of pressuring the regime there to halt its deadly crackdown on anti-government protests.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the two issues were related, accusing Iran of supporting the violence in Syria. The U.N. estimates President Bashar Assad's regime has killed at least 3,500 people over the past several months.

"There is a link between what is happening in Iran and what is happening in Syria," Hague said.

In Iran, sanctions were imposed on 37 people and 143 "entities" ? companies or organizations. The sanctions include a freeze on assets held in the European Union and a ban on traveling to EU countries.

The full list of names of those targeted will not be known until they are published in the official journal of the EU on Friday. But the official conclusions of the meeting said they include the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Line and members of, and entities controlled by, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said that Greece, which relies on Iranian oil, had objected to a ban on buying it. But he said work toward an embargo would continue.

"Greece has put forward a number of reservations," Juppe said. "We have to take that into account. We have to see with our partners that the cuts can be compensated by the increase of production in other countries. It is very possible."

Iran has denied it is pursuing nuclear weapons. The attack on the British embassy is believed to have begun as a state-approved protest over Western sanctions linked to the country's nuclear program.

Britain pulled its diplomats out of Iran after the embassy was stormed. Germany, France and the Netherlands have recalled their ambassadors in solidarity.

With regard to Syria, the EU foreign ministers imposed sanctions on 12 people and 11 entities, adding to the list of those previously sanctioned by the EU. The EU is working with the Arab League to halt the violence, and the league's chief, Nabil Elaraby, attended Thursday's meeting.

A statement from the foreign ministers said the crackdown by the Syrian government "risks taking Syria down a very dangerous path of violence, sectarian clashes and militarization."

The statement also said the EU is extremely worried about the deteriorating living conditions of the Syrian people living in areas affected by the unrest, especially in the region of Homs. The EU called on the Syrian government to allow humanitarian organizations immediate access.

Also on the agenda is the situation in Camp Ashraf, an enclave in eastern Iraq that houses more than 3,000 people, many of whom are dedicated to overthrowing the government of Iran.

Iraq, whose government has close ties with that of Iran, has said Camp Ashraf must be closed by the end of this year. Struan Stevenson, a prominent member of the European Parliament, said Wednesday that the government of Iraq is "continuously working on its plan to attack Ashraf and massacre the residents."

The U.N. says at least 34 people were killed when Iraqi security forces raided the camp in April.

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Don Melvin can be reached at http://twitter.com/Don_Melvin

Associated Press

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