Upper Guinea Red Colobus (Piliocolobus badius)

Mohamed bin Zayed Species project number 182513380

Saving Africa’s most threatened primate group from extinction: the Red Colobus Conservation Action Plan (ReCAP)

Red Colobus monkeys (Piliocolobus spp.) are the most threatened group of primates in Africa with more than half Endangered or Critically Endangered with one possibly hunted to extinction. Red colobus range overlaps with at least 75% of all primate species on mainland Africa. 

 

Launched in August 2018, the IUCN SSC and African Primatological Society’s Red Colobus Action Plan aims to unite and mobilize local and international partners to prevent a continent-wide extinction of all 19 red colobus. As well as prioritizing actions for each species, the action plan identifies six range-wide actions where, by working collaboratively, impacts can be efficiently scaled for continent-wide impact. These actions are: 1) developing a red colobus conservation network, 2) improving awareness and pride in red colobus populations, 3) building capacity for African conservationists, 4) strengthening protection, 5) improving political support, and 6) monitoring red colobus populations.   

 

At the Internaitonal Primatological Society Congress 2018 in Nairobi, the primate conservation community, potential ReCAP donors, and key decision-makers were brought together to mobilize significant support for ReCAP through a launch event. A symposium detailing and highlighting red colobus conservation, a workshop to discuss the ReCAP, and a ReCAP leadership meeting to plan strategic next steps and to identify and empower African leadership of ReCAP were also held at IPS.

 

To ensure that the ReCAP document is widely available, we propose printing 2,000 copies. In order to do so, we plan to enlist graphic design support with for the document layout and professional printing capabilities.