As part of a series of missions planned to great ape range and consumer states of Africa and Southeast Asia as part of the implementation of the CITES Res. Conf. 13.4 adopted in Bangkok, October 2004, a joint technical mission was undertaken by UNEP/GRASP and CITES to Malaysia on 5-8 November 2007 to investigate the illicit trade in orangutans.

Report of the Technical Mission to Malaysia

A second joint technical mission was undertaken by UNEP/GRASP and CITES to Thailand and Cambodia 23-28 April 2007 to investigate the illicit trade in orangutans in these countries.

Report of the Technical Mission to Thailand and Cambodia

Leila Mead, IISD

Peter Bridgewater, Secretary General of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, and Achim Steiner, Executive Director of UNEP, signed an exchange of letters confirming a commitment to greater collaboration on the conservation of great ape habitats in wetland sites during the 24th Session of the UNEP Governing Council, at a GRASP event on 6 February 2007.

Ramsar letter to GRASP

GRASP letter to Ramsar

GRASP side event was held during the International Primatological Society(IPS) congress in Entebbe, Uganda, on 29 June 2006. GRASP Patron, Richard Wrangham, and President of the IPS in his closing speech during the congress stressed the importance of GRASP and the significance of the Kinshasa Declaration. He also stressed that all scientists and conservationists use the Declaration as a tool to engage the great ape range states.

A Joint technical mission to Indonesia was undertaken from 8- 12 May 2006 by UNEP/GRASP and the CITES secretariat to investigate illegal trade in orangutans. The mission was facilitated by the Ministry of Forestry and the CITES Management Authority in Indonesia. This was the first in a series of such missions planned to great ape range and consumer states of Africa and Southeast Asia as part of the implementation of the Res. Conf. 13.4 adopted in Bangkok, October 2004. A report on the mission, incorporating a number of suggestions and recommendations, has been submitted to the Government of Indonesia. Other joint missions to Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia are planned.

Report of the Technical mission to Indonesia

• Indonesia's response to the report
  

Can the UN save the Great Apes and their Biodiverse Habitats

The GRASP side event was held at the 8th Conference of the Parties (CoP) of the Convention on Biological Diversity on 30th May 2006 in Curitiba, Brazil. During the event, Sierra Leone and Sudan, added their signature to the Kinshasa Declaration on Great Apes. Seven other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) also signed the declaration.

A GRASP side event was held during the eleventh regular session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN). Rwanda and Gabon signed the Declaration during the AMCEN meeting.

Mark Leighton and Christophe Boesch chairs a Scientific Commission Workshop

The Scientific Workshop was organised by the GRASP Scientific Commission and UNESCO to follow up on work that was done to define the priority populations and sites in time for the September 2005 Kinshasa meeting. It allowed key members engaged in this exercise to review and discuss criteria with experts in vertebrate ecology, taxonomy and molecular evolution, and to place these selections on a sound scientific basis.

Click here to view the Great Ape Priority Population Maps and Datasheets presented at the 2005 Intrgovernmental Meeting

The side event was held during the occasion of the 8th Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS). 40 delegates from great ape range states, NGOs and other interested parties attended. At the event, it was acknowledged that there is need for more concerted action and continuous collaboration to help save the great apes from imminent extinction.