The World Conservation Union (IUCN) appoints specialist groups of internationally recognized experts who bring scientific knowledge to bear on conservation issues. Some of these groups are organized taxonomically, e.g. the Asian Elephant Specialist Group, and others topically, e.g. the Veterinary Specialist Group. One of these is the Primate Specialist Group, which focuses on apes, monkeys, and prosimians. Given that the numbers of all four types of great apes are plummeting, the Primate Specialist Group appointed a Section on Great Apes (SGS) in 2004. SGA has about 80 members; Dr. Benjamin Beck, the Trust’s director of conservation, and Dr. Serge Wich, an expert on orangutan behavioral ecology and currently a visiting scientist at The Trust, are both SGA members.

One of SGA’s functions is to respond to unanticipated conservation emergencies involving apes, e.g. a disease outbreak or a natural disaster. Expertise is critical but useless in the face of such emergencies if resources are not immediately available to support a response. For example, a veterinary team would have to be equipped and dispatched to respond to the disease outbreak. Thus, SGA created an emergency response fund, with a target of $100,000. Great Ape Trust contributed $5,000 in 2005.

Web site: www.iucn.org