Unsustainable global consumer demands drive primate extinction – Dr Alejandro Estrada and Dr Paul A Garber

Global market demands for forest-risk commodities such as soy, palm oil, beef, rubber, metals, minerals, gemstones and fossil fuels from Central and South America, Africa and Asia have increased significantly over the past 20 years, representing over four trillion US dollars in 2016 alone. Driven by the over-consumption of a small number of consumer nations, this global trade is responsible for the permanent conversion of native forests into monocultures and pastures, leading to polluted, fragmented and degraded habitats that are unsuitable for wildlife.