A road for a promising future for China's primates: The potential for restoration.

Colin A Chapman

doi:10.24272/j.issn.2095-8137.2018.032

Abstract

China is one of the most dynamic countries of the world and it shelters some amazing levels of biodiversity, including some very special primate species. However, primarily as a result of forest loss, most of which occurred in historical times, approximately 70% of China’s primate species have less than 3 000 individuals. Here I evaluate one road for future conservation/development that could produce very positive gains for China’s primates; namely forest restoration. I argue that for a large scale restoration project to be possible two conditions must be met; the right societal conditions must exist and the right knowledge must be in hand. This evaluation suggests that the restoration of native forest to support many of China’s primates holds great potential to advance conservation goals and to promote primate population recovery.

Highlights

The world is changing rapidly and China represents one of the most dynamic countries on earth and it shelters some amazing levels of biodiversity (i.e., >30 000 species of vascular plants, ~2 340 species of terrestrial vertebrates (Liu et al, 2003))
With respect to climate change, temperatures are predicted to increase by 1.5 ◦C by the end of the 21st century (IPCC, 2014) and using moderate greenhouse gas emission estimates, it is projected that by 2100 75% of all tropical forests present in 2000 will experience temperatures that are higher than the temperatures presently supporting closed canopy forests (Peres et al, 2016; Wright et al, 2009)
What remains to be done is to pull this societal potential and information together to facilitate large-scale forest restoration efforts that is critically needed for primate conservation

Summary

Introduction

The world is changing rapidly and China represents one of the most dynamic countries on earth and it shelters some amazing levels of biodiversity (i.e., >30 000 species of vascular plants (behind only Brazil and Colombia), ~2 340 species of terrestrial vertebrates (Liu et al, 2003)). It is estimated that China has lost between 1.9 and 2.7 million km2 of its original forest in the last 2 000 years (based on models of habitat suitability; Ahrends et al, 2017); this is an area approximately the size of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Results

Conclusion