Endangered gorillas

3.11.2016

Question for written answer E-008340-16
to the Commission
Rule 130
Nuno Melo (PPE)

Senior officials of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) recently revealed, at a conference in Honolulu, that there are only 5 000 eastern gorillas (Gorilla beringei) left on the planet. Specialists say that this species is now in danger of becoming completely extinct.

Four out of the six great apes, namely the eastern gorilla, the western gorilla, the Bornean orang-utan, and the Sumatran orang-utan, are seriously endangered, just one step away from extinction, according to the latest updated version of the IUCN Red List, the world’s most comprehensive inventory of animal and plant species.

War, the rise in poaching, and the loss of habitat land over the past 20 years have led to devastating population decline, amounting to more than 70% in the case of the eastern gorilla, according to the IUCN.

— Is the Commission aware of this situation?— What is its assessment?— What can and should the EU do to save these species?