Achievements

Key Achievements of GRASP

Since 2001, GRASP has raised over USD 10 million for great ape field conservation efforts from donors  such as the European Union, Spain, United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, Norway, and the UN Foundation, as well as through contributions from non-governmental organizations (NOGs), individuals, the private sector and UNEP & UNESCO.

With this funding, GRASP has achieved a number of outputs serving the implementation of the Kinshasa Declaration, the GRASP Programme of Action, and great ape conservation in general. These outputs have focused on harnessing the added value of GRASP in the following areas:

 

Global Overview

As an international unifying initiative for great ape conservation, GRASP is able to provide a global perspective on the status of great apes and the threats to their survival.

  • Analysis of priority ape populations.

  • Enabling multiple opportunities for promoting expert communication and information exchange at the international and regional levels.

Cooperation Among a Wide Range of Partners

As a partnership of national governments, NGOs, wildlife treaties and UN agencies, led by UNEP and UNESCO, GRASP is uniquely placed to work with a myriad of groups to conserve viable populations of all the great apes in their natural habitat.

  • Global ministerial-level political commitment to Great Apes as indicated by the 2005 Kinshasa Declaration on Great Ape conservation.

  • Facilitating an enabling framework for a global partnership of almost 90 diverse members with notable outcomes, e.g.:

    • Technical advice to encourage national authorities and the East African private sector to cancel plans to degazette two forest reserves in Uganda in mid-2007.

  • Partnership engagement at the political and field level, resulting in, for example:

    • Halted encroachment into one of Africa’s oldest national parks (i.e. Virunga National Park, DR Congo) in 2004 and 2007.

  • Joint activities with the biodiversity-related multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) and UN Agencies leading to:

    • Improved enforcement of great ape legislation through the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) missions, reports, events and support to innovative field projects.

    • Involvement of 10 range states in the development of a Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) Article IV agreement to increase legal protection for gorillas.

    • Awareness raising with the Ramsar Convention to encourage better protection of great ape wetland habitat, for example in Gabon.

    • Emergency interventions with the UNESCO World Heritage Centre bringing support to halt encroachment on protected areas in 5 countries.

    • Partnered with Spain and the Convention for Biological Diversity (CBD) LifeWeb to provide direct support to protected areas and community livelihoods in five countries in Africa and Southeast Asia.


Development of Innovative Field Approaches to Great Ape Conservation

  • 32 GRASP-funded field projects initiated and implemented by GRASP members across Equatorial Africa and Southeast Asia.

  • Improved capacity of national parks and wildlife agencies (equipment, training, ranger posts) in four countries.

  • Increased local livelihoods (e.g., access to micro-credit, protein) and community participation in biodiversity decision-making strengthened in seven great ape range states.

  • Reduced logging, mining, agriculture, infrastructure and other pressures on great ape habitat.

  • Pilot projects initiated in Indonesia and Cameroon to prevent great ape habitat loss and to promote alternative livelihoods for communities through payments for ecosystem services and other forms of economic incentives.

  • Direct support to park management authorities in DR Congo, Republic of Congo, Indonesia, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria, Liberia and Rwanda.


National and Regional Planning

  • Technical advice and support to 20 great ape range states through advisory missions, information technology equipment, assistance with the organization of planning workshops and other activities resulting in:

    • Helped strengthen policies of national authorities in nine countries to better manage natural resources.

  • Raised profile of ministries responsible for Ggeat apes, giving more prominence to environmental issues in national decision-making.

  • Supported improved transboundary collaboration in three regional locations involving seven West, Central and East African great ape range states.

  • High Conservation Value Forest (HCVF) assessments undertaken in Indonesia to conserve areas of significant biodiversity and promote sustainable agricultural development (bioenergy).

  • Local capacity building through support to 15 great ape scientists from Least Developed Countries to undertake field research to inform national policy.

  • Support to great ape range state official participation in relevant events (e.g. World Parks Congress, bushmeat alternatives training).

 

Policy Engagement in Emerging Areas

  • Early engagement at the global policy and national level in areas such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation (forest carbon credits) has led to:

    • Development of global sustainability criteria for production of biomass for bioenergy;

  • Information material and advice provided to three field-based UN agencies, four UN peace-keeping missions and at least 200 relevant senior personnel on environmental peace-building to mainstream environmental factors into their operations.

  • Input into several regulatory processes providing standards and assessments for private sector operations in great ape range states.



Communications and Outreach

Since the Kinshasa Declaration in 2005, there has been unprecedented global media attention to the plight of great apes and their habitat generated by more than 1,500 media pieces (print, radio, TV, Internet).

  • UN great ape reports and campaigns and documentary films have contributed to:

    • Debates and discussions on great ape conservation in national policy-making meetings.

    • Seizure of 70,000 cubic metres of illegal timber and numerous arrests in Indonesia in 2007.

    • Influence on the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) to adopt sustainability principles and criteria.

    • Requests to GRASP from extractive industry (mining, oil) for assistance in minimizing the impact of their operations.

    • Increase funding for field conservation.

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