Action Plan for the Conservation of Primates in Ecuador

Action plan published in December 2018 by Ecuador's Ministry of Environment, the Ecuadorian Primate Study Group and the Ecuadorian Mammalogy Association, and subsequently officially adopted through Ministerial Agreement No. 006, published in Official Gazette No. 419 on February 1, 2019. Its objective is to maintain and restore ecologically functional primate populations that coexist with human communities as integral components of Ecuadorian ecosystems and landscapes. It establishes seven action areas: regulatory strengthening, ex situ management, in situ management, control of hunting and illegal wildlife trafficking, scientific research, environmental education and coordination among specialist groups. The plan includes measures to protect and restore habitats, improve ecological connectivity, strengthen controls on illegal primate trade, generate information on species and promote institutional and social participation. By 2028, it aims to reduce the extinction risk of threatened and near-threatened primate species by one category, using Ecuador's 2011 Red Book of Mammals as a reference, and generate information to assess species that have not been evaluated or are data deficient. Its primary objective is the conservation of primates and their ecosystems.