Where We Work: Partnerships for Primates
GLOBIO is active in communities across Equatorial Africa and Borneo, in addition to the digital conservation awareness resources used around the world.
Sticking true to our roots of promoting environmental awareness and inspiring global stewardship for the planet, GLOBIO has flipped our perspective on how we approach conservation and awareness. Our new approach hones in on four focal regions that have critical at-risk ape and biodiversity numbers, within which we identify and collaborate with like-minded conservation organizations. Currently, we have highlighted the following areas: Upper Albertine Rift Triangle, Western Congo Basin, West Africa Lowland Forest, and Borneo Peat Swamp Forest.
Our support for Program Partners within these regions will manifest through the following ways:
- Creation of media outreach and promotional materials
- Program funding support through grants and donations
- Help drive capacity building initiatives for partners, including skills training
- Develop integrated project approaches to expand local conservation capacity
- Provide additional conservation support as needed, including: development assistance, network building, resource provision.
Conservation through Collaboration: GLOBIO’s Focal Regions
West African Lowland Forest
The West African Lowland Forest contains the westernmost rainforest on the African continent. The flora and fauna here are quite distinctive, with larger numbers of narrowly endemic species, including a wealth of primate species such as the Critically Endangered Western Chimpanzee, Diana monkey, Campbell’s monkey, and the Western Red Colobus. This region is not well protected and threats include habitat loss to slash-and-burn farming, hunting for bushmeat, logging, civil conflict, and mining activities.
Regional Program Partner: Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary (Sierra Leone)
Western Congo Basin
The Congo Basin forms the tropical rainforest at the core of the African continent, boasting the highest tree diversity. The westernmost region hosts a complete collection of large and small primates, including endangered Western lowland gorillas, chimpanzees, mandrills, drills, and a suite of guenons. While swamp forest dominates coastal regions in the south, inland is a gradual transition to savanna-forest mosaic. This region is not well protected and is endangered due to habitat loss due to palm oil plantations, logging, slash-and-burn farming, bushmeat hunting, and oil, gas, and mining activities.
Regional Program Partner: Ape Action Africa (Cameroon)
Borneo Peat Swamp Forest
Merger of lowland rainforest and peat swamp create some of the most speciose habitat in the world, including extremely high tree diversity and size. Endangered Bornean orangutans are the highest-profile species, but peat swamp forests are a critical habitat for the endangered endemic and highly unique Proboscis monkey. Palm oil-driven deforestation is the greatest ongoing threat to the region.
Regional Program Partner: Yayasan IAR (Borneo, Indonesia)
Upper Albertine Rift Triangle
The Albertine Rift montane forests is a tropical moist broadleaf forest in the heart of east-central Africa. The upper triangle covers the mountains of the northern Albertine Rift, and is home to distinct Afromontane forests with high biodiversity. Featuring Critically Endangered Mountain and Eastern Lowland gorillas as well as chimpanzees and the highest primate diversity in Africa. The region boasts high levels of endemism, especially birds and amphibians. The ongoing decades of civil unrest, corruption, and mining are the greatest threats.
Regional Program Partner: TBA
Get Email Updates
Sign up to get email updates about GLOBIO projects
Program Partner Updates
September Primate of the Month — Western Lowland Gorilla
September Primate of the Month: Western Lowland GorillaWestern Lowland Gorilla While Mountain Gorillas may have the late Dian Fossey as their claim to fame, Western Lowland Gorillas have become well known through their use in zoos and because of the infamous...
Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary: GLOBIO’s Newest Programs Partner
How do we change the conservation conversation around great apes and primates? When we went searching for new program partners to support our 2021-24 Strategic Commitment that was the fundamental question that drove our evaluation of potential partners. Tacugama...
July Primate of the Month — Chimpanzee
July Primate of the Month: ChimpanzeeChimpanzees Chimpanzees are the most abundant of the non-human Great Apes, both in number and geographic range. The four subspecies have a combined population of 172,000-300,000 individuals left in the wild, which occupy a...