6.15.2002
can we do anything right?
APES: Cell Phones Threaten D.R.C. Gorillas
Source: UN Wire
Massive worldwide use of cellular telephones is threatening to kill off some of the
most endangered apes in Africa, according to the Television Trust for the
Environment's new documentary, No hiding place, Part 2. World prices for coltan,
a mineral used in cell phone production, have jumped from $65 to $600 a
kilogram during the past few years, and the filmmakers say cell phone users are
"unwittingly ... contributing to the apes' downfall" by indirectly encouraging
destruction of gorilla habitats in coltan zones.
Eighty percent of the world's known coltan supply is in the Democratic Republic of
the Congo, which the United Nations says is subject to "highly organized and
systematic exploitation." According to the film, the number of eastern lowland
gorillas in eight D.R.C. national parks has declined by up to 90 percent during the
past five years, and only 3,000 remain. The U.N. Environment Program launched
an international campaign last year to save the gorilla from extinction, but the
United Nations says recent peace deals among parties to the country's conflict
have done nothing to avert plunder in mineral-rich areas.
Extensive logging during the last 10 years has also harmed the gorillas by
clearing their habitats away, primatologist Jane Goodall says in the
documentary. "Hunters from the towns go along the roads and shoot everything
-- elephants, apes, monkeys, bats and birds," she adds. "They smoke it, load it
onto the trucks and take it into the cities. It doesn't feed starving people but
people who'll pay more for bush meat" (Steven Edwards, National Post, June 12).
01:15
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bubbly and lovely: i'm too poor for therapy.
