© Romeo Gacad/AFP/Getty ImagesIn Asia, Sumatran orangutans are believed to have declined by 50% since 1992.
Greater exploitation of natural resources has become a major threat to apes in Africa and Asia, UN conference hearsThe accelerated and unsustainable exploitation of the Earth's primary natural resources has become a major threat to apes in Africa and Asia, a major United Nations environment conference heard Wednesday.
Speaking on the sidelines of the UN environment assembly, conservationists said infrastructure development and extraction of natural resources - including timber, minerals, oil and gas - have devastated the prime habitat of apes and pushed chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos, orangutans and gibbons closer to extinction.
"There's absolutely no doubt that extractive industries are severely impacting on apes and their habitats," said Helga Rainer, conservation director of the Great Apes programme at the Arcus Foundation, the world's largest private funder of ape conservation.
"Only five out of 27 ape (habitats) do not have a mining project within their range ... and there is also an indirect impact associated with infrastructure development such as roads and railways," she added.