16 U.S.C. § 6301: Findings and purposes

Summary

It requires steps to protect great apes and to help countries where they live so wild populations stay healthy. It also supports international conservation work, including the CITES Secretariat. Congress found that great ape numbers have dropped a lot and their long‑term survival is in serious danger. Chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos, orangutans, and gibbons are officially listed as endangered under U.S. law and under the CITES treaty. Loss of habitat from people and logging, broken‑up populations, hunting for bushmeat, live capture, and disease are major threats. Great apes help keep tropical forests healthy and studying them gives important scientific knowledge. Fixing these problems needs shared action by range countries, the United States, other nations, and private groups.

Title 16, §6301

Conservation, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Findings

Congress finds that—

(1)great ape populations have declined to the point that the long-term survival of the species in the wild is in serious jeopardy;

(2)the chimpanzee, gorilla, bonobo, orangutan, and gibbon are listed as endangered species under section 1533 of this title and under Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (27 UST 1087; TIAS 8249);

(3)because the challenges facing the conservation of great apes are so immense, the resources available to date have not been sufficient to cope with the continued loss of habitat due to human encroachment and logging and the consequent diminution of great ape populations;

(4)because great apes are flagship species for the conservation of the tropical forest habitats in which they are found, conservation of great apes provides benefits to numerous other species of wildlife, including many other endangered species;

(5)among the threats to great apes, in addition to habitat loss, are population fragmentation, hunting for the bushmeat trade, live capture, and exposure to emerging or introduced diseases;

(6)great apes are important components of the ecosystems they inhabit, and studies of their wild populations have provided important biological insights;

(7)although subsistence hunting of tropical forest animals has occurred for hundreds of years at a sustainable level, the tremendous increase in the commercial trade of tropical forest species is detrimental to the future of these species; and

(8)the reduction, removal, or other effective addressing of the threats to the long-term viability of populations of great apes in the wild will require the joint commitment and effort of countries that have within their boundaries any part of the range of great apes, the United States and other countries, and the private sector.

(b)Purposes

The purposes of this chapter are—

(1)to sustain viable populations of great apes in the wild; and

(2)to assist in the conservation and protection of great apes by supporting conservation programs of countries in which populations of great apes are located and by supporting the CITES Secretariat.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Short Title

Pub. L. 106–411, § 1, Nov. 1, 2000, 114 Stat. 1789, provided that: “This Act [enacting this chapter] may be cited as the ‘Great Ape Conservation Act of 2000’.”

§6301 Findings and Purposes

Summary

Title 16, §6301

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Short Title

Citations & Metadata