location: West Africa

location: West Africa

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How ‘country palm’ could help pave the way toward a sustainable palm oil future in Liberia
- The oil palm tree is native to one of the largest contiguous blocks of lowland rainforest in West Africa, and provides food and habitat for many animals, including threatened species.
- Grown in agroforestry plots in concert with other plants, it’s been a subsistence crop for generations in Liberia, where it’s known as “country palm.”
- Initial field data from the Sustainable Oil Palm in West Africa (SOPWA) Project finds country palm plots have higher levels of plant species diversity compared to monoculture oil palm production systems.
- As Liberia rolls out plans to scale up its domestic palm oil production, conservationists and community leaders are calling for community-based country palm farming to be enshrined as a cornerstone of the country’s palm oil future — and not replaced by industrial, monoculture plantations.

Chimps remember, for years, the location of ant nests that provide food
- Multiple studies have indicated that wild chimpanzees rely on memory to find ripe fruit, but less has been known about what role memory plays in sourcing foods of animal origin.
- A recent study monitored ant-feeding behaviors in savanna chimpanzees in Senegal, concluding that the apes also rely on memory to locate underground ant nests, rather than simply stumbling across nests opportunistically.
- The chimpanzees were also observed using tools and multiple senses to determine whether ant nesting sites were inhabited.

No justice in sight for World Bank project-affected communities in Liberia
- With one year delay, the International Finance Corporation has submitted its response to an investigation of human rights violations at a rubber project in Liberia to the World Bank’s board.
- While the case was pending, Socfin, the parent company of Salala Rubber Corporation, sold the plantation, creating uncertainty over its commitment to taking responsibility for failures identified by the IFC’s Compliance Advisor Ombudsman.
- Affected communities and civil society in Liberia say the IFC has watered down recommendations from its ombudsman and fear the change of ownership will prevent accountability.

Nigerian president’s bid to resume oil drilling in Ogoniland a ‘betrayal,’ groups say

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu and key members of his administration met with select members of the Ogoni community from the Niger Delta on Jan. 21 to discuss restarting oil drilling in the region, after health and environmental concerns brought the activity to a halt for more than two decades. However, more than 20 civil society […]
Camera traps capture first glimpse of genetically distinct chimps in southwestern Nigeria

In a win for Nigeria’s only Indigenous grassroots conservation organization, camera traps installed in Ise Conservation Area have captured the first known video of a resident Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee. The individual, seen swinging between tree branches and feeding on figs, is a mature male in his prime, said Rachel Ashegbofe Ikemeh, founder director of the South-West/Niger […]
Nigeria’s new coastal highway runs over communities & biodiversity hotspots
- Fifty years after it was first proposed, construction of a $12 billion highway from Nigeria’s commercial capital Lagos east across the Niger Delta to the city of Calabar has begun.
- Nigeria’s government says the project will improve transport links and stimulate economic development across a densely populated region.
- The highway passes through or near several biodiversity hotspots, including two that are known to be home to endangered Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzees and critically endangered Niger Delta red colobus.
- Worrying questions have been raised over environmental and social impact assessments for the highway as well as compensation for people who will lose land and property.

To conserve chimps, understand their genetic traits and local adaptations, says study
- Chimpanzees are adapted to live across diverse habitats in Africa, but little is known about the potential adaptation of chimps in different environments.
- A new study has found that these apes possess genetic traits that help them adapt to different habitat conditions, some of which may be protecting them against malaria.
- The scientists say that, as human activities and climate change continue to threaten chimpanzees’ existence, understanding their genetics and natural history enhances knowledge of how to ensure their long-term survival and conservation.
- Given their vital ecological roles, evolutionary significance, and precarious status, chimpanzee conservation is an urgent global priority.

Five-month-old male gorilla, victim of illegal wildlife trade, seized in Istanbul

On Dec. 22, 2024, Turkish customs officers conducting a random search of a plane’s cargo hold found a surprise stowaway inside a small wooden crate with holes: a malnourished baby gorilla dressed in a soiled T-shirt. The Turkish Airlines flight was headed from Nigeria to Thailand and was transiting via Istanbul, authorities told local media. […]
New study assesses threat to wildlife from cacao expansion in Congo Basin
- Wildlife in the heart of the Congo Basin, an area that stretches from western and southern Cameroon to northeastern and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, are most at risk from the expansion of cacao cultivation, a recent study found.
- Cameroon, the world’s fourth-largest cacao producer, wants to double its output by 2030 — an ambition at odds with the country’s stubbornly low yields, changing climatic conditions, and the demand for “deforestation-free” cocoa from consumer nations.
- “Cameroon has little area available for agricultural expansion outside forests,” Marieke Sassen, a co-author of the new study, told Mongabay.
- Three-quarters of Cameroon’s cocoa is destined for the European Union, which passed a regulation in 2023 to ban imports of cocoa produced on recently deforested or degraded forestland.

Ogoni women restore mangroves and livelihoods in oil-rich Niger Delta
- After decades of crude oil spills and the introduction of invasive plant species, thousands of hectares of mangroves in the Niger Delta are destroyed, impacting aquatic species and women’s livelihoods.
- Ogoni women from coastal villages, supported by the Lokiaka Community Development Centre, have been at the forefront of reforestation efforts.
- The women have planted 2.6 million mangrove trees since 2018, drawing attention from a government agency that hired them to share their knowledge and plant mangroves for its oil spill rehabilitation project.
- Around 300 women from Ogoni communities have been trained in mangrove reforestation.

World’s record heat is worsening air pollution and health in Global South
- 2024 was the hottest year on record, producing intense, long-lasting heat waves. Climate change-intensified extreme events last year included the formation of vast heat domes — areas of high pressure that stalled and persisted above continental land masses in Asia, Africa, South and North America, and Europe.
- Heat domes intensify unhealthy air pollution from vehicles, industry, wildfires and dust storms. When a heat wave gripped New Delhi, India, last summer, temperatures soared, resulting in unhealthy concentrations of ground-level ozone — pollutants especially unhealthy for outdoor workers.
- When climate change-driven heat, drought and record wildfires occurred in the Brazilian Amazon last year, the fires produced massive amounts of wood smoke containing dangerous levels of toxic particulates that cause respiratory disease. Indigenous people living in remote areas had little defense against the smoke.
- Intense heat also impacted Nigeria in 2024, where major dust storms and rising temperatures created conditions that helped increased cases of meningitis — a sometimes deadly disease, especially in poor areas. Escalating climate change is expected to exacerbate pollution and worsen public health in the future.

‘Uncertainty’ amid EUDR delay poses challenges for cocoa companies, farmers
- Dutch chocolate maker Tony’s Chocolonely has long been at the forefront of pushing for more sustainability in cocoa production.
- The company has set up a blockchain-backed traceability system based on satellite imagery and polygon-mapping of the farms from which it sources its cocoa, ahead of application of the EU Regulation on Deforestation-free Products, or EUDR, which lays out requirements for importing goods into the EU.
- But more conventional chocolate sellers like Nestlé have also backed the EUDR, which aims to get rid of deforestation in the supply chains of imported commodities like cocoa.
- African governments have begun to tackle deforestation with an international initiative of their own called ARS-1000. Observers say they hope these regulations will also help provide better technical and economic support to the farmers who supply much of the world’s cocoa.

How the Sahel junta is responding to climate change amid political isolation
- Torrential rains during the Sahel’s rainy season (July to September) caused widespread flooding, displacing millions and submerging tens of thousands of hectares of cropland across Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Sudan.
- Meanwhile, military coups in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have disrupted governance and climate adaptation projects. Political isolation from Western nations has further hindered access to international climate finance, leaving communities struggling to cope with extreme weather events.
- Organizations like the Sahara and Sahel Observatory (OSS) emphasize empowering local communities through initiatives like Water User Associations and agroecology. These efforts focus on sustainable land and water management, leveraging local knowledge for resilience.
- Despite the Sahel’s potential for renewable energy and sustainable agriculture, political instability, weak governance and funding gaps have slowed progress.

Rare new Guinean flower is ‘canary in a coal mine’ — but in an actual iron mine
- Scientists have described a new species of flower that appears to only grow in a small forest patch on the slopes of a mountain range in Guinea, West Africa, where extensive open-cast mining for iron ore is set to begin soon.
- There are thought to be as few as 100 of the Gymnosiphon fonensis flowers in existence in the Boyboyba Forest, which is part of the Pic de Fon classified forest reserve in the southeast of the country.
- Mining firm Rio Tinto has pledged to protect the Boyboyba Forest and the plants and animals that live in it.
- But Boyboyba makes up only a tiny fraction within a mosaic of forests and grasslands whose ecological integrity depends on linkages extending across Simandou’s 100-kilometer (60-mile) length.

‘Shifting baselines’ in Cabo Verde after 50 years of declining fish stocks
- In Cabo Verde, as in many low-income countries in Africa, the historical record of fish catch is incomplete, making it hard to know what’s been lost and what’s required to fully rebuild.
- In a new study, researchers interviewed fish workers to understand how catches have changed over the last five decades, finding evidence of a major decline in volume of catch and maximum size of key species.
- The study also shows that young fishers and fishmongers don’t fully realize the scale of the loss — a case of what scientists call “shifting baselines.”
- Fishing communities on the West African mainland tell a similar story of decline, pointing to the urgency of centering local knowledge when devising fisheries management and conservation policies.

Study looks for success factors in African projects that heal land and help people
- Land degradation across Africa impacts the lives of rural Africans, who depend heavily on natural resources.
- Reversing land degradation while improving livelihoods can be tricky, and not all initiatives succeed.
- A recent Sustainability Science study examined 17 initiatives in 13 African nations to tease out what factors contribute to success or failure.
- The study finds that tapping into social relationships, providing adequate incentives to overcome risk-adverse behaviors, and maintaining momentum over the long term emerged as key factors in an initiative’s success.

Agroecology offers blueprint for resilient farming in northern Ghana
- Erratic rainfall and rising temperatures have hit farmers in Ghana’s semiarid Upper East region hard in recent years.
- Planting rows of trees and allowing goats and sheep to graze their fields is helping retain soil moisture and fertility, while encouraging birds and bats to return, helping to control pests.
- The trees and small livestock also provide additional sources of income for farmers.
- These agroecological practices of alley cropping and mixed farming can be adapted to other drought-prone regions across Africa, proponents say.

How a holistic approach aims to heal mangroves in Guinea-Bissau
- Though small, Guinea-Bissau has sizable amounts of mangroves, which cover 9% of this West African country.
- Farmers clear patches of mangroves to grow rice, but climate change and socio-economic shifts mean that many hectares of former rice fields lie abandoned, and could be restored.
- Wetlands International is using an approach called Community-based Ecological Mangrove Restoration (CBEMR) to regenerate abandoned rice fields in and around Cacheu and Cantanhez national parks; 2,600 hectares have been restored to date.
- Community involvement is a cornerstone of the approach, and the project also supports income generation and educational activities.

A Nigerian reserve, once a stronghold for chimps, is steadily losing its forest to farming
- Oluwa Forest Reserve once protected an island of old growth forest in southwestern Nigerian.
- But satellite data show only about half of its intact forest remained at the turn of the century — and it’s only dwindled further since then.
- Poverty-driven smallholder farms and profit-driven industrial plantations are the main causes of deforestation in the reserve.
- Researchers worry that habitat loss in Oluwa is driving endangered species — such as the Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee — to local extinction.

Biochar from banana peels breaks ground in Cameroon

YAOUNDE – In Cameroon, home to one of the largest forest massif in Africa, the production of charcoal is a growing threat to the environment. To combat this, Steve Djeutchou transforms organic waste, such as banana peels, into ecological charcoal, or biochar. Thanks to his local network of suppliers, Steve estimates that the potential biomass […]
Fresh calls for oil giants to pay $12 billion for Niger Delta pollution

The governor of Nigeria’s Bayelsa state has renewed calls for oil companies like Shell and Eni to pay $12 billion to clean up the pollution from their operations in the state over the past 50 years. The call comes more than a year after a Bayelsa state-appointed commission released its report in May 2023 detailing […]
From landfill to limelight, Ghana waste entrepreneurs win Earthshot Prize
- Green Africa Youth Organization (GAYO), a Ghanaian waste management entrepreneur, was one of the five winners at the recent Earthshot Prize awards in Cape Town.
- The Earthshot Prize recognizes and supports people and organizsations offering solutions to environmental problems. Winners and finalists receive funding and support from the Earthshot network.
- GAYO, whose work recycles waste that would otherwise be burned and advocatinges for better conditions for the people who sort waste, and, along with the other four winners, will each receive a million pounds to expand their work.

Conservationists mobilize to save Sierra Leone national park and its chimpanzees
- Sierra Leone’s Loma Mountains National Park (LMNP) encompasses the highest mountain peak in West Africa, along with valuable habitat for many threatened animals — including critically endangered western chimpanzees.
- However, satellite data show the park lost 6% of its primary forest cover between 2002 and 2023.
- Clearing in the park is being driven by farmers and ranchers who say there is not enough agricultural land in their communities and no other livelihood options; illegal marijuana cultivation is also an issue in the park.
- Conservationists, park officials, international agencies and local residents are working together to protect the park through efforts such as planting trees, training rangers, implementing educational programs in schools and promoting alternative livelihoods for surrounding communities.

Local NGO RAINS brings relief to Ghana’s semiarid north with regenerative farming
- An NGO in the semiarid north of Ghana is helping farming communities cope with a range of challenges through initiatives that center social and human rights and build on Indigenous knowledge.
- The Regional Advisory Information and Network Systems (RAINS) promotes regenerative agricultural practices to local farmers, including intercropping, the planting of cover crops, and the use of traditional seeds and compost and manure.
- It also engages typically marginalized groups such as women and youth in community land-use planning, and tackles gender inequality by improving women’s access to savings schemes and microcredit.
- Those working with the NGO say its efforts have had a material impact on improving food security and reducing incidents of fires, and express hope for its sustained support.

West Africa’s forgotten felines endangered by conflict and research gaps
- The WAP Complex of protected areas that straddles the border region of Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger is one of West Africa’s most important protected areas and a haven for many iconic endangered species.
- Servals, caracals and African wildcats are also found in the WAP Complex, but almost nothing is known about their status, distribution, ecology or threats.
- Covert surveys of medicine markets in the region have found serval and caracal skins, though it’s not known if the skins originated within the WAP Complex.
- The presence of jihadist militants in the region severely impacts conservation and research, particularly in the Niger and Burkina Faso portions of the complex.

Nigerian anti-corruption body partners with EIA to combat wildlife crime

Nigeria’s anti-corruption body is partnering with the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) to address wildlife trafficking. The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and EIA signed a memorandum of understanding Sept. 20, which will allow the two bodies to work together and develop a strategy to combat environmental crime. “The EIA will […]
The world’s chocolate cravings speed up deforestation in the Congo Basin: Study
- A recent study found that cacao farming in the Congo Basin, the world’s largest carbon sink, is linked with up to seven times more deforestation than other agricultural activities.
- Outside experts say that major global, economic and social pressures are influencing cacao farmers’ actions and call on international chocolate companies to better support farmers on the ground.
- Across cacao-producing countries in Africa, experts say that diversifying crops, rotating crops and changes in the supply chain are key to more sustainable farming practices.
- Agricultural trade drives an estimated 90% of global deforestation and more than 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Plan for close season rings alarm bells for Liberia’s artisanal fishers
- Liberia revealed plans in May for a close season for fishing, but still hasn’t given any details of what it covers, whom it will apply to, or even when it will come into force.
- Policymakers say a pause in fishing activity is necessary to allow stocks to replenish, and is also an obligation for Liberia under a regional fisheries bloc whose other members have also planned or even implemented close seasons.
- Liberia’s small-scale fishers say the plan could be a solution to dwindling catches, but say there must be some form of livelihood support for them during the period when they can’t fish.
- They also say a close season must apply first and foremost to the industrial vessels that harvest a large amount of the country’s fish, including from nearshore waters that are supposed to be the exclusive domain of small-scale fishers.

New approach to land management in Africa aims to climate-proof ecosystems
- Pioneering projects in Nigeria and Kenya are moving away from government-led land management to a more inclusive approach to address climate, biodiversity and socioeconomic needs.
- The participatory informed landscape approach (PILA) being employed in the Niger Delta and on Mount Elgon consider not just physical details like soil type and rainfall pattern, but also where people live, how they use the land, and their economic activities.
- This helps decision-makers choose actions that match local conditions and needs, aided by a multistakeholder platform to foster collaboration between government entities, private sector players, local governments, NGOs and community groups.
- PILA proponents say the approach marks “a shift from the old ways of doing things to a more integrated, evidence-based approach that considers the needs of both people and the environment.”

Sierra Leone group helps farmers adapt to changing climate, protect forest
- In response to damage caused by deforestation and illegal mining, the Sierra Leone Environment Matters (SLEM) organization is helping Kenema district residents to plant trees and switch to growing more climate-resilient crops.
- The landscape around Kambui Hills, a commercial timber reserve, is vital to local communities for agriculture, tourism, cultural significance as well as water conservation and climate regulation; the area is also home to numerous endangered species.
- Local farmers are facing changing climatic patterns and declining harvests of their primary crop, rice; SLEM has promoted alternative, more climate-resistant options, such as sweet potato, cassava and yams as well as fruit trees like mango and papaya.

Hooded vultures in Ghana and South Africa on the brink, study says
- A new study on hooded vulture populations in Ghana and South Africa shows low genetic diversity, placing the birds at threat of disease outbreaks and environmental change.
- South Africa only has an estimate 100-200 hooded vultures left, while Ghana’s population is larger but declining.
- As scavengers, hooded vultures remove corpses from ecosystems; their absence can lead to health risks for humans and wildlife.
- Researchers say their findings should spur greater conservation action to protect the birds, including from belief-based hunting practices.

Scientists find unexpected biodiversity in an African river, thanks to eDNA
- Scientists have used environmental DNA analysis to identify 125 species of aquatic and terrestrial animals in the remote Corubal River in West Africa.
- The identified species include critically endangered animals as well as species that weren’t previously known to occur in the region.
- The Corubal flows through Guinea and Guinea-Bissau; because of its remote nature, there haven’t been a lot of large-scale attempts to study the biodiversity in the river and its basin.
- The scientists are also working to collect specimens and tissue samples from animals encountered along the river to build a DNA reference database for the future.

Mysterious African manatees inspire a growing chorus of champions
- Cameroonian conservationist Aristide Kamla recently won the prestigious Whitely Award for his ongoing work to understand and conserve the African manatee, the least-known and understood of the world’s three manatee species.
- African manatees occur in rivers, mangroves, lagoons and coastal waters along the west coast of Africa. Difficult to see in the murky water, they’re challenging to study and conserve, and much of what we assume about them is based on knowledge of the better-known Florida manatee.
- The African manatee faces numerous threats: poaching, drowning as bycatch in fishing nets, landscape degradation, and dam construction all contribute to what’s believed to be its declining population.
- A slowly growing number of species experts are working hard to shine a light on the plight of the African manatee, in the hope that a more unified effort can change the trajectory of the African manatee’s plight in future.

As Ghana pushes mining in forests, a cautionary tale from a fading forest
- A third of the Apamprama Forest Reserve, in Ghana’s gold-rich Ashanti region, has disappeared in little more than 20 years.
- Satellite data show that forest loss has accelerated since 2018, when mining company Heritage Imperial received permission to prospect for gold inside the reserve.
- Green campaigners cited Apamprama’s destruction in decrying a recent push by the Ghanaian government to encourage industrial mining, including inside forest reserves.
- In public statements, Heritage Imperial representatives said the company operates legally inside the reserve, but experts told Mongabay that legal permissions don’t protect forest ecosystems from the corrosive effects of mining.

Ghana hollows out forests and green protections to advance mining interests
- The Ghanaian government has significantly ramped up the approval of mining permits under legislation passed in late 2022, intensifying concerns about runaway environmental damage.
- The country is already the top gold producer in Africa, but much of the mining is done in forest reserves and other biodiverse ecosystems.
- The government has long cracked down on artisanal illegal gold miners, but activists say the real damage is being wrought by industrial operations, both legal and illegal.
- A debt default in 2022 has seen Ghana lean even more heavily on its gold to mitigate the crisis, prompting warnings that such a policy is neither economically nor environmentally sustainable.

Meet the little-known African tortoise with a hatchback for a shell
- The forest hinge-back tortoise is an unusual animal whose shell can swing down 90 degrees in the rear to protect itself from predators.
- However, despite having a large range across sub-Saharan Africa, the species is currently listed as data deficient on the IUCN Red List; experts say it’s tentatively considered endangered.
- The turtle is threatened by deforestation and hunting for food, traditional medicine and fetishes.
- Researchers say to better protect the species would require more investment, but acknowledge that less “charismatic” species like tortoises rarely get the protection or attention they require.

Trained to stop poaching, Benin park rangers instead face jihadists
- On July 24, five African Parks rangers were killed in Benin’s W National Park along with seven soldiers from the Benin Armed Forces.
- The attack is the second incident in which major casualties were suffered by African Parks in W National Park. In 2022, five rangers were killed in an IED ambush.
- According to a source interviewed by Mongabay, the rangers were killed when a monitoring outpost they shared with Beninese troops was attacked and overrun by fighters from JNIM, an al-Qaeda affiliate.
- While African Parks has previously stated it would pull its personnel back from high-risk areas, the attack indicates that its rangers still participate in operations led by the Benin Armed Forces.

Search for rare Nigerian damselflies finds forest habitats under threat
- Nigeria’s Cross River state, famed for its gorillas, chimpanzees, drill monkeys and forest elephants, is also part of an ecological region known to harbor the greatest diversity of dragonflies and damselflies in Africa.
- A Nigerian-Dutch team recently published details of three new species of dragonfly it found during its survey of four locations across the state, alongside dozens of other dragonflies and damselflies, including some that are now critically endangered.
- Many of the forests and streams the insects live in are threatened by fire, deforestation and the expansion of commercial oil palm plantations.

Birdsong rings out once again in Togo’s sacred forest of Titiyo
- Logging for firewood, charcoal and timber for construction almost wiped out the sacred forest of Titiyo in northern Togo.
- The degradation of the forest had a major impact on wildlife and the surrounding population.
- But since 2015, Sylvain Tchoou Akati, a native of the area, has led the restoration of this forest, and is today bringing his model of community-led conservation to other areas.

In sub-Saharan Africa, ‘forgotten’ foods could boost climate resilience, nutrition
- A 2023 study was recently awarded the Cozzarelli Prize from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences for its work identifying “forgotten” food crops in sub-Saharan Africa that may be more resilient to climate change than the region’s current staple crops of maize, rice, cassava and yams.
- The study found that West Africa and Central Africa would experience the largest decrease in suitability for current staple crops by 2070, and that maize was the most vulnerable of the staples.
- In addition to identifying 52 food crops that will likely be better-suited to the region’s future climate — and which have more nutritional value than staple crops — these researchers have already succeeded in introducing some of the overlooked crops to local communities.

Troubled rubber plantation in Liberia shuts down after labor unrest
- On June 27, aggrieved workers at the Belgian-French firm Socfin’s rubber plantation in Liberia burned the company’s headquarters and its manager’s private residence.
- The unrest followed a five-day strike over working conditions, housing, medical care and other complaints.
- Despite not being present during the incident, two prominent union leaders have been imprisoned without bail for more than three weeks.
- In the wake of the incident, Socfin has decided to shutter its operations in Liberia indefinitely.

Protecting Nigeria one child & one tree at a time: Interview with Doyinsola Ogunye
- Nigeria’s Doyinsola Ogunye is known across Africa for her work to help children and women build more sustainable futures; the environmental advocate founded the Mental and Environmental Development Initiative for Children (MEDIC) as well as the Recycling Scheme for Women and Youth Empowerment (RESWAYE).
- She says partnerships with corporations and the ability to scale are important in helping the initiatives grow.
- Many of her initiatives center on activities with children and schools — from cleaning up beaches to planting trees — and now, many of the children she initially worked with have entered university and they have carried their experiences into adult life.
- Doyinsola Ogunye recently talked with Mongabay about her work in the face of some of the biggest environmental challenges in Lagos.

PHOTOS: For Kenya’s Maasai, a new faith may undo age-old conservation traditions
- Maasai traditional religion, practices and values, led by a laibon, or spiritual leader, have conserved the Loita Forest in Kenya for generations.
- However, the spread of Christianity and government plans to privatize land in the forest worry traditionalists and environmentalists who say the new converts won’t stick to the old community-based conservation ethos, as seen elsewhere in the country.
- Different religious worldviews come with different ways of relating to land, with the age-old customs guided by the laibon no longer carrying the same authority.
- The Loita Forest is an integral part of the greater Serengeti-Masai Mara ecosystem, covered in old-growth cloud forests and home to a collection of charismatic species.

Protected areas benefit nature & people, study says — with caveats
- A new paper in the journal Current Biology that attempts to track how protected areas (PAs) fare on biodiversity protection and economic growth found that PAs “don’t have a negative impact on local economic growth.”
- However, experts say that the encouraging results must be interpreted with abundant caution because the study uses narrow definitions of conservation success and economic development.
- The top 10 countries that were most likely to report harmony between the two objectives included five African countries: Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Madagascar, Zambia and South Sudan.
- The performance of PAs in key biodiversity areas such as the Amazon and Southeast Asia was also lackluster, but this was in comparison with other areas, said Binbin Li, first author of the study. “It is not at the same level [as other regions], but it is not rare.”

Study: A third of Africa’s great apes at risk from mining of transition metals
- Rising demand for the metals needed to power the global renewable energy transition potentially threatens more than a third of Africa’s great apes.
- Nearly 180,000 gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos face potential fallout from current and future mining projects for these transition metals, particularly in West Africa.
- Direct and indirect potential impacts from mining on apes include habitat destruction, health threats from light pollution and disease transmission, and safety risks from vehicle traffic.
- Transparent data sharing and a more robust mechanism to mitigate impacts before they materialize could go a long way to protect Africa’s great apes from becoming a casualty of climate action.

Investigation confirms more abuses on Cameroon, Sierra Leone Socfin plantations
- Findings from a second round of investigations into allegations of human rights abuses on plantations owned by Belgian company Socfin have been published.
- Supply chain consultancy Earthworm Foundation found evidence of sexual violence and land conflict, following similar findings from other plantations in West and Central Africa published in December 2023.
- Around one plantation, in Sierra Leone, a mapping exercise may signal action to remedy some problems, but communities and their supporters elsewhere say it’s unclear how Socfin can be held to account.
- International NGOs point out that the findings are in conflict with Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certifications that Socfin holds.

As chocolate prices skyrocket from decades of deforestation, adopting agroforestry is key (commentary)
- It’s been reported that climate change is the reason for record high chocolate prices, but what’s received less attention is the root cause of the problem.
- Chocolate costs more now due to decades of deforestation by the cocoa industry in West Africa, where much of the world’s supply is grown, earning it the moniker of “cannibal commodity.”
- “The good news is that chocolate companies and producer governments still can address the problem. To contain the impacts of past deforestation and promote predictability in production, they must transform all existing monoculture cocoa to shade-grown or agroforestry cocoa,” a new op-ed argues.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Women in Sierra Leone unite after devastating floods

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone – In this episode of Mongabay Sessions, Romi Castagnino, Mongabay’s associate video producer, interviews documentary director Ibrahim S. Miles Kamara about his impactful film, Freetown Floodfighters: Women’s Resilience on the Frontline. This documentary highlights the efforts of community groups led by women to build resilience against climate change-induced floods in Freetown, Sierra […]
In ‘the century of Africa,’ Mongabay’s new bureau reports its biggest environmental issues and solutions
- Mongabay recently launched a brand-new bureau dedicated to covering the African continent in French and English, led by veteran Cameroonian journalist David Akana.
- Though Mongabay has covered Africa for all of its 25 years, the new bureau formalizes and ramps up its coverage of core environmental topics plus solutions-oriented stories, which Akana says are vital to delivering a fair picture of what happens on the continent.
- Akana joins Mongabay’s podcast to discuss the importance of covering Africa well and why the news that happens there should be on readers' radar worldwide.
- "The bottom line here is that whatever happens — whether it's in the business of forests [or] biodiversity or climate change in the Congo Basin — [it] has linkages to anywhere else in the world," Akana says.

Study: Female chimps that don’t leave their birth groups can still avoid inbreeding
- Recent research published on the Ngogo chimpanzees of Kibale National Park shows that female chimps don’t always leave their birth group in search of mating partners, which is considered the norm in most chimpanzee societies.
- Moving to a different social group is a strategy to avoid inbreeding, but to their surprise, researchers found that despite staying back, sexually mature females still manage to steer clear of relations with male relatives. How they do so remains a mystery.
- Primatologists who studied chimpanzees in Tanzania’s Gombe National Park also found that some females choose to remain. In that case, human disturbance and the lack of access to other chimp groups could be responsible for this behavior.
- However, the Ngogo population is large and lives close to other chimp troops, so the chimps have opportunities to leave but choose not to. This raises questions about why, if there are opportunities to breed successfully in their birth groups, do female chimpanzees leave at all?

Action plan to save West African vultures targets threat from belief-based use
- A new conservation plan aims to stem the loss of vultures across West Africa, where populations have declined largely due to killing of the birds for “belief-cased use.”
- The West African Vulture Conservation Action Plan (WAVCAP) will span 16 countries over the next 20 years, supported by conservation organizations from the region and around the world.
- When conservationists developed a global vulture action plan in 2017, demand and trade for belief-based use wasn’t considered a major threat in the West African region, but high-profile mass killings and further research have since pushed the issue higher up on the agenda.
- The new plan’s key pillars include strengthening and applying existing conservation laws, raising awareness of vultures’ protected status and ecological value, and reducing demand for parts.

As catches fall, Sierra Leone’s artisanal fishers turn to destructive practices
- Sierra Leone’s fish stocks have been under severe strain in recent years due to intensive industrial fishing and a growing population of artisanal fishers, with fishers consistently reporting falling catches.
- This has triggered heightened competition for increasingly scarce yields.
- To secure their livelihoods, artisanal fishers have turned to unsustainable fishing gear, such as undersize-mesh nets, and target fish breeding and nursery grounds, disrupting the fish reproductive cycle.
- The crisis is fueled by the ready availability of illegal nets, weak law enforcement and widespread economic hardship.

To renew or not to renew? African nations reconsider EU fishing deals
- The European Union currently has fisheries access deals with 11 African countries, several of which are up for renegotiation this year.
- Under the deals, called Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreements (SFPAs), European fishing companies gain access to resource-filled foreign waters, while the African countries get cash.
- Senegal was the first country to sign such a deal, in 1979, but President Bassirou Diomaye Faye was elected in March after proposing to suspend it altogether in response to concerns that it’s unfair to local fishers. It’s not yet clear whether he will follow through, but his rhetoric reflects shifting arrangements in African fisheries, where the EU no longer dominates as it once did.
- Experts see this as a possible win for local control of precious marine resources, but they also caution that many of the alternative arrangements African governments are turning to instead of SFPAs are more socially and environmentally problematic, and less transparent.

‘Weather whiplash’ cycles of floods & droughts imperil Nigerian farming
- Farmers in Nigeria — and other regions, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa — are suffering huge losses due to extreme weather shifts in quick succession, a phenomenon that researchers refer to as “weather whiplash.”
- Research shows a connection between poverty and weather whiplash, and farmers in poorer regions are five times more exposed to drought-downpour cycles than people in wealthier regions.
- In April, the independent SciLine service for journalists hosted a webinar with agricultural scientists who discussed these extreme weather cycles, the impacts of climate change on agriculture in different regions and the need for homegrown approaches to support agriculture resilience.

Setback for Guinea mine that threatens World Heritage chimp reserve
- Liberian President Joseph Boakai is backing U.K.-Indian firm ArcelorMittal over access to a key railway in northern Liberia.
- U.S. firm HPX wants to use the rail line to ship ore from its own project in neighboring Guinea to the Liberian port at Buchanan.
- HPX’s plan to mine ore from Guinea’s Nimba Mountains has encountered fierce opposition from some environmentalists, who say it would imperil the area’s tool-using chimpanzees.
- HPX has said it will partner with South Africa’s Guma Group to build a new railway in Liberia that runs parallel to the existing one, but the plans are reportedly in jeopardy over financing.

Chimps are lifelong learners, study on tool use shows
- A recent study assessed wild chimpanzees’ use of sticks as a tool, monitoring how chimps of different ages gripped and manipulated the implement to retrieve food from tricky places.
- The study found that older chimps were more adept at choosing the right grip for the task at hand, indicating that chimpanzees, like humans, refine tool-use skills well into adulthood.
- The researchers say this continued development of skills is critical for chimpanzees’ survival in a changing climate, and that it highlights the importance of conservation interventions aimed at supporting the preservation of chimpanzee cultures.

No answers for Ghanaian fishery observer’s family months after suspected death
- Samuel Abayateye, a 38-year-old father of two, was working as a fisheries observer when he was reported missing from his assigned vessel in October 2023.
- After a body missing its head, forearms and feet that Abayateye’s family says closely resembled him washed ashore in December, the Ghana Police Service opened an investigation.
- Five months later, Abayateye’s family said they still haven’t received any information from the authorities investigating the case, or the results of a DNA test to confirm the identity of the body.
- A fisheries observer told Mongabay the case has sown fear among observers appointed to monitor and report on illegal fishing in fleets operating in Ghana. Fishing industry experts say the case highlights the dangers faced by observers, whose job is critical to ensuring fishing vessels comply with the law.

New illegal logging threatens Liberia’s forests amid vague ban
- Large-scale commercial operators are evading Liberian forestry regulations by illegally processing wood destined for export on-site in forests.
- Timber milled in forests with chainsaws is legally restricted to the production of boards by artisanal loggers for sale on the domestic market, but reporting by Liberian newspaper The Daylight and research by U.S.-based NGO Forest Trends has found large-scale operators producing thicker blocks of high-value wood for export.
- Chainsaw-milled timber isn’t entered into the country’s timber-tracking system, meaning producers can evade sustainable forestry regulations as well as taxes and benefits due to local communities.
- The country’s Forestry Development Authority says it has banned production of this type of timber, but campaigners say it has done little to publicize the ban or prevent traffickers from exploiting this loophole.

Multilateral development banks must prioritize clean & community-led energy projects (commentary)
- Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), governments, and corporations across 160 countries consider or approve more than one investment per day in the energy sector.
- Despite commitments to tackle the climate crisis, many of these investments support the fossil fuel industry, while others invest in false clean energy solutions like hydropower which often cause harm to local communities.
- “To achieve a just energy transition, MDBs and governments must prioritize sustainable renewable energy models that empower communities and ensure inclusive energy access,” a new op-ed argues.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.

Who was Samuel Abayateye, the fishery observer missing in Ghana

ANYAMAM, Ghana — In October 2023, Samuel Abayateye, a 38-year-old fishery observer, went missing in Ghana. This unsettling event is part of a troubling pattern, as disappearances of fishery observers in Ghanaian waters have occurred before. In this video, Mongabay travels to Anyamam, Samuel’s home village, to speak with his family and uncover more about […]

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