Scientists have warned that mining of the metals needed for the global clean energy transition could threaten Africa’s already beleaguered great apes unless strong conservation measures are implemented. Nearly 180,000 gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos — more than a third of the entire great ape population in Africa — could be directly or indirectly threatened by mining now and in the near future, according to a recent study in the journal Science Advances. “The minerals used to help us reduce climate change come from areas covered with habitat that could be important to great apes,” study lead author Jessica Junker, a researcher at wildlife conservation NGO Re:wild and former postdoctoral researcher at the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), told Mongabay in a video interview. “Taking these minerals out of the Earth can have quite a severe impact and cause these habitats to disappear.” Junker and an international team from Germany, Australia and several African countries looked at the current and future potential effects of mining on great apes in Africa, choosing this group of species to illustrate the implications of mining operations in Africa and worldwide. A baby gorilla takes a ride on their mothers back. nearly 18000 of these apes risk fallout from mining projects. Image courtesy Jeremy Stewardson via Unsplash ‘The threat is larger than we thought’ While Africa is home to 30% of the world’s mineral resources — including 19% of reserves of so-called critical metals like bauxite, cobalt and aluminum — the continent currently accounts…This article was originally published on Mongabay
The post Study: A third of Africa’s great apes at risk from mining of transition metals first appeared on EnviroLink Network.