University of Toronto recently issued the following announcement.

Forest, Apes, Planet: Stories of hope from conservation

by Canadian Ape Alliance$45

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DATE AND TIME

Sat, 2 June 2018

2:00 PM – 5:00 PM EDT

Location

LOCATION

Faculty Club - University Of Toronto

41 Willcocks Street

Toronto, ON M5S 3G3

Canada

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Refund Policy

REFUND POLICY

No Refunds

Event description

DESCRIPTION

The two main rainforests of this world, often called the lungs of this earth, are The Congo and The Amazon. Both are under siege with dire consequences for people, wildlife, and the global climate. Join us as we hear from three speakers that are actively working to protect these ecosystems and their wildlife.

Guest speakers:

Dominique Bikaba

Director, Strong Roots Congo

The Great Ape Habitat Connectivity Project is developing a habitat corridor for the eastern lowland gorilla and eastern chimpanzees between protected areas in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The eastern lowland gorilla, the largest of the great apes and endemic to the eastern provinces of DRC, underwent a drastic population decline of 77% between 1996-2016. This project, with the goal of promoting gene flow and habitat protection, is emerging as a bulwark against deforestation and biodiversity loss.

Within the corridor, human life is factored into the ecosystem equation, as the project draws on community forest initiatives and encourages traditional pre-colonial hunting practices and taboos.People in the area are also adapting to a changing climate through reestablishing traditional practices of crop rotation and agroforestry. This project is a clear example of an initiative that builds on both climate resilience and mitigation contributing to global health.

Kerry Bowman

University of Toronto

While working directly with Dominique Bikaba on the Great Ape Habitat Connectivity Project, Kerry is also focused on the far side of the world, in the Amazon forest. Assisting with biodiversity surveys and documenting the relationship between the environment and Terra Indiginous. Kerry has participated in six expeditions in the last five years into the western Amazon on the Brazil/Peru border, within the regions of uncontacted people. Although only a very small minority of indigenous people in the Amazon are considered uncontacted, protecting their territories ensures their rights and freedom and represents a major success in environmental protection and climate mitigation. Providing ownership titles to indigenous communities is proving to be one of the most effective ways to preserve endangered rainforest in the Amazon, and despite long and hard battles with many setbacks, significant areas are being put aside and protected for Indigenous people. Satellite data and land ownership certificates indicate forest destruction drops by as much as 75%once formally granted to indigenous communities. This again is a tremendous boost to climate change mitigation with positive implications for the entire world.

Spencer Sekyer

In 2013 when in Iraq helping an animal rescue organization, Spencer Sekyer was introduced to an infant chimpanzee named Manno at a local zoo, and quickly became his caretaker and friend. It soon became apparent that Manno, along with the other animals at the zoo, were illegally trafficked. Three years of work eventually resulted in Manno’s rescue and relocation to Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary. Spencer’s attention has now turned to Simon, a chimpanzee in the West African nation of Guinea-Bissau that desperately needs help, and with assistance can hopefully be relocated this August. Spencer has also discovered Fifi and two other chimpanzees in Guinea-Bissau, as well as 11 in Angola that need to be relocated

Daina Liepa

As co-owner of Story Book Farm Primate Sanctuary in Sunderland Ontario, Daina has worked to give monkeys in Canada a new lease on life after having been held as pets or in roadside zoos or retired from research labs. Daina has also been involved with PEGAS (Project to End Great Ape Slavery) which brought her to Kenya to Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary. There she was involved in a project that is creating a facial recognition software to help track apes trafficked on the internet in order to locate the perpetrators and utilimately prosecute them. At Sweetwaters, Daina was also able to meet Manno and see first hand how he is integrating with the other chimpanzees.

Original source: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/forest-apes-planet-stories-of-hope-from-conservation-tickets-46068367728