Chapter 9 - Opportunities for Tree Kangaroo Conservation on the Island of New Guinea

Abstract

All species of New Guinea's tree kangaroos are vulnerable to threats that will lead to extinction unless interventions are taken on behalf of these remarkable wild creatures. Three lines of action are suggested to ensure that all species of New Guinea's tree kangaroos survive into the next century. Action to be taken in the field should include the formal creation of large (>100,000ha) protected no-hunting reserves, one for each New Guinean species (or in some cases pairs of species). Each reserve should encompass the focal species’ geographic and elevational heartland. Second, rural land-owning communities affiliated with these conservation areas need to be engaged to create a conservation constituency for each tree kangaroo species. Such engagement must be accompanied by clear and compelling incentives for sustaining this engagement. Third, an international captive-breeding program is needed that maintains healthy captive populations of all genetic and morphologically distinct populations of New Guinea's tree kangaroos in multiple breeding facilities around the world. These captive populations can be used to re-seed extirpated populations on the island of New Guinea and serve as a long-term genetic reserve for all tree kangaroo lineages.