natural reserve
Mineral mining threatens great apes in Africa
Trucks transport bauxite along a mining transport road. More than a third of Africa’s great ape population is threatened by mining, a study has found. photo
© Claude Frenette/iDiv/dpa
Copper, lithium, cobalt and rare earths: Mining in Africa is booming – and, according to a study, it is endangering more than a third of the great apes on the continent.
More than a third of the great ape population in According to a study, Africa is threatened by mining. The threat to these 180,000 chimpanzees, bonobos and gorillas has so far been underestimated, write scientists from the German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) in the journal “Science Advances”.
Rising demand for key minerals such as copper, lithium, cobalt and rare earths, needed for the large-scale transition to clean energy, is causing mining to boom in Africa, it says. This leads, among other things, to the deforestation of tropical rainforest. There would also be other direct and indirect impacts, such as the construction of roads, the settlement of people in previously uninhabited areas, hunting and the possible transmission of diseases.
Scientists: Strongest overlaps in West Africa
For the study, the research team led by scientists from iDiv Halle-Jena-Leipzig used data on mining sites in 17 African countries that have either already been put into operation or are currently being developed. They compared the locations of these mining sites with the habitats of great ape populations, assuming that animals within a radius of 10 kilometers were directly affected and indirectly within a radius of 50 kilometers.
The scientists found the strongest overlaps in the West African countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone, Mali and Guinea. The habitat of chimpanzees and mining overlaps particularly strongly in Guinea. According to the study, more than 23,000 chimpanzees, or up to 83 percent of the monkey population, could be directly or indirectly affected by mining activities.
“Turning away from fossil fuels is right and important for the climate,” says co-author from the environmental organization Re:wild. But it must be done in a way that does not put biodiversity at risk. “Companies, lenders and governments must recognize that sometimes leaving some areas untouched can be of greater benefit to mitigating climate change and preventing future epidemics.”