180,000 Great Apes Threatened By Increase Of Demand In Minerals For Renewable Energy Transition

More than one-third of Africa's great apes are threatened by the growing demand for minerals used to create green energy technology.

Africa is home to around one-sixth of the world's remaining forests, with habitat found in nations such as Ghana, Gabon, and Uganda. The continent also has four great ape species: chimpanzees, bonobos, and two types of gorillas.

180,000 Apes Affected

A study indicated that an estimated 180,000 gorillas, bonobos, and chimps are at risk as demand for essential minerals like copper, lithium, nickel, and cobalt rises. Many of these minerals are essential for sustainable energy technology like wind turbines and electric vehicles.

According to researchers, increased demand is pushing the degradation of tropical rainforests, which are essential habitats for Africa's great apes.

"Africa is experiencing an unprecedented mining boom threatening wildlife populations and whole ecosystems," researchers wrote in the paper.

Jessica Junker of the non-profit conservation group Re:wild in Austin, Texas, and her colleagues used available data on the density and distribution of ape populations to overlay the location of operational and planned mining sites across 17 African countries.

The scientists created a 50-kilometer "buffer zone" surrounding mining operations to account for both direct impacts on ape populations, such as noise pollution, habitat loss, and disease spread, and indirect disruptions, such as the development of new service roads and infrastructure.

The researchers discovered that mining activities could endanger 180,000 great apes, or slightly more than one-third of the continent's population.

The West African countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone, Mali, and Guinea had the greatest overlap between ape populations and mining sites. The study reveals that mining might damage 83% of Guinea's primate population.

Protection Of Biodiversity

According to Junker, the team solely considered industrial mining projects. The threat could grow much larger if the influence of artisanal mining, where miners typically labor in primitive and frequently hazardous conditions, is taken into account.

Cobalt, manganese, and graphite are all utilized in the production of lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles. Other resources found in these countries in Africa include bauxite, platinum, copper, graphite, and lithium, which are used to power green technology like hydrogen, wind turbines, and solar panels.

Junker underscored that transition away from fossil fuels is beneficial to the environment, but it must be done in a way that protects biodiversity.

"In its current iteration it may even be going against the very environmental goals we're aiming for ... It is crucial for everyone to adopt a mindset of reduced consumption," she added.

Mining damages apes by destroying their environment, causing pollution, and spreading sickness. It can also make habitats more accessible to hunters and farmers by carving pathways into the forest. More than two-thirds of primate species are already under threat of extinction.

Researchers said more could be done to reduce the impact of mining on endangered animals. Mining corporations are not obligated to make biodiversity data publicly available.

According to the researchers, the impact of mining projects on great apes and other animals could be far greater than what was found in this work.