Impending extinction of the world’s primates due to human activities; immediate global attention is needed to reverse the trend.

No abstract

Peru has one of the richest primate faunas of any country. The illegal trade in wild primates is one of the largest threats to this fauna in Peru. We characterize the illegal trade in primates through empirical and ethnographic data. We collected data from traffic routes and centers throughout Peru and evaluate current efforts to combat this traffic. Based on our findings from 2,070 instances of wildlife crime involving 6,872 primates, we estimate the domestic trade in primates for pets and bushmeat in Peru in the hundreds of thousands per year, with the larger bodied Atelidae facing the highest direct consequences. We found that government authorities lack sufficient staff, capacity, resources, infrastructure, and protocols to efficiently combat illegal trade in primates. Also, the complicated legal framework and lack of cooperation and antagonism with the public further limit these efforts. Wildlife authorities in Peru are able to confiscate only a fraction of primates traded and mostly intervene in cases of private pet owners rather than traffickers. We estimate that the current rate of illegal trade in primates is comparable to levels of trade prior to the 1973 ban on primates' exportation. The combination of direct observations on primate trade and ethnographic data allows a comprehensive look at primate trade in Peru. We call upon decision makers and international funders to channel their efforts toward "on the ground" actions such as increasing the ability of the authorities to act, giving them "in action" training in law enforcement and establishing strict control measures against corruption. Am. J. Primatol. 79:e22516, 2017. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Primates, represented by 521 species, are distributed across 91 countries primarily in the Neotropic, Afrotropic, and Indo-Malayan realms. Primates inhabit a wide range of habitats and play critical roles in sustaining healthy ecosystems that benefit human and nonhuman communities. Approximately 68% of primate species are threatened with extinction because of global pressures to convert their habitats for agricultural production and the extraction of natural resources. Here, we review the scientific literature and conduct a spatial analysis to assess the significance of Indigenous Peoples’ lands in safeguarding primate biodiversity. We found that Indigenous Peoples’ lands account for 30% of the primate range, and 71% of primate species inhabit these lands. As their range on these lands increases, primate species are less likely to be classified as threatened or have declining populations. Safeguarding Indigenous Peoples’ lands, languages, and cultures represents our greatest chance to prevent the extinction of the world’s primates.

Amazonas and San Martin are two of the most densely populated regions in rural Peru and have some of the highest deforestation rates in the country. They are also home to many threatened and endemic species and are considered a high priority for conservation. Under Peruvian law individuals and community groups can create private conservation areas and conservation concessions, and we evaluated the successes and challenges experienced in the creation and management of such areas, using direct observation, questionnaires and key-informant interviews. Our results show that far from being a problem for conservation many rural communities are actively promoting or participating in conservation initiatives on a local scale with landscape-level impacts. These initiatives include land protection, hunting control and reduced deforestation, thus providing effective solutions to threats. The main obstacles we identified in relation to such campesino (peasant farmer) conservation initiatives were the lack of access to support from governmental and nongovernmental institutions and to economic resources to fund the extensive bureaucratic processes of registering protected areas. Many campesino communities bypass these restrictions through informal conservation initiatives.