IYBD at UCL: Protecting the primates of Gashaka

In this short film, Professor Volker Sommer (UCL Anthropology) discusses his work in West Africa, where he has founded a unique project to protect the area's primates. The Gashaka-Gumti National Park is one of the world's biodiversity hotspots, supporting a rich and complex ecosystem of endangered species. The United Nations has declared 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity (IYBD) ? a chance to celebrate and safeguard the diversity of life on Earth. Biodiversity embraces every every plant, animal and micro-organism, and sustains the ecosystems that provide us with food, fuel, health, wealth, and other vital services. UCL Anthropology looks at the biological, cultural, social and material culture of human beings as well as their evolution. The 2008 Research Assessment Exercises show that 85% of the department's research activity was judged of international quality, and 60% was classified in the top two categories of 4* and 3*.