location: Africa

location: Africa

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Can we create new inland seas to lower sea level rise? Interview with researcher Amir AghaKouchak
- A new research project is looking into the possibility of reflooding the Qattara Depression, a massive low-lying desert area in Egypt, to help counter sea level rise.
- Scientists forecast global sea levels will rise by at least 30 centimeters (12 inches) over present-day levels by the end of the century — and that’s a conservative prediction.
- Mongabay spoke with Amir AghaKouchak, the project’s leader, who says reflooding the Qattara Depression could also bring potential benefits to Egypt, including aquaculture, renewable energy and tourism.
- The idea remains in its infancy and would require the backing of the Egyptian government as well as a great deal of further study.

Iain Douglas-Hamilton, elephant protector, has died at 83
- Iain Douglas-Hamilton was a pioneering elephant researcher who spent nearly 60 years studying Africa’s elephants, beginning in Tanzania’s Lake Manyara National Park with the first scientific study of elephant behavior in the wild.
- A leading voice against the ivory trade, he helped drive the 1989 global ban after witnessing devastating population declines in the 1970s and 1980s.
- As founder of Save the Elephants, he advanced GPS tracking and new conservation strategies that transformed protection efforts across Africa.
- Also a mentor and advocate, Douglas-Hamilton is celebrated for his communication skills and unwavering belief that protecting elephants is a generational responsibility — a mission that continues through the people and systems he helped build.

Global leaders seek action on environment, despite divide
- The United Nations Environment Assembly takes place this week in Nairobi, at a time when wars, protectionist economic policies and global divisions are undermining nations’ ability to reach consensus on climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution — issues that require collective action.
- UNEA president abdullah Bin Ali Al-Amri reminded delegates that despite the turbulence, multilateral cooperation remains the only credible pathway.
- Despite divisions between major powers, growing North-South mistrust and an emerging “America First” posture in Washington, UNEP executive director Inger Andersen insisted that environmental diplomacy still works when countries choose compromise over paralysis.

South Africa withdraws abalone listing even as illegal trade threatens species
- Ahead of the recent CITES summit to hash out wildlife trade regulations, South Africa was expected to table a proposal that would have tightened the legal trade in South African abalone, a shellfish in high demand in East Asia.
- The proposal was aimed at protecting an endangered species that’s been severely depleted by a massive illegal trade driven largely by organized crime.
- However, the South African delegation withdrew the proposal at the last minute, amid ongoing tensions in the country between conservationists, abalone farmers and coastal communities dependent on income from the illegal trade.
- A recent report by wildlife trade NGO TRAFFIC calls for coordinated international action to curb the illegal trade, including a CITES listing.

Africa’s stakes in global UN environment talks in Nairobi
- The United Nations Environment Assembly meets in Nairobi Dec. 8-12, with governments, civil society, business and scientists seeking to inject fresh momentum into strengthening global governance to tackle climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.
- For African nations — grappling with droughts, floods, toxic air pollution and environmental degradation — the talks will test whether the world can finally move from declarations to delivery, as ministers and civil society decry unfulfilled finance pledges, slow progress on biodiversity plans and a deadlock in plastic pollution negotiations.
- With emissions rising, biodiversity declining and pollution worsening, African leaders say the U.N. talks must deliver concrete, accountable outcomes — or risk leaving the continent to confront the triple planetary crisis largely on its own.

Botswana’s elephant hunting quota threatens to wipe out mature bulls: Report
The reintroduction of elephant trophy hunting in Botswana in 2019, following a five-year moratorium, is likely severely depleting the number of large, older bulls, according to a recent report. This has put the country’s elephant population at risk and induced behavioral changes in the mammals, researchers say. Since 2019, Botswana has permitted roughly 400 elephants […]
East African court dismisses controversial oil pipeline case in setback to communities
On Nov. 26, the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) dismissed an appeal filed by four African NGOs, marking the end of a landmark case against the construction of a contentious oil pipeline. The case against the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), expected to become the longest heated crude oil pipeline in the world, […]
Lemurs are at risk. So are the people protecting them.
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Patricia Wright arrived in Madagascar nearly four decades ago to look for a lemur thought to be extinct. She found it, along with a new species, and then ran headlong into a broader reality: protecting wildlife would depend […]
An Empire of Nature: African Parks and Rwanda’s Nyungwe Forest
- In 2020, South Africa-based NGO African Parks signed a 20-year deal to manage Rwanda’s Nyungwe National Park, one of the largest montane rainforests in Africa.
- Nyungwe is one of 24 protected areas managed by African Parks in 13 countries.
- Founded by a Dutch industrialist, African Parks is a pioneer of the “public-private” conservation model in Africa.
- Mongabay visited Nyungwe to look at African Parks and its approach to conservation.

Can two Amazons survive? Invisible e-waste is poisoning the world
- E-waste, which refers to discarded electrical or electronic devices, is the fastest growing domestic waste stream in the world, and it is highly toxic, threatening public health. Much of this e-waste, largely produced by rich countries, is dumped in poor countries, with Asia and Africa major destinations.
- Because poor countries mostly lack the highly sophisticated equipment and processes needed to dismantle and recycle these complex composite products safely, unskilled scrap workers, including children, plunder them for resalable components, often with a disastrous impact on their health and the environment.
- Increasingly, the torrent of discarded cell phones and obsolete computers is greatly exacerbated by invisible e-waste: a vast, varied plethora of microchip-containing products, ranging from vaping devices to e-readers, toys, smoke detectors, e-tire pressure gauges and chip-containing shoes and apparel.
- Invisible e-waste greatly adds to developing world recycling challenges. The U.N. Environment Programme warns that “the increasing proliferation of technological devices has skyrocketed the amount of electronic waste worldwide” with nations now facing “an environmental challenge of enormous dimensions.”

Scientists chart a new source, and length, for Africa’s famous Zambezi River
- Historically, the Zambezi River in Southern Africa was believed to begin its journey at a spring in northwestern Zambia.
- A new study suggests the river actually starts off in a shallow depression in Angola’s southern highlands, at the source of a river called the Lungwebungu, giving the Zambezi a new total length of 3,421 km (2,126 mi), or 342 km (213 mi) longer than previously thought.
- The Lungwebungu and several other Angolan rivers contribute about 70% of the water reaching Victoria Falls, making them critical to the long-term health of the Zambezi and the people and wildlife who depend on it.
- The study highlights the importance of protecting the Upper Zambezi Basin, where another recent study recorded significant forest loss over the past three decades.

African forest hornbills gain new protections from unsustainable trade
Negotiators discussing wildlife trade rules have agreed overwhelmingly to back a proposal that regulates the currently unrestricted trade in all seven species of African forest hornbills. Eight West and Central African countries had tabled the proposal at the ongoing summit of CITES, the global wildlife trade convention, taking place in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. It calls for […]
In Kenya, Maasai private landowners come together to protect wildlife corridors
- The Nashulai Maasai Conservancy in Kenya is entirely owned and managed by Maasai people and covers 2,400 hectares of land to protect biodiversity and secure land rights.
- Maasai herders lease their private lands to the conservancy, and in return, they cannot sell the land to anyone other than another member of the conservancy for conservation purposes, nor can they put up fences.
- The conservancy’s land strategy arose after outsiders purchased land in the county, fencing it off and blocking open grazing areas for wildlife and livestock to roam.
- Conservationists say the conservancy’s model has seen success but caution that it will continue working if Maasai landowners feel like they will continue receiving benefits from the land strategy and are included in decision-making.

Lemurs are being eaten as an urban delicacy in Madagascar
- Lemur meat has become a discreet urban delicacy in Madagascar, with an estimated 13,000 lemurs sold annually in surveyed cities—mostly through hidden hunter-to-client channels.
- Peri-urban hunters run efficient one-stop operations, earning up to a third of their cash income from lemur sales while traveling long distances to harvest increasingly rare species.
- Wealthier consumers fuel demand based on perceptions of taste, luxury, and health benefits, with little fear of legal consequences and high prices reinforcing the status of lemur dishes.
- The trade targets vulnerable species, peaks during breeding season, and threatens rapid population declines; effective responses require firearm regulation, alternative livelihoods for hunters, and demand-focused strategies.

What was achieved for Indigenous peoples at COP30?
- The two-week COP30 climate summit in Belém, Brazil, saw the largest global participation of Indigenous leaders in the conference’s history.
- With the adoption of measures like the Intergovernmental Land Tenure Commitment, a $1.8 billion funding pledge, and the launch of the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF), the summit resulted in historic commitments to secure land tenure rights for Indigenous peoples, local communities and Afro-descendant people.
- Yet despite these advances, sources say frustrations grew as negotiators failed to establish pathways for rapid climate finance for adaptation, loss and damage, or to create road maps for reversing deforestation and phasing out fossil fuels.
- While some pledges appear ambitious, Indigenous delegates say effective implementation of the pledges will depend on government transparency and accountable use of funds.

DRC hit by record deforestation in 2024, satellite data show
- In 2024, the DRC experienced an uptick in primary forest loss, with 590,000 hectares of forest lost, according to satellite data visualized on Global Forest Watch.
- Subsistence agriculture continues to be the main driver of forest loss, with recent research finding artisanal mining in the eastern DRC results in more forest loss than researchers previously thought.
- Wildfire emerged as a growing concern in the DRC in 2024, and data suggest fire activity may have have intensified further in 2025.
- Escalating conflict and insecurity in the eastern DRC also put increasing pressure on forest resources.

Negotiating Africa’s Energy Future
A decade after countries agreed to the Paris climate agreement, Mongabay reports on an idea often invoked when discussing Africa’s path toward a low-carbon future: a just energy transition. Reporters from across the continent explore what “just” and “clean” energy mean for Africans. These stories show African countries are pursuing their own journeys toward more […]
Fossil fuel failure eclipses Africa’s wins at COP30
- African negotiators secured significant gains on just transition, including recognition of clean cooking and energy poverty, marking the first time these priorities entered the formal United Nations climate negotiations.
- Adaptation finance advanced but remains insufficient, with wealthy nations pledging to triple support only by 2035, despite Africa’s urgent needs and widespread concern over loan-heavy climate finance.
- Forest conservation gained new momentum, with broad backing for a global deforestation roadmap and fresh funding initiatives like Brazil’s Tropical Forever Forest Fund (TFFF) and the Canopy Trust targeting Amazon and Congo Basin conservation.
- Failure to agree on a fossil fuel phaseout puts Africa at heightened risk, with scientists warning that if carbon emissions continue to rise unabated, they could fuel more extreme events like droughts and floods, destabilize food systems, and displace people.

TotalEnergies faces criminal complaint in France over alleged massacre in Mozambique
As French oil and gas giant TotalEnergies prepares to resume work on its multibillion-dollar offshore gas project in northern Mozambique, it faces a criminal complaint back home over its role in funding an army unit accused of torturing and executing dozens of civilians in 2021. The complaint was filed with France’s National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor by […]
Lesotho communities allege greenwashing by project transferring water to South Africa
- The Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP), a scheme to transfer water from Lesotho’s river systems to neighboring South Africa, also aims to provide hydropower to Lesotho’s people.
- However, complainants from communities impacted and displaced by the complex of dams, water channels, feeder roads, and bridges accuse the developers of promoting the LHWP as a climate mitigation project and ignoring its impacts on their livelihoods and the environment, and call it “greenwashing.”
- The project is degrading the environment, polluting water streams used by residents, destroying cultivable land used to grow food crops, eating into forests, and reducing access to pastures, according to the complaint filed with the African Development Bank (AfDB), which is partly financing the LHWP.
- “We are not just being denied benefits from the project, we are suffering harm from it,” the complaint says.

Experts say wealthy nations owe Africa double its climate adaptation needs
- The U.N.’s recent “Adaptation Gap Report” reveals a massive shortfall between the funds needed for climate adaptation and the financing available as of 2023.
- Africa, among the most climate-vulnerable regions, faces worsening impacts amid limited support and a mounting debt burden, with a $51 billion annual shortfall in adaptation finance.
- Some experts argue that given the role that Africa and, in particular, its forests play in stashing away carbon, it is owed double the amount that it needs in additional adaptation funds.

Fighting for food sovereignty at COP30: Interview with GRAIN’s Ange-David Baïmey
- The NGO GRAIN defines climate justice as ensuring frontline African communities can control their land, seeds and food systems rather than being pushed toward export-oriented, corporate agriculture.
- Ange-David Baïmey, the group’s program coordinator for Africa, tells Mongabay that climate change is worsening farmers’ access to land, water and resilient seeds, while multinational seed and input companies deepen dependency and erode traditional seed systems.
- He says formal U.N. climate negotiations are ineffective, with GRAIN instead using the COP30 conference to engage with civil society at the People’s COP to advance food sovereignty and agroecology.
- For Baïmey, a COP30 “victory” would mean rejecting carbon markets, which he argues facilitate land grabbing and undermine food security across Africa.

‘The perfect ingredients’: WRI Africa deputy director shares vision for the continent’s energy transition
- Rebekah Shirley, the deputy director for Africa at the World Resources Institute (WRI), says that increasing energy access for Africans, 600 million of whom lack basic access to electricity, requires thinking about entire economies.
- In a conversation with Mongabay, Shirley notes that technological advances, especially for renewable energy, are no longer the hurdle they once were.
- Instead, bringing energy access to households, community services and industry will result from investment in manufacturing, commerce and industry that will support the expansion of universal household energy access, Shirley says.
- Mongabay spoke with Shirley in the lead-up to the 2025 U.N. climate conference, COP30, in Belém, Brazil.

Mongabay journalist Malavika Vyawahare honored with SEAL Award
Mongabay contributing editor Malavika Vyawahare has been awarded a 2025 SEAL environmental journalism award, which recognizes reporters covering the complexities of the environment and climate. “This award is a huge encouragement for me, as a journalist and as an exhausted toddler mom,” Vyawahare said. “It is also a recognition of the kind of work Mongabay […]
As Zambia eyes green minerals, Kabwe’s poisoned past looms large
- Zambia is seeking to capitalize on the green energy boom through copper and other critical minerals, but campaigners warn that without real accountability and community participation, the next mining wave could create new “sacrifice zones,” repeating a painful history.
- The town of Kabwe remains severely polluted after decades of lead and copper mining, with more than 95% of children showing dangerous blood lead levels.
- The “Zambia’s Sacrifice Zone” campaign, launched by young activists, journalists and NGOs, uses storytelling and radio to demand accountability, raise awareness and amplify community voices in the fight for environmental justice and cleanup.
- Authorities have rolled out remediation projects with World Bank support, testing tens of thousands of residents and improving water and infrastructure, but activists say compensation is lacking and enforcement of environmental laws remains weak.

Pioneering primatologist in Madagascar shares decades of conservation wisdom
Patricia Wright, a pioneering primatologist who established the Centre ValBio research station in Madagascar, began her work there in 1986. As the person who first described the golden bamboo lemur (Hapalemur aureus) to Western science, her contributions led to the creation of Ranomafana National Park, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. She joins the Mongabay […]
Scientists slam Canada-US proposal to lower trade protections for peregrine falcons
- Peregrine falcons, the world’s fastest and most widespread raptors, recovered spectacularly after pesticides that nearly drove them to extinction were banned and captive-bred birds were rewilded, making the effort a remarkable conservation success story.
- Although the species is no longer endangered, international commercial trade in this bird, coveted by falconers, is banned for wild-caught specimens and highly regulated for captive-bred ones. Canada and the U.S. propose loosening those restrictions, a proposal that will be voted on at the upcoming meeting of CITES, the global wildlife trade treaty.
- Some raptor scientists have concerns. The Canada-U.S. downlisting proposal includes population estimates of just a few subspecies; many others are understudied. Some populations have declined in recent years and illegal trade continues.
- Until there are safeguards against unsustainable trade and accurate assessments for all subspecies, conservationists say lowering protections could undo the efforts that have brought this bird back from the brink.

Construction of TotalEnergies pipeline cuts through coral reefs in Mozambique
- A Dutch company dredged through a highly sensitive coral area for TotalEnergies’ liquefied natural gas project in Mozambique, satellite imagery and vessel traffic data confirm.
- The French oil and gas company declared force majeure after insurgents attacked the facility in 2021, but some work on the project continued.
- Environmental groups warn that the environmental impact assessments for TotalEnergies’ project and three others in the same waters are inadequate.

South Africa to lift fracking moratorium in Karoo Basin, despite concerns
South Africa plans to lift a 13-year moratorium on shale gas exploration in the ecologically sensitive Karoo Basin, despite serious environmental and climate concerns raised by advocacy groups. In 2011, the government imposed a ban on hydraulic fracturing in the Karoo, a semidesert region spanning more than 400,000 square kilometers (154,000 square miles) across northern […]
Global Energy Outlook sees promise in Africa’s power transition — funds permitting
The World Energy Outlook 2025, released Nov. 12 by the International Energy Agency (IEA), portrays an African continent where energy demand is surging, but access and investment continue to lag. According to the IEA, Africa’s population is expanding at twice the rate of the global average — and with it, energy demand is expected to […]
TotalEnergies moves to restart Mozambique LNG project despite security, eco concerns
Four years after suspending operations at a liquefied natural gas project in Mozambique’s Afungi Peninsula following insurgent attacks in the nearby village of Palma, French oil and gas giant TotalEnergies and its partners have decided to lift their force majeure, local media reported. The company communicated the decision to the Mozambican government on Oct. 24. […]
‘Africa can become a green leader’: Interview with Mohamed Adow of Power Shift Africa
- Although Africa contributes less than 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions, it suffers the worst consequences of climate change and still receives only around 2% of global renewable energy investments.
- Mohamed Adow from the think tank Power Shift Africa tells Mongabay that delegates at the COP30 climate summit in Belém, Brazil, must deliver a “just transition framework” that prioritizes African needs, expands access to clean energy, and strengthens green industrialization across the continent.
- Adow says he envisions an Africa that harnesses its transition minerals and renewable potential for its own prosperity — leading the global energy transition instead of powering other countries’ economies.
- In 2025, African countries experienced escalating climate disasters, including deadly floods and severe droughts, while facing cuts in U.S. aid funding.

Radioactive rhinos (cartoon)
South Africa’s rhinos now have an unlikely superpower: radioactivity! Scientists working on the Rhisotope Project inject the horns of live rhinos with a radioactive isotope. This is harmless to the rhinos, but makes smuggled horns easy to detect during customs inspections with the hope of deterring rhinoceros poaching.
Sierra Leone communities sign carbon agreement based on carbon justice principles
- Hundreds of communities in Sierra Leone’s Bonthe district have signed a benefit-sharing carbon agreement with the Africa Conservation Initiative targeting the protection of mangroves in the Sherbro River Estuary.
- The agreement is based on “carbon justice principles” aimed at making carbon projects fairer for communities, such as a 40-50% gross revenue share; free, prior and informed consent, including transparency of financial information and buyers; and community-led stewardship of the mangroves.
- If implemented correctly, the agreement could address “deep-rooted issues of fairness,” experts say.

Coal-dependent South Africa struggles to make just energy transition real
- Communities in South Africa’s coal-mining towns say there’s little sign of a clean energy transition on the ground, where they complain of persistent pollution and violence toward activists.
- A metalworkers’ union leader who sits on South Africa’s climate commission says the transition is racing forward, outpacing new jobs promised to mine workers.
- A mine operator says coal is a critical element in producing renewable energy infrastructure.

‘Not good’: Ocean losing its greenness, threatening food webs
- The ocean is losing its greenness, a new study has found: Global chlorophyll concentration, a proxy for phytoplankton biomass, declined over the past two decades, especially in coastal areas.
- Phytoplankton are the base of the marine food web, supporting fisheries and broader ecosystems, so their decline could have far-reaching implications, experts say.
- The phytoplankton decline could hurt coastal communities that live off the sea, and affect the ocean’s ability to act as a carbon sink, the authors say.

What does the just energy transition mean for Africa?
- Around 600 million Africans lack even basic access to electricity.
- The challenges this deficit poses have led to a call for a “just” energy transition that brings access to energy from renewable sources without imposing undue costs on individuals, communities and countries.
- The rising concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere are largely the result of fossil fuel burning in industrialized countries, and yet countries in Africa and elsewhere in the Global South are often on the frontlines of the impacts of climate change, including unbearable heat, droughts and flooding.
- The debate about how to facilitate a “just” transition includes questions around the continued use of fossil fuels, nations’ sovereignty, and mobilizing funding to finance the necessary changes.

African summit seeks clean energy future to combat climate change impacts
- Nonstate actors have adopted the “Cotonou Declaration” at the Climate Chance Africa 2025 summit.
- The summit featured renewable energy commitments as well as a road map for integrating adaptation as a crucial step in addressing climate change.
- Benin is leading the way on climate resilience by anticipating and addressing the challenges posed by climate change.

The uncertain future of DRC’s traditional medicine, a heritage to save (commentary)
- Congolese traditional medicine, rooted in cultural heritage, is disappearing due to the dominance of modern medicine; in rural areas, traditional healers remain essential, yet their knowledge is largely undocumented and often undervalued.
- Conflicts, climate change and loss of biodiversity further threaten medicinal plants and cultural transmission.
- There is an urgent need to recognize, protect and preserve this heritage through ethnobotany and inclusive health policies.
- This commentary is part of Our Letters to the Future, a series produced by the Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellows as their final fellowship project. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

Women can help rebuild our relationship with lions: Voices from the land (commentary)
- The inclusion of women in Africa’s lion conservation efforts is essential to not only to protect the species, but to do so sustainably with the buy-in of nearby communities — which at times can have a tense and challenging relationship with the predatory species, say members of the Mama Simba, a program within Ewaso Lions made up of Samburu women in Kenya.
- The women say they remember how, when they were young, wildlife was in abundance, that their parents and grandparents lived alongside wildlife in harmony and that lions held a powerful place in their culture, identity and daily lives.
- “Everything changes when women are not asked to sit on the sidelines but invited to lead,” they say in this opinion piece.
- This commentary is part of the Voices from the Land series, a compilation of Indigenous-led opinion pieces. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.

‘A big no’: Opposition grows to proposed mine in Malawi’s newest UNESCO site
- Malawi’s Mount Mulanje is a biodiversity hotspot, a sacred cultural site, and provides critical resources for the more than 1 million people who live in the surrounding districts.
- In July, Mount Mulanje Cultural Landscape was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
- In August, senior traditional chiefs held a press conference affirming their support for the UNESCO listing.
- Local leaders and conservationists fear proposed mining projects would threaten the mountain’s natural heritage, and negatively impact tourism and jeopardize gains in sustainable development.

New arrangements should preserve Nairobi’s much-loved Karura Forest
- In Kenya, an uproar briefly followed the August announcement that the beloved Karura Forest north of Nairobi would no longer be jointly managed by local citizens’ group Friends of Karura Forest and the Kenya Forest Service; the decision has since been reversed.
- The 15-year partnership has restored several indigenous plant species to the Karura Forest, which is also a haven for wildlife such as jackals, bush pigs and small antelopes.
- Previously, the area was threatened by land-grabbers and illegal logging; today, the initiative employs more than 35 staff, who work on forest restoration, security and infrastructure maintenance while some 300 local community members supply thousands of tree seedlings each month for reforestation.

As Ghana ships first ‘gold standard’ timber to EU, questions about FLEGT’s future remain (commentary)
- Ghana is the first country in Africa to be awarded a Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) license, which is seen as the “gold standard” in the sustainable timber trade.
- The fate of many of Africa’s surviving forests could depend on its success, highlighted by an official meeting in Brussels this week that will mark the first shipment of timber from Ghana to the EU under the program — but a new op-ed wonders if it will it be the last.
- “If Ghana’s FLEGT license turns out to be the last, it would snatch defeat from the jaws of a famous victory. But there is also hope that Ghana’s groundbreaking system of timber traceability could help spur similar systems in other countries,” the author argues.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

At COP30, Africa can lead the way to a sustainable future — but will it? (commentary)
- With its growing focus on sustainable development and climate action, Africa has the potential to lead the way toward a more sustainable future, as seen in Nigeria’s recent submission of its third nationally determined contribution (NDC 3.0).
- COP30 this month in Belém, Brazil, should prioritize climate finance, which Africa needs to mobilize resources for the continent’s climate action.
- Africa requires support to build resilience and adapt to the impacts of climate change, and COP30 is a crucial platform to address these needs, building a more sustainable future for all.
- This commentary is part of Our Letters to the Future, a series produced by the Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellows as their final fellowship project. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

Nigeria passes tough new wildlife law; enforcement doubts remain
The Nigerian Parliament recently passed sweeping legislation to protect endangered wildlife from illegal trafficking. Once the president signs it into law, offenders could face fines of up to 12 million naira ($8,300) and up to 10 years in prison for trafficking elephant ivory, pangolin scales, and other products from threatened species. The bill, hailed as […]
A fisheries observer disappeared at sea. His family still waits for answers
- Samuel Abayateye, a 38-year-old fisheries observer from Ghana, vanished from the Marine 707 in 2023 while monitoring tuna catches. Six weeks later, a mutilated body washed ashore near his home, but authorities have never released DNA results or an autopsy report.
- Fisheries observers like Abayateye work alone at sea to record catches and report illegal practices, often among the very crews they monitor. Their role is vital to enforcing fishing laws but exposes them to isolation, threats, and violence.
- His disappearance echoes that of Emmanuel Essien, another observer who vanished after documenting illegal fishing on a Chinese-owned trawler. Both cases remain unsolved, part of a global pattern in which at least one observer dies or disappears each year.
- Ghana’s government still mandates observers on every industrial vessel, yet offers them little protection—no insurance, secure contracts, or emergency communication. Abayateye’s family continues to seek answers, while his body, if it is his, remains unburied.

In Malawi, a rural community shines bright with 100% solar power milestone
- A UK-based charity has installed solar photovoltaic systems in all 9,000 households of a rural village in Malawi, Kasakula.
- The nonprofit has trained local technicians to maintain the systems — and says it retrieves damaged or retired batteries or other components for now, as no system for safely recycling these exists in Malawi.
- Raising foreign exchange to import PV systems tailored for the low-income customers that SolarAid’s model is aimed at is among the future challenges.

In Mauritius, an NGO is tracking the sex life of corals to save them
- Mauritius will soon be home to one of the largest projects in the Western Indian Ocean aimed at restoring corals through sexual propagation.
- The scientific research for the Odysseo coral restoration initiative is led by U.S.-based nonprofit Secore, which has also worked in the Caribbean Sea and reported success in breeding heat-tolerant corals.
- The initiative aligns with a recent policy push by the Mauritian government to promote coral restoration through sexual propagation as opposed to through asexual methods.
- However, this method of coral restoration is in its nascency in this region, and Secore is currently focused on gathering knowledge that will help it choose species to breed, donor sites to collect sperm and egg cells, and transplanting sites for newly grown coral.

Mauritius rethinks coral restoration as reefs suffer from another mass bleaching
- The island nation of Mauritius is home to nearly 250 kinds of corals, but saw 80% of its corals bleached in the latest mass bleaching caused in part by climate change.
- Faced with lackluster results from an audit of restoration efforts earlier this year, the Mauritian government moved to reevaluate its coral restoration policy.
- The predicament of the island nation highlights concerns raised by some scientists who question whether coral restoration works in the face of mounting threats: from heat stress, ocean acidification and marine pollution.
- For now, Mauritius is not abandoning restoration but advocating a different path: promoting sexual propagation rather than the asexual means currently used in most coral restoration projects worldwide.

With ‘terrifying’ trade in African hornbills, scientists call for increased protection
- With an alarming rise in the international trade of African hornbills, wild populations are plummeting. As key seed dispersers, their demise also threatens the survival of the forests they inhabit.
- According to recent studies, the United States is a major market for African hornbills, with more than 2,500 individuals or their parts imported into the country between 1999 and 2024. Another 500 were traded online from 2010 to 2024.
- Although the drivers of the trade are unknown, West and Central Africa are trade hotspots, with Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo being the main source countries.
- The international trade in African hornbills is currently unregulated, unlike that of their Asian counterparts. But a proposal to control this trade is on the agenda at the upcoming CITES meeting, which conservationists say is the first step to rein in unsustainable trade.

Colony of world’s highest-flying bird under threat in Uganda
- Researchers in Uganda say the country’s only nesting site of critically endangered Rüppell’s vultures is under threat from hunting, charcoal burning and farming.
- Two nesting colonies are built on cliff faces in Luku Central Forest Reserve, in Uganda’s northwestern Arua district.
- The district hosts tens of thousands of people displaced by violent conflict in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan.
- Many of these refugees, as well as native Ugandans, depend on the reserve to eke out a living, but at great cost to the integrity of its forests and wildlife.

In search of a real wild date (cartoon)
Despite being one of the most wide-ranging wildcat species, the Afro-Asian wildcat faces a threat from its own evolutionary successor—the domestic cat. Interbreeding leads to hybridization and genetic dilution for the species, adding yet another conservation challenge as it already faces threats from habitat loss across most of its range.
Two years later, no closure for family of missing Ghanaian fisheries observer
- Samuel Abayateye, a father of two, tasked with monitoring a Ghana-flagged tuna-fishing vessel, was reported missing on Oct. 30, 2023.
- Two years on, his family still hasn’t receive any formal updates from the Ghanaian police or any other agency about what happened to Abayateye.
- The authorities haven’t shared the results of a DNA test on a body found a few weeks after Abayateye went missing, which the family believe was his.
- Mongabay made repeated attempts to contact the police, but didn’t receive a response about the case.

Senegal’s great green wall progress falters amid unfulfilled pledges: Study
- A recent study has examined the progress to realize Africa’s Great Green Wall initiative in Senegal, which is often hailed as the model for this continent-wide project.
- The study finds Senegal has achieved encouraging social and economic results — but far less success on the ecological front.
- The study’s authors, echoing complaints from African officials, say that far less money has actually reached implementing countries and organizations than has been announced at global forums.

Oil and gas giant TotalEnergies found guilty of greenwashing
French oil and gas giant TotalEnergies has been found by a Paris court to have deceived consumers by overstating its climate pledges and its role as an active player in the fight against global warming. The court last week ordered TotalEnergies to remove those misleading environmental claims from its website, in a move NGOs say […]
‘A very successful story’: An Egypt tribe welcomes tourists & protects its coast
- Al-Qula’an is an “eco-village” in the Wadi El Gemal protected area in Egypt that environmentalists say is an example of how eco-tourism, along with traditional knowledge and practices, can help protect sensitive ecosystems.
- The mangroves of Al-Qula’an provide nursery grounds for marine species, and the coastal habitats serve as nesting sites for endangered sea turtles.
- The village has transformed from a subsistence fishing community to a low-impact eco-tourism destination while upholding principles of the Ababda tribe, like the importance of preserving mangroves.

Has Uganda done enough to prevent pollution of Lake Albert by oil drilling? (commentary)
- Thousands of households in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo rely on Lake Albert for their daily water needs and for fish, and it provides key habitat for unique wildlife like shoebills and Goliath herons.
- Two oilfields — Kingfisher on its eastern shore and Tilenga near the northeastern terminus of Lake Albert — in active development there, by the Ugandan affiliate of Chinese National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) and Total E&P Uganda respectively, appear to be a threat to water quality and wildlife, a new op-ed argues.
- “Issues such as the lack of commitment to a system of sound disposal of water, sewage and drilling cuttings all portend a bad omen in an area that is home to some unique wildlife,” the author writes.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

‘We are just waiting to die’: Mining activists targeted as South Africa delays energy transition
Environmental justice activists have spoken out against coal and iron mining in South Africa, telling a recent human rights hearing that the industry violently undermines the country’s promised energy transition. They also pointed to the continued threats, displacement and killings faced by community organizers resisting land grabs by mining companies. The fifth Human Rights Defenders […]
Zanzibar must act to conserve its natural & cultural heritage for the future (commentary)
- The popular Tanzanian archipelago of Zanzibar is further expanding its already extensive tourism footprint to outlying islands like Pemba without considering the environment, a new op-ed argues.
- Major conservation problems include demolition of small islands for resort construction, destruction of nearly a quarter of Pemba Island’s flagship protected area to build an “eco-resort,” and plans to develop the ecologically important islet of Misali.
- “Now is the time for Zanzibar’s government to reexamine past and future investment decisions to ensure they respect Zanzibar’s natural heritage and conserve it for future generations,” the author writes.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Study reveals overlooked cultural threat to wildcats across Africa
- The role that cultural demand plays in driving hunting and trade of many species of wildcats is poorly understood.
- Research commissioned by the wildcat conservation NGO Panthera found widespread use across Africa by traditional leaders, healers and participants in cultural ceremonies. Leopards were the most commonly identified species, followed by lions, servals and cheetahs.
- The researchers say recognizing the cultural contexts in which carnivores are used can help conservationists design interventions that are culturally sensitive and locally relevant.

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