In December 2024 PRCF in part supported and participated in the creation of Bangladesh´s
first Gibbon Conservation Action Plan as part of its commitment to the conservation of the endangered Western Hoolock Gibbon.
The workshop was facilitated and led by PRCF´s local partner – the Creative Conservation Alliance – as well as the IUCN Primate Specialist Group Section on Small Apes (IUCN PSG SSA). The workshop was attended and partly also facilitated by our Chief Operations Officer: Paul Insua Cao and Program Development Officer: Sinan Serhadli.
The workshop marked a milestone for gibbon conservation efforts in Bangladesh as it
included the highest level of Forest Department Officials, national academics and
researchers, conservations, and delegates from India and Myanmar. The 10-year
conservation action plan for this imperiled ape will serve as the foundation to guide
collective conservation efforts and leverage donor funding.
There are around 800 Western Hoolock Gibbons left in Bangladesh, scattered across the country´s eastern region and it needs urgent conservation attention. We hope that through the government-backed and endorsed action plan greater attention will be brought to the only ape species of the Indian sub-continent.
The Western Hoolock is PRCF´s flagship for the new South Asia Program that is currently being developed and seeks to link and synergize conservation efforts between Northeast India and Bangladesh. The Bangladesh Western Hoolock Gibbon Action Plan is currently being finalized and will be given to potential donors such as the ARCUS Foundation. We believe that an action plan can form a critical foundation to guide targeted conservation efforts and measure progress.
We commend the Bangladesh Forest Department for their openness to work together, host the entire venue, and put in the effort to realize the creation of this crucial action plan.
The overarching vision the workshop agreed on is:
The Western Hoolock Gibbon is stabilized and increasing within Bangladesh through a multi-stakeholder and science-based approach that entails active engagement of local communities, government, and private sector as well as transboundary collaboration with both India and Myanmar, setting the stage for long-term viability and a thriving gibbon population across priority areas in Bangladesh.
PRCF and its partner CCA will work towards achieving this vision through a long-term
program.
