Primates in Fragments 10 Years Later: Once and Future Goals

In 2010, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimated that 16 million hectares of forest per year were lost globally in the 1990s ( FAO 2010 ), and approximately 12.5 million hectares/year were lost in countries with primate populations, an area just smaller than Greece or the US State of Mississippi (Chapman and Peres 2001 ; Chapman and Gogarten 2012 ). In contrast, in the last decade (2000–2010), the rate of deforestation has decreased globally by approximately 5.2 million hectares/year, and reforestation and natural expansion of forests in some countries signifi cantly reduced the net loss of forest (FAO 2010 ). This may be in part due to the lack of resonance in satellite imagery between secondary and primary forest regions, particularly in the tropics. Unfortunately, the increase in forested lands has principally affected temperate regions of Europe and eastern Asia (e.g., China, Japan), but deforestation of most tropical forests has continued steadily (e.g., annual loss: 0.5 % in Africa, 1.2 % in Mesoamerica, 0.5 % in South America, 0.4 % in southeastern Asia; FAO 2011 ). Chapter 34 Primates in Fragments 10 Years Later: Once and Future Goals