Conservation in the 21st Century: Gorillas as a Case Study

This volume identifies the primary problems faced in conserving wild populations of gorillas throughout Africa, pinpointing new approaches to solving these problems and outlining the increased role that zoos can play in gorilla conservation. It includes the in-depth expertise of field scientists in a variety of disciplines to discuss current conservation threats, novel approaches to conservation, and potential solutions.Like other fields of science, wildlife conservation is a changing field. Threats facing wild populations of apes and other species a few decades ago are likely not the same ones most pressing today, and, even where threats have remained unchanged, more effective means of addressing them are now available. Conservation in the 21st Century: Gorillas as a Case Study draws on the expertise of field scientists in a variety of disciplines to discuss current conservation threats, new approaches to conservation, and potential solutions to conservation using gorillas as a focal species. The first section of the book presents an in depth assessment of the current status of wild gorilla populations, the second and third sections present several novel approaches to conservation that have been explored at several field sites, including new conceptual and technological tools, and also examines the pros and cons of some generally accepted "solutions" (e.g., ecotourism) to conservation issues. Chapters in the final section take a broader view by exploring the role international and national political entities, and non-government organizations, including zoos, can and must play in gorilla conservation. Given the current conservation crisis facing gorillas, and wildlife in general, this book is essential reading for primatologists, biologists, and conservationists searching for both a current assessment of the gorilla s conservation status and, importantly, for ideas and tools that show promise of halting or reversing population declines and putting us on a path to achieving a stable, long-term co-existence of human and wildlife populations.