location: Angola

location: Angola

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26 elephants from Namibia moved to Angola’s only private conservation area
- A translocation of 26 elephants from Okonjati Game Reserve in Namibia to Cuatir Conservation Area in southeastern Angola has just been completed.
- Private conservation areas are not yet an official designation in Angola, making Cuatir a pioneer of the approach.
- Southeast Angola has recently been highlighted as an area with a lot of conservation potential, but there’s still a lot of work required to make the region’s national parks viable.
- Proponents say private conservation areas like Cuatir offer another currently underutilized way to catalyze conservation in Angola.

Jumbo collaring effort reveals key elephant movement corridors
- Scientists and conservationists have collaborated to create what is possibly the largest database of GPS-collared elephants.
- The database contains 4 million GPS data points that were collected by collaring 300 African elephants in the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area, home to the largest population of African elephants in the world.
- Based on the movement of elephants, the team assessed the landscape to identify key areas and corridors for conservation purposes.
- The findings have already been used to identify small-scale movement corridors for elephants in Zambia.

Meet the Miombo, the largest forest you’ve never heard of
- The Miombo woodlands are a dry deciduous forest spanning 1.9 million square kilometers (726,000 square miles) across Central and Southern Africa.
- Rural communities across the region depend heavily on the woodlands for building materials as well as a large variety of non-timber forest products including fruits, honey, mushrooms, medicine and more; the Miombo is also a significant source of firewood and charcoal, with fuelwood making up three-quarters of energy-use in the region.
- Population growth, agricultural expansion and increasing demand for fuelwood are the primary drivers of deforestation in the Miombo.
- A new initiative spearheaded by the Republic of Mozambique’s President Filipe Jacinto Nyusi aims to reverse deforestation of the Miombo and promote sustainable resource development.

As southern African freshwater fish & fisheries struggle, collaboration is key (commentary)
- Freshwater fish populations in the Kavango and Zambezi (KAZA) river systems of southern Africa are in decline, so many stakeholders met last month in Namibia to share knowledge and suggest ways to address the situation.
- Of the many things shared during the conference, one message was clear: most fish stocks in KAZA are in trouble. Fewer fish means that the people and fish-dependent wildlife are also in trouble.
- “The challenges of fish conservation in KAZA are insurmountable if any of these stakeholders face them alone, but if they work together, it is possible to turn back the tide to restore fish populations and save the lives and livelihoods of our people,” a new op-ed contends.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

All conservation is local: Interview with Angolan conservationist Kerllen Costa
- Kerllen Costa is the manager for a project run by the Kissama Foundation to protect Afromontane forests on Mount Moco, Angola’s highest mountain.
- Costa says he approaches conservation by looking at how communities already manage their landscapes and resources, and trying to introduce measures that recognize and enhance those systems.
- He says building on traditional ecological knowledge can help to sustain landscapes and the communities and wildlife they support, even in the absence of formally recognized protected areas.

Tracing Africa’s ‘fading biological fingerprints’ in Angola’s threatened forests
- Angola’s Afromontane forests are considered to be the country’s most threatened habitat type due to logging, wood harvesting and fire.
- Experts say the forests are relics that harbor “fading biological fingerprints” from a previous epoch.
- It’s not just species living in the closed-canopy forests that could be threatened by the loss of this ecosystem, but those that live alongside them.
- They include the Huambo cisticola, a species now known to be unique to Angola that lives in the ecotone, or transition zone, between forest patches and surrounding grasslands.

A forest restoration project brings birdsong back to Angola’s highest mountain
- Fires and unsustainable wood harvesting have depleted the Afromontane forests on Mount Moco, Angola’s highest mountain.
- The forests are home to a diverse variety of birds, some found only in Angola.
- Since 2010, a conservation project has sought to regrow some of the forest patches and to protect them from wildfires.
- The work is promoting bird conservation, but also benefiting the local human community by ensuring a reliable flow of freshwater out of the forest.

Analysis of largest elephant surveys ever shows stable population, but disturbing trends
- New research comparing data from the two largest-ever elephant surveys reveals the overall population in the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area is stable, but also uncovers some concerning local trends.
- Elephant numbers in Botswana, home to more elephants than any other country, are stable overall, but declining numbers in areas where hunting is permitted, and increasing numbers in protected areas, suggest underlying issues for Botswana’s elephants.
- Survey comparisons reveal that elephants have all but disappeared from the western Angolan section of the KAZA area, but a lack of local research, an issue across the region, means conservationists are unsure why.
- More research is needed across the transfrontier conservation area to ensure a safe future for the world’s largest elephant population.

Count, connect, conserve: Southern Africa elephant survey points the way (commentary)
- The Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA) is the largest transboundary terrestrial conservation area in the world – spanning five countries in southern Africa, it is home to Africa’s largest savanna elephant population.
- A 2022 survey of KAZA’s elephants revealed an estimated 227,900 individuals, but their movement is increasingly blocked by fences and human settlements, pointing to the need for better habitat connections and corridors.
- “Now that KAZA’s elephants have been counted, the landscape’s key wildlife areas must be connected, so that elephants and other species can be better conserved,” a new op-ed states.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.

New study pushes for protection of one of Africa’s ‘least understood treasures’
- A new study reveals the extent of a tropical water tower in Angola, which performs the same role as snow-capped mountains in the Northern Hemisphere.
- The Angolan Highlands Water Tower contains peatlands and freshwater lakes that supply major rivers in the region, and the wildlife-rich Okavango Delta in Botswana.
- Despite this vital hydrological role, the water tower currently has no formal protection.
- The team behind the study hopes it will help to strengthen the case for recognition of a vast portion of the water tower as a Ramsar Site of International Importance.

Forests & finance: Fears for forests in Angola, flashes of hope from Kenya & Ghana
- Ghanaian scientists are cultivating seedlings of two critically endangered tree species while searching forests across the country for surviving Talbotiella gentii and Aubregrinia taiensis in the wild.
- Women in Kenya’s Kilifi County are planting trees from which to produce herbal medicines and supplements; they say their efforts help protect local forests.
- Commercial charcoal producers have led the destruction of more than 300,000 hectares (741,000 acres) of forest in Angola’s Huambo province since 2000.
- Forests & Finance is Mongabay’s bi-weekly bulletin of news from Africa’s forests.

Forests & Finance: Wood export bans and short-staffed regulators
- Uganda has announced a ban on timber exports, but environmentalists warn deforestation is driven by other activities, mostly agribusiness.
- Kenya’s president lifts a ban on logging in state and community forests, raising fears forest loss will accelerate.
- Understaffed authorities are struggling to curb deforestation in the Angolan municipality of Nambuangongo, where felling trees for farmland is seen as a culturally sanctioned tradition.
- Forests & Finance is Mongabay’s bi-weekly bulletin of news from Africa’s forests.

Fires threaten Afromontane forests’ ‘whole new world’: Q&A with Martim Melo
- A group of international and local scientists has warned of the threat to a key piece of one of Africa’s most threatened habitats: the Afromontane forests that occur in the highlands of western Angola.
- The scientists recently discovered up to 10 new species living in the patches of evergreen forest in the Namba Mountains.
- But pressure from growing human settlements nearby, mainly uncontrolled fires in the grasslands that surround the forests, threatens to overwhelm this unique ecosystem.
- Scientists are calling for the government and international agencies to establish a protected area to preserve this biodiverse hotspot.

Forests & finance: Protection and restoration in Cameroon and Senegal, fire threat in Angola
- A new project aims to reform Cameroon’s domestic timber market and reduce unregulated felling of trees.
- Scientists fear pockets of species-rich afromontane forest in Angola’s Namba Mountains will be lost if uncontrolled fires continue.
- A Senegalese association is protecting and restoring southern Senegal’s tree cover by establishing community forests.
- Forests & Finance is Mongabay’s bi-weekly bulletin of briefs about Africa’s forests.

CAPS, new gas megaproject, aims to power Central Africa, but at what cost, critics ask
- The Central Africa Business Energy Forum proposes to build 6,500 kilometers (4,000 miles) of pipelines linking oil and gas resources across 11 countries in Central Africa.
- The forum says gas in particular should play a key role in developing the region’s economy.
- Seven countries have so far signed a memorandum of understanding, and a feasibility study for a first phase is expected by the end of 2023
- Environmentalists say the project is a mistake that will exacerbate the climate crisis and fail to benefit local populations.

Study: Online trade in arachnids threatens some species with extinction
- A recent study reveals a vast and unregulated global trade in invertebrates, posing a risk of overexploitation of some species in the wild.
- A group of scientists scoured the internet and discovered that a total of 1,264 species are being traded online.
- Tarantulas are particularly in demand, with 25% of species described as new to science since 2000 popular with collectors.
- Africa is prominent in this trade as both a source and transit hub for tarantulas and scorpions.

Protecting the peatlands and woodlands in Angola’s ‘source of life’
- As negotiations over slowing climate change unfold at the COP27 climate summit in Egypt, a group of scientists and conservationists is pushing for recognition of the Angolan Highlands as a vital carbon sink.
- The network of rivers, lakes and peatlands surrounded by miombo woodland in these highlands together maintain the year-round flow of water into the Okavango River Basin, and ultimately the wildlife-rich Okavango Delta in Botswana.
- Isolated for decades by civil war, in peacetime the Angolan Highlands have increasingly attracted returning populations to log, drain its bogs, and clear forests for agriculture.
- The National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project is pushing for protection of vital parts of the highlands to safeguard their role as a “water tower” for countries in the region — and prevent the peatlands from turning from a carbon sink into a carbon source.

The mine leak was bad. The DRC and Angola’s response are no better, report says
- In July 2021, an Angolan diamond mine leaked large amounts of polluted water into the Kasai River Basin which stretches across Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
- Twelve people were killed, a further 4,400 fell ill and an estimated 1 million more were affected by the polluted water.
- Fourteen months later, the DRC government has not released full results of tests conducted on the rivers, but a ban on drinking the water from the Kasai and Tshikapa rivers remains in place.
- An independent report published in September 2022 has found that the leak killed off much of the rivers’ aquatic life, with severe and ongoing impacts on river-dependent communities.

An environmental ‘catastrophe’ in Southern Africa lingers with few answers
- In early August, reports began to surface of a major spill of toxic runoff from Angolan diamond mines into rivers that feed into the DRC’s waterways.
- The spill turned hundreds of kilometers of the Congo River’s tributaries a deep shade of red and is reported to have killed at least 12 people in the DRC.
- Satellite analysis indicates the spill originated at the Catoca diamond mine in Angola’s Lunda Sul province, whose largest shareholders are state-owned companies from Angola and Russia.
- While Catoca’s operators admitted to a spill from the mine’s tailings pool, they have downplayed its severity and deny that toxic substances were discharged.

Toxic spill at Angola diamond mine pollutes Congo River tributary in DRC
- In early August, toxic substances from three diamond-processing facilities in neighboring Angola polluted the Kasai River, a major tributary of the Congo.
- Researchers fear there could be severe and lasting consequences for the environment and people’s health in affected areas in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
- The polluted water is moving toward Kinshasa, the capital, according to the DRC’s minister for the environment and sustainable development.

Angola pledges $60m to fund landmine clearance in national parks
- The Angolan government has announced a $60 million commitment to clear landmines in Luengue-Luiana and Mavinga national parks in the country’s southeast.
- The region is part of the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area — home to incredible natural biodiversity, but also one of the most heavily mined regions of Angola.
- International funding for landmine clearance has fallen by 80 percent over the last 10 years, and without new funding Angola will miss its target of clearing all landmines by 2025.
- The HALO Trust, a demining NGO, and the Angolan government hope that clearance of landmines will stimulate conservation in southeastern Angola and provide alternative livelihoods such as ecotourism to alleviate poverty and diversify the country’s economy away from oil.

New species of skink from Angola has waited over 70 years to be described
- In the 1950s and 60s, two Belgian herpetologists suspected the occurrence of a new-to-science species of skink based on specimens from Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. But neither of them got around to describing the species in their lifetimes.
- Now, a team of researchers surveying amphibians and reptiles in Cagandala National Park in Angola have formally described the long-tailed skink in a new study.
- Named Trachylepis raymondlaurenti or Laurent’s long tailed skink in honor of Raymond Laurent, the researchers suggest a conservation status of Least Concern for the skink for now.

180 years of herps: Q&A with Luis Ceríaco on Angola’s atlas of life
- Angola’s new atlas of amphibians and reptiles is a compendium of nearly 400 species recorded from thousands of scattered sources published between 1840 and 2017.
- The atlas includes the history of research into Angola’s herpetofauna as well as detailed distribution and conservation concerns of 117 species of frogs and 278 species of reptiles currently recognized in the country.
- By placing all available data on Angola’s herpetofauna in a single document, the atlas could serve as a tool for those interested in biodiversity conservation in the country, researchers say.
- Mongabay spoke with Luis M.P. Ceríaco, one of the researchers involved in the project, to know more about the atlas.

Tracking elephant movements reveals transboundary wildlife corridors
- Data from satellite tracking tags on 120 elephants in southern Africa have identified a suite of wildlife movement corridors across five southern African countries, suggesting the importance of cross-border coordination.
- Wide-ranging movements of elephants include dispersal from northern Botswana north into Angola and south toward the Kalahari Desert.
- Research findings have suggested that open and unimpeded movement corridors can help reduce conflict with human residents while blocked corridors can push elephants and other wildlife into new developments or villages, resulting in increased conflict.

Earless African pygmy toad discovered on remote mountain in Angola
- Researchers have found a new species of African pygmy toad in Serra da Neve Inselberg, an isolated mountain and Angola’s second-highest peak.
- The new species, formally named Poyntonophrynus pachnodes, or the Serra da Neve pygmy toad, lacks both external and internal parts of the ear that help frogs hear.
- While earless toads aren’t rare, this is the first time a Poyntonophrynus species has been reported without ears.

This new primate is a ‘giant’ among tiny bush babies
- The Angolan dwarf galago is about 17 to 20 centimeters in length (with an additional 17 to 24 centimeters long tail).
- It has a very distinctive call: a loud chirping crescendo of longer notes, followed by a fading twitter.
- Scientists have named the new species Galagoides kumbirensis after the Kumbira forest it was first observed in.

Measuring the Heartbeat of the Delta
- National Geographic Explorers traverse the Okavango Delta to highlight the pristine wilderness in a human context using open-source data, images and social media.
- This is the first time open-source software and hardware applications have been applied to a wilderness expedition and displayed for the public.
- Explorers send real-time data from the field and make it accessible to anyone to use for their own research or projects.

Big increase in little farms is whittling away Angola’s woodlands
- Dry tropical forests cover more than half of sub-Saharan Africa and are home to a many people who live below the poverty line and depend on these forests for their livelihoods, according to researchers.
- In southeastern Angola, islands of dense dry woodland are being cultivated much faster than the surrounding open woodland because they offer better soil for crops. With more people moving into the regions, cultivation rates more than quintupled between 2000 and 2013.
- The researchers worry some areas may be reaching a tipping point, past which soil and habitat could become severely compromised if farming continues apace.

Rebuilding Kissama: war-torn Angola’s only national park affected by deforestation, but refaunation gives hope

Conservation organizations, government reintroducing wildlife from other countries The story of Kissama National Park is one of perseverance, vision and disaster in waiting. The only functional national park in Angola, a country wracked by war for decades, Kissama (also called Quiçama) lost much of its wildlife, with that which is left still impacted by poaching […]
Zebras for the win! Africa’s longest land migration discovered

With food and water scarce in many parts of Africa, many species migrate long-distances in order to survive. A new study published in the journal, Oryx has found a new record-breaker for the continent’s longest tracked terrestrial migration: a huge group of zebras that traveled a total distance of 500 kilometers (300 miles). The journey […]
Worst drought in 30 years threatens millions in southern Africa with food insecurity

Around 2 million people face food insecurity in northern Namibia and southern Angola as the worst regional drought in decades takes its toll, according to the UN. Two years of failed rains have pushed families into desperate conditions in a region already known for its desert-like conditions. In Namibia alone, experts estimate that over 100,000 […]
Scientists discover new giant mole rat in Africa (photos)

Although the term “giant mole rat” may not immediately inspire love, the mole rats of Africa are a fascinating bunch. They spend practically their entire lives underground building elaborate tunnel systems and feeding on plant stems. This underground lifestyle has led them to evolve small ears, tiny eyes, forward-pointing teeth for digging, and nostrils they […]
Google Earth used to discover unknown forest in Angola, scientists find it full of rare birds

The forests of Mount Moco were once considered the largest montane forests left in Angola, until researchers discovered more forsts in the Namba Mountains. Photo courtesy of Google Earth. An expedition, followed up by some computer hunting on Google Earth, has discovered large remnants of old growth forest, including thriving bird communities, in the mountains […]
Indigenous people, forest communities in Africa control less than 2% of forest land

Less than 2 percent of Africa’s tropical forests are under community control, hindering efforts to slow deforestation and alleviate rural poverty, reports a new assessment from the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) and the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), a global coalition of non-governmental and community organizations. Deforestation rates in tropical Africa are among the […]

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