The Great Apes Survival Partnership (GRASP) is a unique alliance of 100 national governments, research institutions, conservation organizations, United Nations (U.N.) agencies, and private companies committed to ensuring the long-term survival of great apes in Africa and Asia.
GRASP (www.un-grasp.org) focuses on key issues that are integral to the conservation of chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos and orangutans, including illegal trade, habitat protection and restoration, disease monitoring, political advocacy, Green Economy and trans-boundary collaboration. GRASP is the only species-specific conservation programme within the U.N., and the GRASP Secretariat is co-hosted by the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Environmental, Cultural and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) and is based in Nairobi, Kenya.
GRASP funds projects by partners in the field – such as orangutan forest restoration in Sumatra or gorilla protection in Nigeria, and stages regional workshops to strengthen the partnership and promote collaboration at the field level. GRASP also creates in-house projects, such as the apeAPP (www.apeapp.org) mobile phone application, which allows partners to promote their work and raise funds via mobile technology; and regularly publishes reports that address key issues facing great apes, such as the 2013 report, Stolen Apes, the first report to gauge the scale and scope of the illicit trade in great apes.