This is a revised edition of the Action Plan for African Primate Conservation: 1986–90 published by the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group (PSG) in 1986. That was the first in a long and continuing series of IUCN/SSC Action Plans. Now, some 10 years after the first plan was written, it seems worthwhile to review the recommendations in the original plan, in the light both of conservation actions taken since that plan was published and of new findings on Africa's primates and their environments. Like the original plan, this new edition covers the African mainland and the islands on the continental shelf; it does not encompass Madagascar, for which a separate plan has been prepared (Mittermeier et al. 1993).
The Primate Specialist Group is one of several groups of experts providing technical advice to the Species Survival Commission of the World Conservation Union (IUCN). The PSG has set itself as a main goal the maintenance of the current diversity of the order Primates, with a dual emphasis on: (1) ensuring the survival of endangered and vulnerable species wherever they occur; and (2) providing effective protection for large numbers of primates in areas of high primate diversity and/or abundance.
Human activities make it inevitable that many of the world's primate populations and their habitats will disappear. The Primate Specialist Group feels that, with respect to action directed specifically at primate populations and their habitats, these losses can best be mitigated by: (1) setting aside protected areas for endangered and vulnerable species; (2) creating large national parks and reserves in areas of high primate diversity and/or abundance; (3) maintaining or increasing the effectiveness of parks and reserves that already exist; and (4) creating and increasing public awareness of the need for primate conservation and the importance of primates both as a part of the natural heritage of the countries in which they occur, and as important components in systems whose proper functioning is vital for human well-being.
The principles underlying these goals are that effective habitat conservation is essential if wild populations are to survive in the long term, and that conservation programs will not work effectively if people living in the areas where primates occur do not support conservation efforts.
As a scientific advisory group, we feel that the most appropriate actions the Primate Specialist Group can take to help in achieving its goals are to establish the current patterns of diversity and distribution of the African primate fauna, to study and describe the threats faced by primate populations, to assist in the development of management recommendations for threatened populations, and to establish priorities among specific projects aimed at conserving Africa's primates. These projects include basic surveys where the distribution and status of primate populations are judged to be poorly known, and the establishment and management of protected areas. While our ideal is the creation of many large, strictly-protected reserves in representative biogeographic regions, we recognize that in some cases it is going to be impossible in practice to create and maintain such reserves. In these cases we must determine what forms of multiple-use management do the least damage to primate populations and encourage the implementation of such management.
Although this plan concentrates on establishing priorities for surveys and reserve management programs, we do not wish to minimize the great importance of increasing public awareness in Africa of the need for, and value, of conservation. We also see a continuing need for effective training programs for scientists and managers from African countries. Long-term field research projects have been found to be a very effective means of achieving many of these goals.
This plan follows the general format of the original plan, but incorporates some new material. Like the 1986 plan, this revision begins with a list of African primate species and an assessment of the relative degree of threat faced by each. The list of species has been modified in light of new research findings, and the threat-rating system has been changed. This new plan also pays more attention to subspecies and other distinct local populations. The new plan, like the first, reviews the distribution of distinct African primate communities, paying special attention to communities with high levels of species richness and/or endemism.
Rather than just repeating the list of projects recommended in the original plan, this new edition provides a summary review of progress on each of these projects. It then gives a set of new recommendations for future action based both on project goals set out in the original plan that are still unfulfilled, and on the need for new projects in areas or on populations not included in the first plan.
The plan is transnational in its scope. It considers what action is needed to maintain the diversity of primates on a continent-wide basis. It does not specifically address national concerns. Within some countries, one or a few primate species that are common elsewhere may be rare or threatened. In a transnational plan of this sort these cases are not given special attention, but they may be of great importance in national conservation planning.
Map 1. The nations of Africa. Primate species lists for the 25 countries which have ten or more primate species are given in Appendix 1.