One morning in 2024, Brazilian farmer Armando Schlindwein woke up to find an orange-bearded monkey sitting on the roof of his farmhouse on the edge of the Amazon. The animal was a Groves’ Titi monkey, also referred to locally as zogue-zogue and scientifically as Plecturocebus grovesi. Found only in Mato Grosso state, this critically endangered primate had strayed from a nearby forest patch, forced out by intense deforestation.
Schlindwein, 62, from Sinop municipality in central Mato Grosso, understood that the monkey was attempting to find a secure route for its family under threatened forest. “This little animal is under threat. Something must be done to save it,” he told Reuters.
Moved by the experience, Schlindwein started collaborating with other environmental organizations like the Ecotono Institute and the Movement of People Affected by Dams (MAR) to initiate a reforestation project. They planted seeds of 47 native tree species on a one-hectare (2.5-acre) plot of stripped land in 2023. In five to seven years, they expect the place to have tripled the monkey family’s habitat.
“Rescuing them is an everyday job,” he said of the four adults and one baby monkey now living in a patch of forest no bigger than a polo field.
More about Groves’ Titi Monkey
The Groves’ Titi monkey is one of the world’s 25 most threatened primates, as indicated by the 2022/3 “Primates in Peril” report of the IUCN and other environmental organizations. A 2019 research reported in the report indicated that the species had already lost 42% of its habitat, a figure that could jump to 86% in 25 years if deforestation goes unchecked.
“When children are born and must emigrate to keep the reproductive cycle going, they have nowhere to go,” said Gustavo Rodrigues Canale, a primatologist at the Federal University of Mato Grosso. “Human activity leaves them isolated in small forest patches,” he said.
The area is situated within the so-called ‘Arc of Deforestation’, which has an extremely high deforestation rate, fueled mainly by agricultural expansion for soybean crops. The IUCN report urged the establishment of protected reserves and a transition from industrial monoculture farming to sustainable land use strategies, including agroforestry and agroecological farming, to assist in the conservation of what remains of the monkeys’ habitat.
Role of Sinop Hydroelectric Plant
But deforestation is not the sole threat. Residents claim that one border of the monkey habitat has been cut off due to flooding caused by the Sinop Hydroelectric Plant run by ‘Sinop Energia’, a firm partly owned by French energy company EDF.
“Here, there was once a stream with trees, but the Sinop Hydroelectric Plant (UHE). built a huge lagoon that the monkeys are not able to cross,” said Anthony Luiz, MAR spokesman, alongside a 300-meter-wide lake.
Environmentalists attribute the destruction of the ecosystem caused by allowing trees to rot in the river due to the hydroelectric project to the latter as well. Aquatic life and forest fires that occur during dry seasons are destroyed, which continues to threaten monkeys and other creatures.
Sinop Energia replied to AFP that the plant meets “all legal and environmental requirements,” and also stated it “has permanent monitoring of water quality, aquatic and terrestrial fauna, and vegetation regeneration within the area.” The company further stated it had put a primate monitoring program in place as legally required.
