Logging, industrial farming to push 300 primates into extinction: Amsterdam prof

A group of leading primatologists, including University of Amsterdam professor Serge Wich, is sounding the alarm about the effect logging and industrial farming is having on the global primate population. A massive 60 percent of the 500 primate species are threatened with extinction, according to their research, published in Science Advances on Wednesday, Het Parool reports.

That amounts to 300 primate species nearing extinction, a 20 percent increase compared to 1996. "The increase ot the current 60 percent is extremely worrying and points out that more conservation measures are needed to halt this development", professor Wich said. "We can no longer sit back."

The biggest threat to primates is humans. Primates are rapidly losing habitat due to agriculture, logging and resource extraction. Many monkeys and apes are also still being hunted.

It is of great importance to protect primates. They are essential to the biodiversity of tropical forests and contribute to the health of the ecosystem.

As primates mostly live in areas characterized by poverty, the scientists call on NGO's, governments and business, among others, to take responsibility and implement measures to protect primates. This can be done by investing in sustainable land use and stopping the hunting of primates.