More nature reserves needed to protect China’s monkeys

All of China’s primate species are threatened by habitat loss and up to 80 per cent are at risk of extinction if agriculture continues to expand at its present rate, according to a study involving scientists from the University of Western Australia.

The study calls for the Chinese government to create a “national agency of environmental information” to develop public education programmes about the importance of primate conservation.

It also suggests that habitat programmes be set up to restore forests in China’s nature reserves, that more protected areas be created and that “a latticework” of wildlife corridors should link primate populations.