Conservation improving?
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Snorticus
Are you seeing inprovements in chimp & animal conservation over your career as a scientist?
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akalan
scientist
Yes! Particularly in the methods being used to bridge the gap between conservation science and practical applications for field managers. In my phD work passive acoustic monitoring was still a new term still but it is now seen as a useful tool for animal conservation purposes not only in marine environments but more and more in the tropics, where many primates live. The technological advancements in camera traps and acoustic sensors in the last 5 years has greatly expanded the ability for long-term monitoring of remote places as well as involving the general public more with citizen scientist projects like Chimp&See. I think all this has increased our understanding and conscientiousness for conservation and provided novel solutions to field/project managers for the multitude of tasks they face.
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northernlimitptv
scientist, moderator
This is a hard question to answer (for me) as I'm still relatively 'green' in the field of conservation and primatology. I've been doing field research since 2009 and have only recently started to incorporate conservation into my professional activities... however anecdotally I have noticed a noticeable increase in the number of field primatologists who are incorporating active conservation efforts into their activities in the field, often now intertwined with their field projects.
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MimiA
scientist, moderator
I agree, I think monitoring has dramatically improved in the last 13 years in many different directions and I think researchers that use primates as models for human evolution have mostly come around to seeing the need to also be involved in conservation activities.
Not to say its all rosey, for sure, there have been some pretty devastating losses we have had to witness but there have been victories and hopeful moments/situations too.
There are some areas where conservation organizations and researchers are making remarkable gains with governments, extraction companies and local people that really make me feel hopeful too. As an example, I really find the work of the Goualougo Triangle Ape (part of WCS) project inspirational: http://www.congo-apes.org/
I also think that thanks to social media people are a lot more aware of how their consumption activities might impact wildlife that seems a world away. We've seen great campaigns for sustainable/banning palm oil, being aware of how coltan affects gorilla habitat, and timber certification for sustainable logging for example. We've also seen people really campaign for sanctuary apes and the proper treatment of former research chimps like the new york blood center chimps: https://www.change.org/p/new-york-blood-center-don-t-abandon-chimpanzees-for-whom-you-promised-to-provide-lifetime-care
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