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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/central-african-republic/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
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	<title>Central African Republic environmental news</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/central-african-republic/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>What it takes to make conservation work in Central Africa: Luis Arranz&#8217;s 46-year journey</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/what-it-takes-to-make-conservation-work-in-central-africa-luis-arranzs-46-year-journey/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/what-it-takes-to-make-conservation-work-in-central-africa-luis-arranzs-46-year-journey/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Apr 2026 10:48:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David AkanaRhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/13132444/Luis-Arranza-CAR-by-Nuria-Ortega-WWF-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316927</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, Central African Republic, Congo Basin, and Democratic Republic Of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Community-based Conservation, Conflict, Conservation, Environment, Human-wildlife Conflict, Interviews, Parks, Protected Areas, Wildlife, and Wildlife Rangers]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Luis Arranz arrived in Africa in 1980 with little more than a degree in biology and a determination to work in the field. Without contacts or a clear path, he drove south from Spain in a small Citroën 2CV, crossing the Sahara over several weeks and repairing the car as it failed along the way. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Luis Arranz arrived in Africa in 1980 with little more than a degree in biology and a determination to work in the field. Without contacts or a clear path, he drove south from Spain in a small Citroën 2CV, crossing the Sahara over several weeks and repairing the car as it failed along the way. The journey is unusual. The work that followed is uncommon in its form and duration: more than four decades spent managing protected areas in Central Africa. His career has taken him through Equatorial Guinea, Angola, and South America, but it is in Central Africa that it has largely settled. He has led or helped run parks including Monte Alén, Zakouma, Garamba, Dzanga-Sangha, and now Salonga, often remaining in each for extended periods. That continuity has shaped his approach. He tends to describe conservation less in terms of design than of execution—what can be maintained over time, and what cannot. Photo courtesy of Luis Arranz This perspective runs through a series of conversations that took place in forests, villages, and vehicles across the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo in March 2026. Arranz is skeptical of the emphasis placed on planning processes and external analysis. He returns instead to implementation. “We know what we have to do,” he says, referring to the distance between written plans and what can be carried out in practice. Much of the work, in his account, comes down to transport, communication, and maintaining teams across large and difficult&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/what-it-takes-to-make-conservation-work-in-central-africa-luis-arranzs-46-year-journey/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/what-it-takes-to-make-conservation-work-in-central-africa-luis-arranzs-46-year-journey/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-316927</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Studying the world’s largest gathering of forest elephants with sound and field observation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/studying-the-worlds-largest-gathering-of-forest-elephants-with-sound-and-field-observation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/studying-the-worlds-largest-gathering-of-forest-elephants-with-sound-and-field-observation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Apr 2026 14:46:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David AkanaRhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
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					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316782</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, Central African Republic, Congo Basin, and Democratic Republic Of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Bioacoustics, Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Education, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Gorillas, Great Apes, Indigenous Peoples, Interviews, Primates, Rainforests, Research, Traditional People, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, Wildtech, and Women In Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the far southwest of the Central African Republic, where dense forest gives way to a broad clearing, elephants gather in numbers rarely seen elsewhere. The place is known as Dzanga Bai. Forest elephants are among the least visible large mammals in Africa. In closed-canopy rainforest, they move in small groups, often at night, communicating [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the far southwest of the Central African Republic, where dense forest gives way to a broad clearing, elephants gather in numbers rarely seen elsewhere. The place is known as Dzanga Bai. Forest elephants are among the least visible large mammals in Africa. In closed-canopy rainforest, they move in small groups, often at night, communicating over long distances through low-frequency calls that travel beyond human hearing. Much of their social life unfolds out of sight. Dzanga Bai is one of the few places where that pattern breaks. Here, elephants emerge from the forest to feed on minerals in the soil. They linger. Families converge, separate, and return. Individuals can be recognized over years. Behaviors that are otherwise inferred—through tracks, fragments of sound, or brief encounters—can be followed more directly. Dzanga Bai in Dzanga-Sangha Special Reserve, Central African Republic. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler For decades, the clearing has drawn researchers trying to understand a species that resists easy study. Long-term work here, including that of researchers such as Andrea Turkalo, has shaped much of what is known about forest elephants. Ivonne Kienast is part of that effort. She leads the Dzanga Forest Elephant Project, part of the Elephant Listening Project at Cornell University. Her work combines long-term behavioral observation with passive acoustic monitoring. The objective is to understand how forest elephants live and to detect early signs of change. In practice, this means continuous field presence, physically demanding work, and coordination across a network of relationships that extend well beyond&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/studying-the-worlds-largest-gathering-of-forest-elephants-with-sound-and-field-observation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/studying-the-worlds-largest-gathering-of-forest-elephants-with-sound-and-field-observation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-316782</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Living with wildlife, bearing the cost</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/living-with-wildlife-bearing-the-cost/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/living-with-wildlife-bearing-the-cost/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Apr 2026 00:20:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
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					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317125</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, Central African Republic, and Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Elephants, Environment, Human-wildlife Conflict, Land Rights, National Parks, Parks, Politics, and Protected Areas]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[“Let us stop talking about human-wildlife conflict. Some of us live with this reality and we pay a heavy price for sharing space with wildlife.” The remark was made by a community leader at the 2023 Community-led Conservation Congress in Namibia. It was not framed as a critique of conservation policy so much as a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[“Let us stop talking about human-wildlife conflict. Some of us live with this reality and we pay a heavy price for sharing space with wildlife.” The remark was made by a community leader at the 2023 Community-led Conservation Congress in Namibia. It was not framed as a critique of conservation policy so much as a correction to how it is described. The phrase “human-wildlife conflict” appears frequently in reports and strategies, often as a category that can be measured and managed. For those living closest to wildlife, the experience it refers to is less abstract and less contained. “Have you ever seen how an elephant kills a person?” the same speaker asked. What followed was a detailed account of a fatal encounter during a routine trip to collect firewood: the animal catching up to a woman as she ran, throwing her, and then crushing her body. The description is difficult to read. It is also part of what is being described when conflict is reduced to a term. Elsewhere, the cost is expressed in more tangible terms, as recounted by Kendi Borona in a commentary published on Mongabay last September. A farmer in East Africa described taking out a loan to shift from pastoralism to agriculture after repeated livestock losses. He leased land, planted tomatoes, and paid someone to guard the fields through the night. When the crop was ready, heavy rain prevented the vehicle from reaching the farm. During that delay, elephants entered and consumed the harvest. The loss&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/living-with-wildlife-bearing-the-cost/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/living-with-wildlife-bearing-the-cost/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317125</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The little-known story of emerging ecotourism in the Central African Republic</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/the-little-known-story-of-emerging-ecotourism-in-the-central-african-republic/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/the-little-known-story-of-emerging-ecotourism-in-the-central-african-republic/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Apr 2026 10:51:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David Akana]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Christophe Assogba]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/02002409/08-car_2626872x-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317163</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, and Central African Republic]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Economics, Ecotourism, Elephants, Environment, Governance, Marketing, National Parks, Tourism, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BAYANGA, Central African Republic — For many outside the country, the Central African Republic remains defined by a set of familiar images: conflict, instability, weak infrastructure and a state that struggles to extend its authority much beyond Bangui, the country’s capital. These realities are not imaginary. They continue to shape daily life across much of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BAYANGA, Central African Republic — For many outside the country, the Central African Republic remains defined by a set of familiar images: conflict, instability, weak infrastructure and a state that struggles to extend its authority much beyond Bangui, the country’s capital. These realities are not imaginary. They continue to shape daily life across much of the country. Roads are in poor condition, health services are fragile and insecurity persists in certain areas. For years, these conditions have overshadowed nearly every other story. But they do not tell the whole story. Hundreds of kilometers southwest of Bangui, near the borders with Cameroon and the Republic of Congo, a more low-key experiment is taking shape in the forests of Dzanga-Sangha. It is an attempt to build a local economy centered on wildlife, conservation and tourism in a country rarely associated with these three elements. In Bayanga, a small town serving as the gateway to Dzanga-Sangha National Park, visitors come for Dzanga Bai, one of the most famous forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) gathering places in tropical Africa, where dozens — and sometimes well over a hundred — elephants can gather in a single area. They also come for the western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) accustomed to human presence, the dense forest of the Congo Basin, and a conservation landscape that remains, in many ways, raw and un-finished. Dzanga Bai, one of the best-known forest elephant clearings in tropical Africa, where dozens and sometimes well over a hundred elephants can gather in a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/the-little-known-story-of-emerging-ecotourism-in-the-central-african-republic/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/the-little-known-story-of-emerging-ecotourism-in-the-central-african-republic/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317163</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘I like impossible missions’: A conservationist’s mission to turn around Salonga’s fate</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/i-like-impossible-missions-a-conservationists-mission-to-turn-around-salongas-fate/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/i-like-impossible-missions-a-conservationists-mission-to-turn-around-salongas-fate/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Apr 2026 10:50:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David Akana]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Christophe Assogba]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/08094301/image2__luis-arranz-elefante-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317154</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, and Central African Republic]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Governance, National Parks, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SALONGA, Democratic Republic of Congo — At nearly 70 years old, Spanish conservationist Luis Arranz is taking on what he calls a new “impossible mission”: changing the fate of Salonga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo. “I like difficult missions,” Arranz told Mongabay during a recent visit to the park. “I like impossible [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SALONGA, Democratic Republic of Congo — At nearly 70 years old, Spanish conservationist Luis Arranz is taking on what he calls a new “impossible mission”: changing the fate of Salonga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo. “I like difficult missions,” Arranz told Mongabay during a recent visit to the park. “I like impossible missions.” Salonga is far more than a protected area. Covering 36,000 square kilometers (nearly 14,000 square miles), it is Africa’s largest tropical forest national park and, according to WWF, one of the largest in the world. Larger than Belgium, the park is vast and remote. Many areas are accessible only by river or air. From Kinshasa, the capital, the journey by boat can take several weeks. Unlike parks such as Virunga National Park, which attract international attention and tourists, Salonga remains largely inaccessible and little known, despite its importance as a refuge for bonobos, forest elephants and other unique Congo Basin species. For Arranz, that’s precisely what makes the mission appealing. A river cuts through dense rainforest in Salonga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Image by Rhett A Butler/Mongabay. “The difference is that Virunga has millions of people around it. Salonga is immense,” he said. “We cannot do everything. We must start small, show that it is possible, and then gradually expand.” Arranz is no stranger to difficult terrain. Nearly five decades ago, he first arrived in Africa by road, crossing the Sahara Desert to reach Equatorial Guinea. Since then, his career&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/i-like-impossible-missions-a-conservationists-mission-to-turn-around-salongas-fate/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317154</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Why conservation needs stories of progress</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/why-conservation-needs-stories-of-progress/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/why-conservation-needs-stories-of-progress/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Apr 2026 14:35:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/02002328/00-car_2608143z-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317056</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, Central African Republic, and Congo Basin]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Commentary, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Hope and optimism, Journalism, Nature-based climate solutions, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[I’m writing this from deep in the Congo rainforest after a day spent observing elephants and gorillas. The presence of such magnificent creatures is both invigorating and a reminder of how much still endures. Yet the pressures are visible, too. Logging roads push deeper each year. Poaching still threatens wildlife that once seemed unassailable. Industrial [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[I’m writing this from deep in the Congo rainforest after a day spent observing elephants and gorillas. The presence of such magnificent creatures is both invigorating and a reminder of how much still endures. Yet the pressures are visible, too. Logging roads push deeper each year. Poaching still threatens wildlife that once seemed unassailable. Industrial agriculture and mining concessions hover at the edges of protected areas. In parts of this region, violence and instability make conservation work extraordinarily difficult. The challenges are real, and far from abstract. What strikes me most, though, is something else: the persistence of the people who continue to protect these places despite such constraints. Rangers working with modest equipment and salaries. Communities experimenting with ways to sustain forests while supporting their families. Researchers and local leaders documenting wildlife populations and defending the conditions that allow them to recover. Many of these efforts operate with limited funding and little recognition. Yet over time, they accumulate into something meaningful. Conservation often advances this way. Not through singular breakthroughs, but through patient work carried out in difficult circumstances. In the Congo Basin, there are landscapes where wildlife populations have stabilized or begun to recover because people refused to accept decline as inevitable. These examples rarely make headlines. They unfold slowly and unevenly. But they demonstrate something important: when knowledge, commitment and collaboration come together, progress remains possible. Broadening the story of conservation This is the spirit behind the launch of Mongabay’s Solutions Desk. For years, environmental reporting has&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/why-conservation-needs-stories-of-progress/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317056</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A human rights center opens a path to justice for Indigenous Peoples in the Central African Republic</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/a-human-rights-center-opens-a-path-to-justice-for-indigenous-peoples-in-the-central-african-republic/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/a-human-rights-center-opens-a-path-to-justice-for-indigenous-peoples-in-the-central-african-republic/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Apr 2026 04:12:12 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David Akana]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Christophe Assogba]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/07035947/PXL_20260315_160605119-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317061</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, Central African Republic, and Congo Basin]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Human Rights, Human-wildlife Conflict, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Protected Areas, Social Conflict, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BAYANGA, Central African Republic — Across the Congo Basin, conservation has long been fraught with a difficult contradiction. Protected areas, meant to preserve wildlife, have at times also been the scene of allegations of human rights violations against Indigenous peoples. Over the past decade, Mongabay has documented allegations of beatings, intimidation and other abuses linked [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BAYANGA, Central African Republic — Across the Congo Basin, conservation has long been fraught with a difficult contradiction. Protected areas, meant to preserve wildlife, have at times also been the scene of allegations of human rights violations against Indigenous peoples. Over the past decade, Mongabay has documented allegations of beatings, intimidation and other abuses linked to park rangers and conservation operations in countries such as Cameroon, the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Several conservation actors have been implicated, including organizations such as WWF and African Parks. These organizations have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, even as audits, investigations and testimonies have kept these concerns at the center of the debate. See Also: WWF’s top leader acknowledges reforms in wake of abuse allegations It is against this backdrop that a quieter, lesser-known story is emerging in the southwest of the Central African Republic. The Bayanga Human Rights Center receives funding from several conservation actors, including the WWF. For the WWF, the center also serves as a mediation mechanism, allowing individuals affected by conservation activities in Dzanga-Sangha National Park to express their concerns and grievances. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay. In Bayanga, a forest town on the edge of the Dzanga-Sangha Protected Areas (DSPA) complex, a small human rights center has become an unexpected source of trust for the Ba’aka, one of the most widely-known Indigenous forest peoples of the Congo Basin, as well as for the Bilo, non-Indigenous communities living alongside the Ba’aka. The center does&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/a-human-rights-center-opens-a-path-to-justice-for-indigenous-peoples-in-the-central-african-republic/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/a-human-rights-center-opens-a-path-to-justice-for-indigenous-peoples-in-the-central-african-republic/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317061</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A Congo Basin-led bioeconomy could boost Central Africa’s green transition (analysis)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/a-congo-basin-led-bioeconomy-could-boost-central-africas-green-transition-analysis/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/a-congo-basin-led-bioeconomy-could-boost-central-africas-green-transition-analysis/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Apr 2026 16:27:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Metolo Foyet]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/01/05115844/ForestElephant.Loxodonta.cyclotis_NgounieGabon_marcusgmeineriNaturalistBYNC4.0-BANNER-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317006</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo Basin, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and Republic of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Analysis, Biodiversity, Bioeconomy, Commentary, Community Development, Environment, Forest Products, Forests, Green, Rainforests, Sustainability, Sustainable Development, Trade, Traditional Knowledge, Traditional Medicine, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Congo Basin, often referred to as the “second lungs of Earth,” holds immense potential for leading Central Africa’s green transition. Home to the world’s second-largest tropical rainforest and second-largest reserve of drinkable water (holding 50% of all of Africa’s water resources), the region covers more than 3.7 million square kilometers (nearly 1.5 million square [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Congo Basin, often referred to as the “second lungs of Earth,” holds immense potential for leading Central Africa’s green transition. Home to the world’s second-largest tropical rainforest and second-largest reserve of drinkable water (holding 50% of all of Africa’s water resources), the region covers more than 3.7 million square kilometers (nearly 1.5 million square miles), absorbs more carbon dioxide than any other region in the world — with an annual net carbon dioxide absorption six times that of the Amazon Rainforest — and spans six countries (Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon), storing around 30 billion metric tons of carbon. This critical ecological zone harbors immense biodiversity and natural resources, making it a strategic hub for the emerging global bioeconomy. However, learning from the Eastern African experience, realizing this potential requires a shift from extractive industries to sustainable, nature-based economies that prioritize long-term ecological health and local prosperity. Beyond its ecological importance — containing more than 10,000 species of plants, 1,000 species of birds, and 400 species of mammals, including iconic ones like the forest elephant and the critically endangered western lowland gorilla — the region stands at a critical juncture in the global minerals race, holding a significant share of the world&#8217;s strategic assets like lithium, cobalt, gold, and rare earth elements — key components shaping global power and the future of the energy transition. Despite this wealth, the Congo Basin’s economic strategies have often relied on the “dig&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/a-congo-basin-led-bioeconomy-could-boost-central-africas-green-transition-analysis/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317006</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A unique clearing in Central Africa draws elephants from the dense forests</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/a-unique-clearing-in-central-africa-draws-elephants-from-the-dense-forests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/a-unique-clearing-in-central-africa-draws-elephants-from-the-dense-forests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Apr 2026 16:14:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David Akana]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/06160058/car_2626790x-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317009</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, Central African Republic, and Congo Basin]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Elephants, Endangered Species, Forests, Mammals, Megafauna, National Parks, Parks, Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BAYANGA, Central African Republic — Throughout most of Central Africa, it’s difficult to spot herds of forest elephants all at once. They move through dense rainforest, remaining elusive, their lives obscured by thick vegetation and distance. For tourists and even researchers, direct encounters are largely a matter of chance. But Dzanga Bai is different. Often [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BAYANGA, Central African Republic — Throughout most of Central Africa, it’s difficult to spot herds of forest elephants all at once. They move through dense rainforest, remaining elusive, their lives obscured by thick vegetation and distance. For tourists and even researchers, direct encounters are largely a matter of chance. But Dzanga Bai is different. Often called the “village of elephants,” this mineral-rich clearing in Dzanga-Sangha National Park in southwestern Central African Republic draws large numbers of forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) out of the dense forest. Here, in the Congo Basin, they gather in the open, dozens at a time, sometimes hundreds, feeding, interacting and returning again and again to a place where elephants can be seen in the open. “The Dzanga Bai is the only known clearing where you get hundreds of forest elephants,” said Ivonne Kienast, a behavioral biologist with the Elephant Listening Project at Cornell University, U.S., who has been working in Dzanga-Sangha since 2021. “You have other clearings where, if you&#8217;re lucky, the maximum number of elephants you can see will be 40 or 50. But here, the minimum is 40 or 50.” Researchers observing forest elephants in this clearing say the primary attraction is mineral-rich soil. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay. At peak instances, the numbers climb higher still. “Two hundred and eleven was the count last year in December,” Kienast said. “And that&#8217;s just at one [instance].” The forest elephants emerge from the forest edge, stepping cautiously into the open. Some wade knee-deep into pools,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/a-unique-clearing-in-central-africa-draws-elephants-from-the-dense-forests/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/a-unique-clearing-in-central-africa-draws-elephants-from-the-dense-forests/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317009</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Far from home, a Rwandan doctor fulfills her calling among CAR forest communities</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/far-from-home-a-rwandan-nurse-fulfills-her-calling-among-car-forest-communities/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/far-from-home-a-rwandan-nurse-fulfills-her-calling-among-car-forest-communities/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Apr 2026 06:38:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David Akana]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Christophe Assogba]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/03134944/image3__IMG-20260316-WA0021-768x446.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316940</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, and Central African Republic]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Community Development, Environment, Health, National Parks, and Public Health]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BAYANGA, Central African Republic — Before the consultations, screenings and discreet discussions about disease, a makeshift enclosure is set up in the middle of the village, where residents gradually gather to the sound of music playing — at first they are curious, then attentive. Here, in the heart of the forests of southwestern Central African [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BAYANGA, Central African Republic — Before the consultations, screenings and discreet discussions about disease, a makeshift enclosure is set up in the middle of the village, where residents gradually gather to the sound of music playing — at first they are curious, then attentive. Here, in the heart of the forests of southwestern Central African Republic, Alphonsine Colombe Irahali, a Rwandan medical doctor, spends much of her time traveling from village to village to provide care to communities that rarely have access to it. “What we do is go from village to village to make a significant impact,” she told Mongabay during a recent mobile clinic mission. “In the morning, when we arrive, we start by playing music. Then we raise awareness: What signs to watch for? When to go to the hospital? What to expect?” In her thirties, Irahali could have chosen a different path. Many medical practitioners across Africa are drawn to cities or leave the continent in search of better pay and working conditions. But Irahali chose instead to work in Bayanga, a remote post near Dzanga-Sangha National Park, where the dense forest meets a fragile health care system, and where access to basic care is difficult. Irahali said she applied for the position at least three times before she was finally selected. “I am committed to caring for underserved communities,” she said. “I believe this work is in line with my oath.” For her, it was a conscious choice, as she seized the opportunity to work&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/far-from-home-a-rwandan-nurse-fulfills-her-calling-among-car-forest-communities/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-316940</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>What’s next for the major pledge to halt &#038; reverse Congo Basin deforestation?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/whats-next-for-the-major-pledge-to-halt-reverse-congo-basin-deforestation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/whats-next-for-the-major-pledge-to-halt-reverse-congo-basin-deforestation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Feb 2026 23:01:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/01/05115844/ForestElephant.Loxodonta.cyclotis_NgounieGabon_marcusgmeineriNaturalistBYNC4.0-BANNER-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=313829</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Cameroon, Central Africa, Central African Republic, Congo Basin, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and Republic of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate Change, climate finance, Conservation, Conservation Finance, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Policy, Finance, Forests, Politics, and Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Copince Ngoma, a member of the Bakouele Indigenous community, has relied on the lush green Congo Basin rainforest his whole life. His village’s forests, located in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Sangha region, are a wide repertoire for hunting, fishing and medicinal plants to care for his family. But in the last few years, as [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Copince Ngoma, a member of the Bakouele Indigenous community, has relied on the lush green Congo Basin rainforest his whole life. His village’s forests, located in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Sangha region, are a wide repertoire for hunting, fishing and medicinal plants to care for his family. But in the last few years, as elsewhere across the world’s second-largest rainforest, the scars of unsustainable mining practices have cleared wildlife habitats, polluted waters and dwindled resources. “We used to drink this water, but not anymore. … We used to hunt gazelles, monkeys. … Now, to catch anything, you have to travel at least 20 kilometers,” about 12 miles away, he told Mongabay. “We’re suffering.” This is part of a central and recurring issue across the region, which brought together high-level policymakers during a Land Dialogues webinar on Jan. 27 to discuss the recent $2.5 billion pledge to conserve forests that millions of people, including Ngoma, depend on for their material and cultural survival. The pledge is part of a major political and financial commitment announced last November during the COP30 U.N. climate conference: the Belém Call to Action for the Congo Basin Forests. Land clearance with fire in the Congo Basin. Image by John Cannon/Mongabay. For some policymakers, it was the first time they were speaking publicly about the implementation priorities of the pledge, what it will look like in practice, the inclusion of Indigenous peoples and local communities in the commitment and the challenges the call to action faces.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/whats-next-for-the-major-pledge-to-halt-reverse-congo-basin-deforestation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-313829</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Top-down projects, exotic trees, weak tenure: Congo Basin restoration misses the mark</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/top-down-projects-exotic-trees-weak-tenure-congo-basin-restoration-misses-the-mark/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/top-down-projects-exotic-trees-weak-tenure-congo-basin-restoration-misses-the-mark/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Dec 2025 16:49:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Amindeh Blaise Atabong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/11145146/a.-Banner-Loxodonta_cyclotis_3970045-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=311149</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Cameroon, Central Africa, Central African Republic, Congo Basin, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Gabon, Republic of Congo, and Rwanda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agroforestry, Biodiversity, carbon, Climate, Conservation, Forest Carbon, forest degradation, Forests, Logging, Reforestation, Slash-and-burn, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Congo Basin, the world’s largest tropical rainforest after the Amazon, is under mounting pressure. The Congo’s vast green canopy, stretching across six countries and storing more carbon than the Amazon, is vanishing at an alarming rate — losing an average of 1.79 million hectares (4.42 million acres) per year between 2015 and 2019. The [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Congo Basin, the world’s largest tropical rainforest after the Amazon, is under mounting pressure. The Congo’s vast green canopy, stretching across six countries and storing more carbon than the Amazon, is vanishing at an alarming rate — losing an average of 1.79 million hectares (4.42 million acres) per year between 2015 and 2019. The key drivers are well known: small-scale slash-and-burn agriculture, logging for fuelwood, and weak land governance. In response, some governments, international donors and NGOs have turned to reforestation projects as a cornerstone of the region’s climate and biodiversity strategies. But despite a panoply of projects — from tree-planting drives to agroforestry schemes — newly published research suggests that much of what’s happening in the name of “forest restoration” may not be restoring forests at all — but largely focused on nonnative, commodity species. The study analyzed 64 publications covering 26 initiatives in five countries: the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Cameroon, Gabon, Rwanda, and the Central African Republic. The findings paint a complex picture of progress over the last two decades — one where the rhetoric of “restoration” often outpaces the reality on the ground. On paper, Central African governments have made major commitments to the Congo Basin. Under the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100) and the Bonn Challenge, governments pledged to restore 25% of degraded land by this year. International donors, including the European Union, World Bank, as well as the French, German, Danish and U.K. development agencies, have poured millions of dollars into&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/top-down-projects-exotic-trees-weak-tenure-congo-basin-restoration-misses-the-mark/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-311149</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Progress on rights complaint systems in Congo Basin but more needed, says group</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/progress-on-rights-complaint-systems-in-congo-basin-but-more-needed-says-group/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/progress-on-rights-complaint-systems-in-congo-basin-but-more-needed-says-group/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Dec 2024 16:03:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ashoka Mukpo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/12/05101733/46896777025_b69b338916_k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=291235</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Cameroon, Central Africa, Central African Republic, Congo Basin, Democratic Republic Of Congo, and Republic of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Politics, Protected Areas, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Conservation groups have made progress setting up complaints systems in protected areas in the Congo Basin, but there’s still a ways to go, the Rainforest Foundation UK says in a report released last week. Called grievance and redress mechanisms, or GRMs, these systems meant to be a safety valve for people living near forests marked [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Conservation groups have made progress setting up complaints systems in protected areas in the Congo Basin, but there’s still a ways to go, the Rainforest Foundation UK says in a report released last week. Called grievance and redress mechanisms, or GRMs, these systems meant to be a safety valve for people living near forests marked for conservation in the event they suffer human rights abuses by wildlife rangers or park administrators. In some cases, these are phone hotlines. In others, a conservation NGO or contracted local organization receives complaints directly or through a community representative. After a human rights scandal in Congo Basin protected areas led to U.S. congressional hearings in 2021, donors and conservationists said they’d work to strengthen complaints processes to prevent future abuses. Ecoguards gather in Monkoto, DRC for a ceremony commemorating the completion of their latest round of training: 90 days of instruction on topics including first aid, self-defense, wildlife laws and the importance of respecting human rights during encounters with community members and poachers. Image by Molly Bergen/WCS, WWF, WRI via Flickr  (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). USAID, for example, published guidelines on how to set them up in 2022. In its report, RFUK said there had been “positive steps” since then in the Congo Basin, but that many protected areas still lack a complaints process. For those that have one, there was little data on the outcome of complaints made through them. “Living up to commitments on GRMs means not only far greater investment in accessible,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/progress-on-rights-complaint-systems-in-congo-basin-but-more-needed-says-group/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-291235</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Herders caught between conflict and climate change in the northern Congo Basin</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/herders-caught-between-conflict-and-climate-change-in-the-northern-congo-basin/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/herders-caught-between-conflict-and-climate-change-in-the-northern-congo-basin/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Aug 2024 11:10:45 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Didier Makal]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Christophe Assogba]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/08/02104031/Manou-Mbelori-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=285593</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, Central African Republic, and Democratic Republic Of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In May 2024, local media in the Democratic Republic of Congo reported that Mbororo herders had moved from the northern province of Bas-Uélé to neighboring Nord-Ubangi, signaling that ongoing tensions between the pastoralists and farming communities in this region continue to simmer. Throughout 2023, civil society groups in another northern province, Haut-Uélé, told media about [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In May 2024, local media in the Democratic Republic of Congo reported that Mbororo herders had moved from the northern province of Bas-Uélé to neighboring Nord-Ubangi, signaling that ongoing tensions between the pastoralists and farming communities in this region continue to simmer. Throughout 2023, civil society groups in another northern province, Haut-Uélé, told media about clashes with Mbororo herders, culminating in the reported abandonment of three villages in the territory of Dungu by their 2,000 residents in September, after two villagers were shot and killed, allegedly by the Mbororo. Dungu territory administrator Marcel Abule Kpineliede told news outlet Actualite.cd that he had earlier asked the pastoralists to leave a hunting reserve that forms part of the Garamba National Park complex; he said they had agreed, moving into South Sudan in search of pasture, but then returned to the territory after the South Sudanese army pushed them back. Léonard Adrupiako, coordinator of Forces-Vives, a civil society group in the Faradje territory, also in Haut-Uélé, said that as the pastoralists and their cattle migrate here, they’ve caused devastating losses to farmers’ fields, sparking conflict that sometimes leads to fatalities. “Cohabitation is really difficult,” he told Mongabay by phone, saying the Mbororo don’t respect the needs or way of life of the farming communities that they move their herds of livestock through. While the perspectives of Mbororo herders are notably missing from these local media reports, Adrupiako’s sentiments are shared by others in area. In WhatsApp message groups, users exchange stories of conflict&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/herders-caught-between-conflict-and-climate-change-in-the-northern-congo-basin/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-285593</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Camera-trap study brings the lesula, Congo’s cryptic monkey, into focus</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/camera-trap-study-brings-the-lesula-congos-cryptic-monkey-into-focus/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/camera-trap-study-brings-the-lesula-congos-cryptic-monkey-into-focus/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Jun 2024 16:06:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ruth Kamnitzer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/06/27122930/lesula-mom-baby-main-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=283785</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central African Republic, Congo Basin, Democratic Republic Of Congo, and Republic of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Endangered Species, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Mammals, Monkeys, Poaching, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Research, Wildlife, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 2012, the description of a new monkey species from the Congo Basin with an unforgettable, humanlike countenance made global news. Now, a camera trap study reveals how the lesula (Cercopithecus lomamiensis) has carved out a unique niche on the forest floor. The lesula is a slender, medium-sized monkey with a long tail, found only [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 2012, the description of a new monkey species from the Congo Basin with an unforgettable, humanlike countenance made global news. Now, a camera trap study reveals how the lesula (Cercopithecus lomamiensis) has carved out a unique niche on the forest floor. The lesula is a slender, medium-sized monkey with a long tail, found only in a remote part of the Congo Basin called the Tshuapa, Lomami and Lualaba Rivers Landscape, or TL2, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Though long known to local people, the species had remained unknown to science until research teams with the Lukuru Foundation’s TL2 Project, photographed an individual during surveys of the area. Taxonomic and genetic analysis showed that the lesula was a type of guenon monkey (genus Cercopithecus), the most species-rich group of African primates. Little was known definitively about the lesula’s ecology or behavior when it was first described, but there were already tantalizing hints that the lesula might be quite different from the other mostly arboreal species of guenon monkeys in the landscape. An adult lesula monkey. New primate discoveries are extremely rare, and when the lesula was first described and introduced to the world in 2012, it was only the second new African primate discovered in 28 years. The lesula is only found in the central Lomami Basin in central Democratic Republic of the Congo, and is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Image by Florida Atlantic University Now, using camera traps, researchers have found that the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/camera-trap-study-brings-the-lesula-congos-cryptic-monkey-into-focus/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/camera-trap-study-brings-the-lesula-congos-cryptic-monkey-into-focus/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-283785</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Conservation comeback in Central African Republic&#8217;s Manovo-Gounda St Floris National Park (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/conservation-comeback-in-central-african-republic-manovo-gounda-st-floris-national-park-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/conservation-comeback-in-central-african-republic-manovo-gounda-st-floris-national-park-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Mar 2024 14:55:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Baudouin MichelCédric VermeulenDodé H.M. HouehounhaFelin TwagirashyakaIchu G. IchuJean HugéJennica BetschPaul Telfer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/03/26142024/African_elephant_Loxodonta_africana_3-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=280270</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, and Central African Republic]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Commentary, Community Development, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Development, Governance, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Livestock, National Parks, Parks, Poaching, Protected Areas, Solutions, Sustainable Development, Wildlife, and Wildlife Rangers]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Located in northeastern Central African Republic (CAR) close to the Chad and Sudan borders, Manovo-Gounda St. Floris National Park is the largest park in the Central African savannas, covering 17,400 square kilometers. The park was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1988 due to its Outstanding Universal Value (OUV), and financially supported by [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Located in northeastern Central African Republic (CAR) close to the Chad and Sudan borders, Manovo-Gounda St. Floris National Park is the largest park in the Central African savannas, covering 17,400 square kilometers. The park was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1988 due to its Outstanding Universal Value (OUV), and financially supported by the European Union for a decade. Its diverse ecosystem hosts rich fauna and flora including many endangered species such as elephants, lions, hippos, and some of the last remaining giraffes in Central Africa. However, even at the time of UNESCO recognition, Manovo-Gounda St. Floris National Park was threatened by poaching of these charismatic species and by illegal transhumance (the practice of moving livestock from one grazing ground to another in a seasonal cycle). As these threats grew over time, affecting its OUV, the park was added to the List of World Heritage in Danger in 1997 due to combined effects of poaching, livestock intrusions, artisanal mining, security issues, and other threats. Sites are included on this list when they face serious threats to their OUV and serves as a call to action for the international community to take measures to protect and preserve these important natural landmarks. In 2009, a Joint Reactive Monitoring Mission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) requested by the World Heritage Committee concluded that Manovo-Gounda St. Floris National Park’s OUV had significantly degraded and suggested recommendations and corrective measures,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/conservation-comeback-in-central-african-republic-manovo-gounda-st-floris-national-park-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/conservation-comeback-in-central-african-republic-manovo-gounda-st-floris-national-park-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-280270</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Congo Basin’s elephants boost carbon capture, but need salt-licks to survive</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/congo-basins-elephants-boost-carbon-capture-but-need-salt-licks-to-survive/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/congo-basins-elephants-boost-carbon-capture-but-need-salt-licks-to-survive/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Aug 2023 11:31:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Leonie Joubert]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/08/14192754/MoreElephantsAtDzangaBai_DzangaSanghaProtectedAreasCAR_JanTeede-MEDIUM-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=272155</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, Central African Republic, Congo Basin, and Republic of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecosystem Engineers, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Mammals, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The approach to the “village of elephants” in the Sangha Rainforest in the Central African Republic must be made in complete silence. Not even the faintest rustle of backpack on rain jacket should break the soundscape as visitors wade through the sometimes waist-deep swamp at the forest’s edge. The Indigenous Ba&#8217;aka guides must be able [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The approach to the “village of elephants” in the Sangha Rainforest in the Central African Republic must be made in complete silence. Not even the faintest rustle of backpack on rain jacket should break the soundscape as visitors wade through the sometimes waist-deep swamp at the forest’s edge. The Indigenous Ba&#8217;aka guides must be able to listen for any signs of nearby elephants, so they can steer the visitors clear and avoid a close encounter with these giants. When a few pachyderms saunter out of the dense greenery, the Ba’aka shoo them away calmly. The thick vegetation gives way suddenly to a baï. This is no mere watering hole. The sandy clearing stretches for half a kilometer, more than a quarter of a mile, in the otherwise unbroken canopy of the world’s second-largest tropical forest. A handful of researchers camp out on a timber observation platform, overlooking a place that has drawn generations of elephants to its mineral- and salt-laden sand and muddy water. They document how the animals use their trunks or tusks to dig into the sand, eavesdrop on the animals’ conversations, and count the many other species that congregate here. This is Dzanga baï, a meeting place for critically endangered African forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) in the Dzanga-Sangha Complex of Protected Areas where these animals come together in huge numbers to dig for nutrients they can’t get from the otherwise abundant forests. Baïs are unique to the Congo Basin’s forests, and new research is underway to understand&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/congo-basins-elephants-boost-carbon-capture-but-need-salt-licks-to-survive/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/congo-basins-elephants-boost-carbon-capture-but-need-salt-licks-to-survive/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-272155</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>CAPS, new gas megaproject, aims to power Central Africa, but at what cost, critics ask</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/caps-new-gas-megaproject-aims-to-power-central-africa-but-at-what-cost-critics-ask/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/caps-new-gas-megaproject-aims-to-power-central-africa-but-at-what-cost-critics-ask/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Apr 2023 13:40:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elodie Toto]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/04/11125616/Caps-visual-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=267373</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central Africa, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo Basin, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Republic of Congo, and Rwanda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Deforestation, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Governance, Land Conflict, Mongabay Data Studio, Natural Gas, and Politics]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[More than 60% of people in Central Africa have no access to electricity. An ambitious proposal aims to change that with a network of pipelines, refineries and gas-fired power plants stretching across 11 countries in the region. But critics say the proposed Central African Pipeline System is a mistake. Nathalie Lum, chairwoman of the Central [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[More than 60% of people in Central Africa have no access to electricity. An ambitious proposal aims to change that with a network of pipelines, refineries and gas-fired power plants stretching across 11 countries in the region. But critics say the proposed Central African Pipeline System is a mistake. Nathalie Lum, chairwoman of the Central Africa Business Energy Forum (CABEF), an organization that hosts an annual conference of oil and gas corporations and regional energy ministers, told Mongabay that CAPS will help make the Central Africa region an &#8220;energy poverty-free zone” by 2030. “Access to reliable, affordable energy can help reduce poverty, attract investments, and create jobs, while also providing an important source of revenue for governments.” she said. CABEF describes itself as a platform for developing cooperation between Central African countries which aims to use natural gas, a fossil fuel, to power homes and businesses as well as the mining industry. However, a 2020 study by the International Finance Corporation, the private sector development arm of the World Bank Group, suggests that Africa&#8217;s onshore wind potential is enough to satisfy the entire continent’s current electricity demands 250 times over. The continent also has an abundance of solar energy, which is increasingly affordable to harness. ​​According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change, the unit cost of electricity from solar has declined by 85% over the past decade, while the cost of wind energy has declined by&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/caps-new-gas-megaproject-aims-to-power-central-africa-but-at-what-cost-critics-ask/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/caps-new-gas-megaproject-aims-to-power-central-africa-but-at-what-cost-critics-ask/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-267373</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>To conserve the vibrant diversity of Central Africa&#8217;s forests, include Indigenous people (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/to-conserve-the-vibrant-diversity-of-central-africas-forests-include-indigenous-people-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/to-conserve-the-vibrant-diversity-of-central-africas-forests-include-indigenous-people-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 May 2022 17:44:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Anahita Verahrami]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/05/16172716/DSC_4542.jpg-Header-Image-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=255884</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Forests and Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, Central African Republic, and Congo Basin]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Avoided Deforestation, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Culture, Elephants, Forests, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Rainforests, Religions, Saving Rainforests, Solutions, and Traditional Knowledge]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Our footsteps intermingled with the sounds of rain dripping through the canopy as my eyes examined the surrounding green vegetation, which was usually so vibrant, but was now subdued as the dark skies above concealed the light and darkened our path. My eyes switched back to scanning the elephant path before me as I watched [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Our footsteps intermingled with the sounds of rain dripping through the canopy as my eyes examined the surrounding green vegetation, which was usually so vibrant, but was now subdued as the dark skies above concealed the light and darkened our path. My eyes switched back to scanning the elephant path before me as I watched out for roots and red sand that had now fervently mixed with the rain and developed into slick red mud. Only a few footsteps ahead of me was Bonga Bertin, a forest tracker working with me at Dzanga Bai. While the wet rainforest soundscape saturated my ears, Bonga&#8217;s had been able to pick up the rustles of a forest elephant foraging nearby. As a general field-safety precaution, we needed to give the elephant space to minimize the chances of human-elephant conflict. We quickly retreated and Bonga found us a new and safer elephant path back to our field camp. As a member of the BaAka community in the Dzanga-Sangha Protected Areas (DSPA), Central African Republic (CAR), Bonga has an understanding of this forest that is unmatched by most. Bonga and his brother, Mobeawe, collecting data on forest elephant entrances into Dzanga Bai in 2018. Image courtesy of Ana Verahrami/Elephant Listening Project. The BaAka, an Indigenous group located in the northern Republic of Congo and southwestern CAR, and culturally distinct from the Baka people, have led a semi-nomadic lifestyle that has persisted largely unchanged over millennia as they roamed the forests of the Congo Basin. However,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/to-conserve-the-vibrant-diversity-of-central-africas-forests-include-indigenous-people-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/to-conserve-the-vibrant-diversity-of-central-africas-forests-include-indigenous-people-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-255884</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Protecting African wildlife: A defense of conservation territories (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/08/protecting-african-wildlife-a-defense-of-conservation-territories-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/08/protecting-african-wildlife-a-defense-of-conservation-territories-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Aug 2020 18:05:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Leif Brottem]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/08/27173600/west_african_giraffe_herd_3_cgcf-768x400.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=234334</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Benin, Central Africa, Central African Republic, Chad, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Commentary, Conservation, Elephants, Giraffes, Parks, Poaching, Poverty, Poverty Alleviation, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[African Parks Network (APN) recently announced it would formally take over the management of the Benin side of W National Park, which comprises a major portion of the largest intact ecosystem in West Africa. Such transfers are often criticized as de facto privatization by critics of territorial conservation strategies but I have seen first hand the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[African Parks Network (APN) recently announced it would formally take over the management of the Benin side of W National Park, which comprises a major portion of the largest intact ecosystem in West Africa. Such transfers are often criticized as de facto privatization by critics of territorial conservation strategies but I have seen first hand the benefits that professional managers can bring and the damage caused by negligent or under-funded public agencies. The most important question remains: will wildlife be protected and will local people be able to pursue their livelihoods at the same time? W National Park, which spans Benin, Niger, and Burkina Faso, was once a “paper park” that had essentially been abandoned by the conservation community. Yet now it, along with the adjacent Pendjari National Park, represents one of the last hopes for wildlife in western Africa. Nearly 20 years ago, I served as a Peace Corps volunteer in a community adjacent to W National Park  and was fortunate enough to work closely with the ECOPAS Project, which played a major role in getting the protected area back on its feet from 2001 to 2008. One of its major initiatives was to establish a buffer zone for sustainable resource use by local communities along the boundary of the park.  During my two years of service, I worked closely with the farmers and livestock herdsmen in the zone and felt a great deal of optimism that I was seeing a “win-win” for parks and people. But it was not to be, as the European Union-funded project&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/08/protecting-african-wildlife-a-defense-of-conservation-territories-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/08/protecting-african-wildlife-a-defense-of-conservation-territories-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-234334</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Congo Basin rainforest may be gone by 2100, study finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/congo-basin-rainforest-may-be-gone-by-2100-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/congo-basin-rainforest-may-be-gone-by-2100-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Nov 2018 19:51:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/11/07194416/IMG_2015-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=212031</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Forest Reporting Network]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and Republic of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Deforestation, Environment, Farming, Forest Loss, Forests, Habitat Loss, Population, Primary Forests, Rainforests, Research, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[G-1710-55576]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Africa’s Congo Basin is home to the second-largest rainforest on the planet. But according to a new study, this may soon not be the case. It finds that at current rates of deforestation, all primary forest will be gone by the end of the century. The study was conducted by researchers at the University of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Africa’s Congo Basin is home to the second-largest rainforest on the planet. But according to a new study, this may soon not be the case. It finds that at current rates of deforestation, all primary forest will be gone by the end of the century. The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Maryland (UMD) in the U.S. who analyzed satellite data collected between 2000 and 2014. Their results were published today in Science Advances. It reveals that the Congo Basin lost around 165,000 square kilometers of forest during their study period. In other words, one of the world’s largest rainforests lost an area of forest bigger than Bangladesh in the span of 15 years. The Congo Basin rainforest is home to many species, such as this okapi (Okapia johnstoni), which is listed as Endangered by the IUCN and is found only in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. But why? Is it due to industrial pressure like in South America and Southeast Asia where the majority of deforestation has been done for soy, palm oil, and other commodity crops? Or commercial logging, which is razing forests on the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea? Not so much, according to this newest study. It reveals that the dominant force behind rising Congo deforestation, driving more than 80 percent of the region’s total forest loss, is actually small-scale clearing for subsistence agriculture. The researchers write that most of it is done by hand with simple axes. According to the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/congo-basin-rainforest-may-be-gone-by-2100-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/congo-basin-rainforest-may-be-gone-by-2100-study-finds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-212031</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>DRC&#8217;s Virunga National Park closes until 2019 due to violence</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/drcs-virunga-national-park-closes-until-2019-due-to-violence/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/drcs-virunga-national-park-closes-until-2019-due-to-violence/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Jun 2018 19:20:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/06/14191616/ug8_6057ENHANCED-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=207447</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central African Republic, Congo Basin, and Democratic Republic Of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Ecotourism, Environment, Parks, Protected Areas, and Wildlife Rangers]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the midst of ongoing violence against rangers and a kidnapping of two British tourists, Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo announced it is closing to visitors for the rest of 2018. “It is abundantly clear that the Virunga is deeply affected by insecurity and that this will be the case for [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the midst of ongoing violence against rangers and a kidnapping of two British tourists, Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo announced it is closing to visitors for the rest of 2018. “It is abundantly clear that the Virunga is deeply affected by insecurity and that this will be the case for some time,” park director Emmanuel de Merode said in a statement. “For Virunga to be safely visited, much more robust measures are necessary than in the past.” Mountain gorilla in neighboring Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda. Photo for Mongabay.com by Rhett A. Butler. Mountain gorilla in neighboring Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda. Photo for Mongabay.com by Rhett A. Butler. Virunga &#8212; Africa’s oldest national park &#8212; is best known for its population of endangered mountain gorillas, which are a major tourist draw and an important source of revenue for conservation efforts in the embattled protected area, which has been hard hit by incursions by militias, poachers, and charcoal producers. Some 180 rangers have been killed in Virunga over the past twenty years. Merode said the park would be closed until a thorough security review has been conducted and ranger forces have been reinforced.This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/drcs-virunga-national-park-closes-until-2019-due-to-violence/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/drcs-virunga-national-park-closes-until-2019-due-to-violence/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-207447</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>No more elephants? Poaching crisis takes its toll in the Central African Republic</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/01/no-more-elephants-poaching-crisis-takes-its-toll-in-the-central-african-republic/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/01/no-more-elephants-poaching-crisis-takes-its-toll-in-the-central-african-republic/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Jan 2018 06:42:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Maria Angeles Salazar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/01/24063029/featureCAR-768x503.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=203165</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Central African Republic]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Giraffes, Mammals, Poaching, Protected Areas, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Years of civil war and poaching have virtually wiped out elephants from one of their historical strongholds in Central Africa, an aerial survey conducted last year by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) indicates. The survey, in northern Central African Republic, found surviving but small populations of giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis), giant eland (Taurotragus derbianus), buffalo (Syncerus [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Years of civil war and poaching have virtually wiped out elephants from one of their historical strongholds in Central Africa, an aerial survey conducted last year by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) indicates. The survey, in northern Central African Republic, found surviving but small populations of giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis), giant eland (Taurotragus derbianus), buffalo (Syncerus caffer) and roan antelope (Hippotragus equinus) — but not a single bush elephant (Loxodonta africana). “We weren’t anticipating to find many elephants, but we were hoping to find some,” said Paul Elkan, the WCS’s Sudano-Sahel regional director, who led the investigation. “It doesn’t mean that there are none; it means that, if there are, there are very small numbers.” The destruction of the CAR’s once abundant wildlife is due to poaching and illegal trafficking rooted both inside the country and in neighboring nations. This is part of a historical phenomenon that has been exacerbated by the country’s civil war, ongoing since 2013. But experts in wildlife protection say there is still hope for the nation’s wildlife. If the CAR can preserve its rich habitats by scaling up and strengthening conservation efforts that are currently undermined by conflict, it could not only potentially bring back wildlife, but also greater security for its citizens. Two teams from the WCS, ECOFAUNE+ (a European Union-supported conservation project) and staff from the CAR’s Ministry of Environment performed the survey in March and April 2017. Their planes covered 63,657 square kilometers (24,578 square miles) across several national parks and their outskirts:&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/01/no-more-elephants-poaching-crisis-takes-its-toll-in-the-central-african-republic/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-203165</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Protections for Africa’s rainforests aren’t working for people or wildlife: report</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/04/protections-africas-rainforests-arent-working-people-wildlife-report/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/04/protections-africas-rainforests-arent-working-people-wildlife-report/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Apr 2016 18:57:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/04/01214639/CAR_Photos_large_27th_MARCH_2011_282_-504x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=185978</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo Basin, Gabon, and Republic of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Forests, Law Enforcement, Mammals, Poaching, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Traditional People, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A new report by the Rainforest Foundation UK found that protections for Africa’s tropical forests are failing to actually protect biodiversity and forest communities. In recent years, hundreds of millions of dollars have flowed to conservation initiatives in the Congo Basin region, but biodiversity continues to decline and communities living in or around protected areas [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A new report by the Rainforest Foundation UK found that protections for Africa’s tropical forests are failing to actually protect biodiversity and forest communities. In recent years, hundreds of millions of dollars have flowed to conservation initiatives in the Congo Basin region, but biodiversity continues to decline and communities living in or around protected areas see them as a threat to their lives and livelihoods, according to the report. Simon Counsell, executive director of Rainforest Foundation UK (RFUK) and a co-author of the report, said that the rights of local communities need to take precedence if Congo Basin conservation efforts are to succeed. “The current approach to protecting rainforests is not only unfair on local communities, but also ineffective in protecting nature,” he said in a statement. “A new, more sustainable, form of conservation is needed in Africa’s rainforests which works with local people to secure their rights and protect their environment, rather than working against them. International donors need to carefully consider whether their support to strict forest preservation is currently effective.” RFUK also released a short film about forest communities affected by the Tumba Lediima Reserve in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which was established by the DRC’s protected areas agency in collaboration with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). You can watch it here: Counsell and team examined 34 protected areas across the Congo Basin, from Cameroon and the Central African Republic to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon and the Republic of Congo. They&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/04/protections-africas-rainforests-arent-working-people-wildlife-report/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-185978</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Norway pledges $47M/yr to help Congo countries save forests</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/09/norway-pledges-47myr-to-help-congo-countries-save-forests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/09/norway-pledges-47myr-to-help-congo-countries-save-forests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Sep 2015 04:18:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2015/09/03151843/mandrill_2711-495x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Forests]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Cameroon, Central Africa, Central African Republic, Congo Basin, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Norway, and Republic of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[climate finance, Conservation, Deforestation, Forests, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Logging, Rainforests, Redd, Saving Rainforests, Solutions, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Norway and several European Nations, along with the United Nations and the World Bank, today committed to a new initiative that takes aim at the underlying causes of deforestation in Central African rainforest nations, including poverty and poor governance. And in an unprecedented step, Brazil will lend its expertise to effort. The program, called the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Norway and several European Nations, along with the United Nations and the World Bank, today committed to a new initiative that takes aim at the underlying causes of deforestation in Central African rainforest nations, including poverty and poor governance. And in an unprecedented step, Brazil will lend its expertise to effort. The program, called the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI), comes under a broad push to slow greenhouse gas emissions by protecting forests, which in the Central African nations of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Gabon, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, the Central African Republic and the Republic of Congo store tens of billions of tons of carbon. Forests are expected to play a central role in discussions on a future climate framework at the upcoming U.N. Conference of the Parties in Paris (COP21). While tens of millions of dollars have already been plowed into the six African countries to help with the development of so-called REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) programs, CAFI goes beyond that initial stage by taking a more holistic approach that targets drivers of deforestation through national investment funds. Those funds will be distributed via a U.N.-managed trust fund that will be supported by a range of donors led by Norway, which had pledged up to $47 million a year through 2020. Lowland gorilla in Gabon. Photo by Rhett A. Butler The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) says the initiative aims to provide sustainable long-term support, rather than one-off payments. &#8220;Through the Fund and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2015/09/norway-pledges-47myr-to-help-congo-countries-save-forests/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-147532</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>&#8216;Measured in human lives&#8217;: report finds EU and logging companies complicit in funding war</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/09/measured-in-human-lives-report-finds-eu-and-logging-companies-complicit-in-funding-war/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/09/measured-in-human-lives-report-finds-eu-and-logging-companies-complicit-in-funding-war/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Sep 2015 17:34:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2015/09/03163333/java_0884-495x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Forest Reporting Network]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Central African Republic]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conflict, Environment, Forests, Logging, Rainforests, Social Conflict, Timber, Trade, Tropical Forests, and War]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Investigative organization Global Witness advocates shuttering the Central African Republic’s timber trade with the EU.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Europe’s timber imports from the Central African Republic (CAR) have helped fuel and prolong nearly three years of violence and instability, according to a new report from the organization Global Witness. In July the London-based NGO released Blood Timber: How Europe helped fund war in the Central African Republic, in which they revealed that logging companies operating in CAR throughout the crisis paid more than 3.4 million euros ($3.8 million) in the form of bribes and “payments for protection” to several armed groups. “As the country’s number one export, timber has made a significant financial contribution and can’t be ignored any longer,” said Alexandra Pardal, a campaign leader with Global Witness, in an e-mail. The money that the militia groups extracted from foreign logging companies financed operations and the purchase of arms, including grenades that sell for as little as 50 cents apiece, reports Global Witness. “The cost of financing armed groups is measured in human lives in CAR,” Pardal said in a press release. Internally displaced persons camp in CAR. Photo by John C. Cannon. The report says that the wood coming out of CAR, of which nearly 60 percent ends up in Europe, should have been considered “conflict timber” through January 2014. CAR’s interim government – in place until official elections slated for early 2016 – has come out against the research, which has stirred up mixed feelings among international NGOs and local civil society leaders. “It’s a pretty explosive report since it points to a number of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2015/09/measured-in-human-lives-report-finds-eu-and-logging-companies-complicit-in-funding-war/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-138708</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Deforestation rate falls in Congo Basin countries</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/07/deforestation-rate-falls-in-congo-basin-countries/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/07/deforestation-rate-falls-in-congo-basin-countries/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Jul 2013 05:47:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2013/07/deforestation-rate-falls-in-congo-basin-countries/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Cameroon, Central Africa, Central African Republic, Congo Basin, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, carbon, Climate Change, climate finance, Conservation, Defaunation, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Elephants, Energy, Environment, Forestry, Forests, Fossil Fuels, Green, Hunting, Logging, Mining, Oil, Palm Oil, Plantations, Rainforests, Redd, Remote Sensing, Roads, and Satellite Imagery]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Deforestation has fallen in Congo Basin countries over the past decade despite a sharp increase in the rate of forest clearing in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to a new study published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B as part of a set of 18 papers on the region&#8217;s tropical [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Deforestation has fallen in Congo Basin countries over the past decade despite a sharp increase in the rate of forest clearing in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to a new study published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B as part of a set of 18 papers on the region&#8217;s tropical forests. The special issue, which was put together by Yadvinder Malhi, Stephen Adu-Bredu, Rebecca Asare, Simon Lewis and Philippe Mayaux, covers a range of issues relating to the rainforests of the Congo Basin, including deforestation, the impacts of global change, the history and key characteristics of the region&#8217;s forests, and resource extraction, among others. With 178 million hectares of rainforests, the Congo Basin is second only to the Amazon in terms of tropical forest cover. Overall the region accounts for 89 percent of Africa&#8217;s tropical rainforests and stores 39 billion tons of carbon, accounting for 79 percent of the continent&#8217;s terrestrial carbon. Congo deforestation on the decline Analysis of satellite data by Philippe Mayaux and colleagues shows the Congo Basin &#8212; at 0.3 percent annual forest loss &#8212; has the lowest deforestation rate of the planet&#8217;s major tropical forest regions, both in proportional and absolute terms. The region&#8217;s deforestation rate is also declining, falling 36 percent from 285,400 hectares a year in the 1990s to 181,500 ha per year in the 2000s. Africa&#8217;s overall rate of rainforest loss is outpacing that of the Congo, falling more than half from 592,000 ha in the 1990s to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2013/07/deforestation-rate-falls-in-congo-basin-countries/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-26645</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>African militias trading elephant ivory for weapons</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/06/african-militias-trading-elephant-ivory-for-weapons/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/06/african-militias-trading-elephant-ivory-for-weapons/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Jun 2013 21:39:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Kara Moses]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2013/06/african-militias-trading-elephant-ivory-for-weapons/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Central Africa, Central African Republic, China, Democratic Republic Of Congo, East Africa, South Sudan, Southeast Asia, Sudan, Thailand, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Conflict, Crime, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Green, Ivory, Law, Law Enforcement, Mammals, Poaching, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, War, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Lord&#8217;s Resistance Army (LRA) is using lucrative elephant poaching for ivory to fund its activities, according to a report published on Tuesday. Eyewitness accounts from park rangers, Lord&#8217;s Resistance Army (LRA) escapees and recent senior defectors report that the fugitive warlord Joseph Kony, who is wanted by the international criminal court for war crimes [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Lord&#8217;s Resistance Army (LRA) is using lucrative elephant poaching for ivory to fund its activities, according to a report published on Tuesday. Eyewitness accounts from park rangers, Lord&#8217;s Resistance Army (LRA) escapees and recent senior defectors report that the fugitive warlord Joseph Kony, who is wanted by the international criminal court for war crimes and crimes against humanity, ordered African forest elephants to be killed in Garamba national park in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the tusks sent to him. The defectors said that the LRA transports ivory from the DRC to the Central African Republic (CAR), where it is traded with Arab businessmen and officers from the Sudanese armed forces for cash, food, guns, ammunition and medical supplies. &#8220;With ivory prices at record-high levels, trading illegal ivory offers the LRA another way to sustain itself in addition to its habitual pillaging,&#8221; says the report, by the Enough Project, The Resolve, Invisible Children and the Satellite Sentinel Project. &#8220;In recent years, the poaching of African elephants has reached record levels, with IUCN estimates of the global illegal ivory trade more than doubling since 2007. Raw ivory is said to fetch a price of more than $1,300 per pound due to a sharp rise in demand from Asia, particularly among consumers in China and Thailand.&#8221; According to study co-author Jonathan Hutson, the LRA is not the only armed group poaching elephants in central Africa. Garamba park rangers suspect groups from Sudan, South Sudan and Uganda are also involved.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2013/06/african-militias-trading-elephant-ivory-for-weapons/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-28893</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Gabon steps in to help protect elephants from ivory poaching at Central African Republic site</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/05/gabon-steps-in-to-help-protect-elephants-from-ivory-poaching-at-central-african-republic-site/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/05/gabon-steps-in-to-help-protect-elephants-from-ivory-poaching-at-central-african-republic-site/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 May 2013 14:39:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2013/05/gabon-steps-in-to-help-protect-elephants-from-ivory-poaching-at-central-african-republic-site/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, Central African Republic, Congo Basin, and Gabon]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Conservation, Elephants, Environment, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Ivory, Poaching, Rainforests, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Gabon has agreed to help battle poaching in protected areas in the Central African Republic following an elephant massacre at a renowned World Heritage site, reports the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). According to the conservation group, Michel Djotodia, acting president of the Central African Republic (CAR) transitional government, and Gabon President Ali Bongo Ondimba met [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Gabon has agreed to help battle poaching in protected areas in the Central African Republic following an elephant massacre at a renowned World Heritage site, reports the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). According to the conservation group, Michel Djotodia, acting president of the Central African Republic (CAR) transitional government, and Gabon President Ali Bongo Ondimba met on May 14 to discuss a variety of issues, including the worsening ivory poaching situation in CAR. Earlier this month at least 26 elephants were killed at Dzanga Bai, a site that lies in CAR&#8217;s portion of Dzanga-Ndoki National Park and is famed for its high density of endangered forest elephants. The slaughter occurred after rangers abandoned their post due to violence in the area. Elephants massacred for ivory in Central African Republic (05/10/2013) Dozens of elephants have been slaughtered in the Dzanga Bai World Heritage Site in the Central African Republic just days after conservationists warned about an impending threat from the movement of 17 heavily armed poachers. The massacre occurred at a site renowned as &#8216;village of elephants&#8217;, where tourists and scientists have for decades observed wild elephants congregating at a large clearing to feed on minerals. After the meeting, Gabon dispatched a group led by Mike Fay, a legendary conservationist who led an epic walk across the Congo rainforest in 1999-2000, to CAR to work with the government to secure Dzanga Bai and resume conservation activities. Conservation staff have now returned to the site, according to WCS. “The good news from Dzanga-Sangha&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2013/05/gabon-steps-in-to-help-protect-elephants-from-ivory-poaching-at-central-african-republic-site/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-28993</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Elephants massacred for ivory in Central African Republic</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/05/elephants-massacred-for-ivory-in-central-african-republic/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/05/elephants-massacred-for-ivory-in-central-african-republic/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 May 2013 17:04:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2013/05/elephants-massacred-for-ivory-in-central-african-republic/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central Africa, Central African Republic, China, and Congo Basin]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Elephants, Environment, Green, Ivory, Natural Resources, Poaching, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As anticipated earlier in the week by conservationists, poachers enter Dzanga Bai and slaughter dozens elephants for ivory. Dozens of elephants have been slaughtered in the Dzanga Bai World Heritage Site in the Central African Republic just days after conservationists warned about an impending threat from the movement of 17 heavily armed poachers. The massacre [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As anticipated earlier in the week by conservationists, poachers enter Dzanga Bai and slaughter dozens elephants for ivory. Dozens of elephants have been slaughtered in the Dzanga Bai World Heritage Site in the Central African Republic just days after conservationists warned about an impending threat from the movement of 17 heavily armed poachers. The massacre occurred at a site renowned as &#8220;village of elephants&#8221;, where tourists and scientists have for decades observed wild elephants congregating at a large clearing to feed on minerals. According to WWF, at least 26 carcasses have been found in and around the Bai, as the clearing is known. Witnesses say it is now an “elephant mortuary”. The slaughtered was predicted earlier in the week by conservation groups, which were largely powerless to do anything about it after their staff had to flee the area in April due to security risks. The poachers presented themselves as part of the country’s transitional government forces, which took power after the president was overthrown in March. Conservationists now fear that more elephants could be killed if the area is not secured. “The killing has started,&#8221; said Jim Leape, WWF International Director General in a statement. &#8220;The Central African Republic must act immediately to secure this unique World Heritage site.&#8221; Elephants in Dzanga Bai: forest elephant displaying rounded ears and straight trunk in an intimidating gesture towards another elephant in Dzanga Bai, a forest clearing in Dzanga Sangha Protected Area, CAR. Photo by: © Carlos Drew/WWF. The Wildlife Conservation Society&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2013/05/elephants-massacred-for-ivory-in-central-african-republic/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-29039</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>17 poachers allegedly enter elephant stronghold in Congo, conservationists fear massacre</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/05/17-poachers-allegedly-enter-elephant-stronghold-in-congo-conservationists-fear-massacre/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/05/17-poachers-allegedly-enter-elephant-stronghold-in-congo-conservationists-fear-massacre/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 May 2013 18:53:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2013/05/17-poachers-allegedly-enter-elephant-stronghold-in-congo-conservationists-fear-massacre/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, Central African Republic, and Congo Basin]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Conservation, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Governance, Green, Ivory, Mammals, Poaching, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[WWF urges Central Africa Republic government to act. Local researchers and wildlife guards say 17 armed elephant poachers have gained access to Dzanga Bai, a famous large clearing and waterfole where up to 200 forest elephants visit daily in the Central African Republic (CAR)&#8217;s Dzanga-Ndoki National Park. WWF, which works in the region but has [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[WWF urges Central Africa Republic government to act. Local researchers and wildlife guards say 17 armed elephant poachers have gained access to Dzanga Bai, a famous large clearing and waterfole where up to 200 forest elephants visit daily in the Central African Republic (CAR)&#8217;s Dzanga-Ndoki National Park. WWF, which works in the region but has recently evacuated due to rising violence, is calling on the CAR government to rapidly mobilize its military to stop another elephant bloodbath in central Africa. Elephants are being killed across their range for their ivory, which is mostly smuggled to East Asia. According to WWF, two local researchers encountered three armed poachers in the forest looking for Dzanga Bai, known locally as &#8220;village of elephants.&#8221; In addition, wildlife guards report that they saw poachers on a viewing platform in Dzanga Bai firing at elephants. Poachers appear to be taking advantage of government instability in the CAR. Long-time president, François Bozize, was overthrown by rebels in the country in late-March. According to the Associated Press, current elephant poachers may be linked to rebels. &#8220;Unless swift and decisive action is taken, it appears highly likely that poachers will take advantage of the chaos and instability of the country to slaughter the elephants living in this unique World Heritage Site,&#8221; Jim Leape, WWF International Director General, said in a statement. &#8220;Wildlife crime is not only a consequence of instability, but a cause. It fuels violence in the region, in a vicious circle that undermines the stability of these&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2013/05/17-poachers-allegedly-enter-elephant-stronghold-in-congo-conservationists-fear-massacre/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-29055</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Emergency: large number of elephants being poached in the Central African Republic (warning: graphic image)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/04/emergency-large-number-of-elephants-being-poached-in-the-central-african-republic-warning-graphic-image/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/04/emergency-large-number-of-elephants-being-poached-in-the-central-african-republic-warning-graphic-image/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Apr 2013 19:02:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2013/04/emergency-large-number-of-elephants-being-poached-in-the-central-african-republic-warning-graphic-image/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, Central African Republic, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bushmeat, Conflict, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Governance, Green, Ivory, Mammals, Poaching, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[WWF and the Wildlife Conversation Society (WCS) are issuing an immediate call for action as they report that poachers are killing sizable numbers of forest elephants near the Dzanga-Sangha protected areas in the Central African Republic (CAR). The two large conservation groups have evacuated their staff from the area after a government coup, but local [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[WWF and the Wildlife Conversation Society (WCS) are issuing an immediate call for action as they report that poachers are killing sizable numbers of forest elephants near the Dzanga-Sangha protected areas in the Central African Republic (CAR). The two large conservation groups have evacuated their staff from the area after a government coup, but local rangers are still trying to determine the scale of the killing while defending remaining elephants. In total the conservation groups believe the parks are home to over 3,000 elephants. &#8220;The elephant poaching crisis&#8212;driven by insatiable ivory demand&#8212;is so severe that no area is safe, not even the World Heritage Site Dzanga-Sangha where both WWF and WCS have now worked for the conservation of elephants for decades,&#8221; Jim Leape, WWF Director General said. &#8220;Heroic rangers are standing firm in the face of immense danger, but they alone cannot safeguard the special species and places the world treasures.&#8221; The crisis is believed to have been kick-started by the ousting of long-time president, François Bozize. Poachers appear to be taking advantage of the resulting governmental chaos, while the Associated Press reports that the rebels may be connected to the elephants poachers. Although the conversation groups don&#8217;t know yet how many elephants have been killed, according to a press release they believe the number &#8220;may be extensive.&#8221; Patrols through the forest have stopped due to instability, and the groups report that elephant meat is being sold in the area openly. Forest elephant killed by poachers being inspected by game&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2013/04/emergency-large-number-of-elephants-being-poached-in-the-central-african-republic-warning-graphic-image/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-29139</doi>				</item>
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