Conservation

Great Apes Film Initiative

(Click here for the Great Apes Film Initiative website)

Wildlife documentaries are by their very subject matter, made around the world and many of them involve animals and habitats which are becoming increasingly rare. It has been one of the most frustrating aspects of programme making for many wildlife documentary producers that we can make programmes about these endangered animals but they are rarely seen by the very people who need to see them - the decision makers in those countries and the locals who live in those environments. The Great Apes Film Initiative, (GAFI) created by Madelaine Westwood in collaboration with Filmmakers For Conservation and GRASP, has entailed the donating of award winning films by BBC Worldwide and Granada International to be given to African, Malaysian and Indonesian countries who cannot afford to pay for them and are struggling to keep great apes alive for future generations.

It is a sad fact that estimates for the survival of primates in the world is approximately 15 years, can you imagine a world without gorillas, orangutans, chimps and bonobos. It isunthinkable but it will definitely happen unless we take action now. Nutshell has provided the services of Madelaine for seven months to create the Great Apes Film Initiative, enrol broadcasters to donate films, liase with African broadcasters and ministers to have the films broadcast nationally, link to Non Government Organisations (NGOs) and their educational outreach work, and establish the legal and logistical framework for 'GAFI'. It has been a huge task, but already the first successes are coming in, GAFI had its first films broadcast in Congo in February, with the Minister for Environment accepting the films in person and signing the contracts at the Heads of State Summit for seven African Nations which had conservation as its top priority. The same films were also given to Cameroon for broadcast and to Limbe Wildlife Centre in Cameroon for showing to school children , they were then used for outreach in the surrounding areas to tackle the bushmeat crisis.

There is a lot to do and another 21 countries who have endangered apes to include in the initiative...but a start has been made. In November 2005, Madelaine will take the GAFI films to Borneo, along with the Land Rover Owners Club, and travel to outlying towns and villages showing films on orangutans

Click here for the Great Apes Film Initiative website