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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
		<atom:link href="https://news.mongabay.com/feed/?location=gambia&#038;type=post" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/gambia/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Fri, 18 Sep 2026 00:18:33 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>Gambia environmental news</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/gambia/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>As saltwater advances, Gambian farmers rethink how to protect rice fields</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/as-saltwater-advances-gambian-farmers-rethink-how-to-protect-rice-fields/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/as-saltwater-advances-gambian-farmers-rethink-how-to-protect-rice-fields/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Sep 2026 15:42:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Yero S. Bah]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/10141500/TombongBarrow_KiangJifarongGambia_YeroBah-WhatsApp-Image-2026-08-06-at-12.20.50-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329393</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Gambia, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Climate, Climate Change, Climate Justice, Coastal Ecosystems, Environment, Flooding, Freshwater, Global Environmental Crisis, Impact Of Climate Change, Oceans, Sea Levels, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Every year, the villagers of Kiang Jifarong contribute labor and money to build earthen dikes using clay and mud in an effort to keep seawater out of their farms. Rice fields once stretched unbroken for 5 kilometers, about 3 miles, along the Bintang Bolong estuary here in western Gambia. For generations, families cultivated rice on [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Every year, the villagers of Kiang Jifarong contribute labor and money to build earthen dikes using clay and mud in an effort to keep seawater out of their farms. Rice fields once stretched unbroken for 5 kilometers, about 3 miles, along the Bintang Bolong estuary here in western Gambia. For generations, families cultivated rice on these fertile lowlands, relying on seasonal floods and freshwater to sustain one of the country&#8217;s oldest farming traditions. There are now worrying gaps in this productive landscape. For 10 years now, many of the villagers have retreated inland, away from the coastline, as saltwater transforms once-productive rice fields into barren land. Farmers say saltwater stress is easy to recognize: rice leaves turn yellow, while harvested grains become light and hollow because the plants fail to develop properly. &#8220;The grains become almost empty,&#8221; says Tombong Barrow from the Kiang Jifarong village development committee, a statutory body responsible for identifying local development needs at the village level and coordinating responses to them. &#8220;The salt makes them useless.&#8221; Aerial view of the Bintang Bolong estuary at Kiang Sankandi, the Gambia. Image courtesy of Ansumana Darboe. Jonni Kinteh and Mama Njie, both veteran rice farmers, say they abandoned their fields eight years ago after repeated crop failures linked to salinity. &#8220;We have farmed these fields since childhood alongside our mothers,&#8221; Kinteh says. &#8220;Now we can no longer use them.&#8221; &#8220;Our parents farmed much closer to the river,&#8221; Barrow says. &#8220;Now those fields have been completely taken over by salt.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/as-saltwater-advances-gambian-farmers-rethink-how-to-protect-rice-fields/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/as-saltwater-advances-gambian-farmers-rethink-how-to-protect-rice-fields/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329393</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Meet the 2023 Goldman Environmental Prize Winners</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/meet-the-2023-goldman-environmental-prize-winner/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/meet-the-2023-goldman-environmental-prize-winner/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Apr 2023 07:32:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/04/24163134/new-banner-768x456.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=267793</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Amazon, Brazil, European Union, Finland, Gambia, Global, Indonesia, North Sumatra, South America, Turkey, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Energy, Environment, Forests, Governance, Green, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Hydroelectric Power, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Politics, Protected Areas, Rivers, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Six grassroots environmental activists received the Goldman Environmental Prize on April 24. Known as the &#8220;Green Nobel Prize,&#8221; the Goldman Prize honors environmental activists from the six continental regions. The prize was founded in 1989 by U.S. philanthropists Rhoda and Richard Goldman. This year’s winners include a conservationist who created a new marine protected area [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Six grassroots environmental activists received the Goldman Environmental Prize on April 24. Known as the &#8220;Green Nobel Prize,&#8221; the Goldman Prize honors environmental activists from the six continental regions. The prize was founded in 1989 by U.S. philanthropists Rhoda and Richard Goldman. This year’s winners include a conservationist who created a new marine protected area along the coast of Turkey; a fisherman whose cross-cultural model for restoration is bringing back Finland’s peatlands; a fourth-generation fisherwoman who held a plastic company accountable for pollution on the U.S. Gulf Coast; an Indigenous organizer who launched an international campaign and fended off a mining company from her people&#8217;s land in the Amazon; a leader who helped six Indigenous communities gain legal guardianship of their land in Sumatra; and a Gambian organizer whose legal actions set a precedent to hold U.K. mining companies responsible for environmental damage caused by their subsidiaries in other countries. “Now that the world has awakened to acute environmental crises like climate change, fossil fuel extraction, and pollution of our air and water, we are much more aware of our connections to each other and to all life on the planet &#8230; our fates, are all intertwined.” said John Goldman, president of the Goldman Environmental Foundation. The winners will be honored in a ceremony at the San Francisco Opera House on April 24, at 5:30 p.m. PDT, hosted by Outdoor Afro founder Rue Mapp, with musical guest Aloe Blacc. The program will be livestreamed on the Goldman Prize&#8217;s YouTube channel. Here&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/meet-the-2023-goldman-environmental-prize-winner/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/meet-the-2023-goldman-environmental-prize-winner/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-267793</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A fatal stabbing sends a Gambian fishing village into turmoil over fishmeal</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/a-fatal-stabbing-sends-a-gambian-fishing-village-into-turmoil-over-fishmeal/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/a-fatal-stabbing-sends-a-gambian-fishing-village-into-turmoil-over-fishmeal/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Apr 2021 16:16:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Louise Hunt]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/04/29160728/GambiaFMFO_1_FishingBoatGunjur-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=242132</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Gambia, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Aquaculture, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Food, food security, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Human Rights, Illegal Fishing, Law Enforcement, Oceans, and Overfishing]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Residents of the Gambian coastal town of Sanyang say life has gotten harder since a fishmeal plant set up production in 2017. Growing tensions over unresolved disputes with the factory reached a flashpoint on March 15, when hundreds of people took to the streets in protest. Some of the protesters set trucks and tires ablaze [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Residents of the Gambian coastal town of Sanyang say life has gotten harder since a fishmeal plant set up production in 2017. Growing tensions over unresolved disputes with the factory reached a flashpoint on March 15, when hundreds of people took to the streets in protest. Some of the protesters set trucks and tires ablaze and destroyed a score of fishing boats and thousands of fishing nets. The destruction escalated into the torching of Sanyang’s police station, along with the fishmeal factory, run by Chinese-owned Nessim Trading. The trigger for the unrest was the stabbing death of 33-year-old Sanyang resident Gibril Ceesay on March 14. A Senegalese national who reportedly worked at the Nessim factory allegedly broke into Ceesay’s home at night with the intention of stealing, killing Ceesay and seriously wounding his brother. “We are protesting in Sanyang because of so many reasons,” Muhammed Jabang, 22, told Mongabay. “If not because of the fishmeal factory, he [the alleged perpetrator] wouldn’t have been in Sanyang,” said Jabang, who attended the protest but said he was not involved in damaging property. “The situation of the fishmeal factory is a concern for everyone. Fishmeal is taking lots of fish to feed animals, leaving locals without fish for protein,” he added. The Nessim fishmeal factory in Sanyang. Image by Mustapha Manneh. The fishmeal industry has boomed in West Africa in recent years, targeting the same small pelagic fish, predominantly bonga (Ethmalosa fimbriata) and round and flat sardinella (Sardinella aurita and S. maderensis), that&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/a-fatal-stabbing-sends-a-gambian-fishing-village-into-turmoil-over-fishmeal/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/a-fatal-stabbing-sends-a-gambian-fishing-village-into-turmoil-over-fishmeal/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-242132</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Chinese demand and domestic instability are wiping out Senegal’s last forests</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/chinese-demand-and-domestic-instability-are-wiping-out-senegals-last-forests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/chinese-demand-and-domestic-instability-are-wiping-out-senegals-last-forests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Nov 2020 15:19:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Louise Hunt]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/11/05143631/MG_5905-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=236421</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Forest Trackers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Gambia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agroforestry, Climate, Crops, Deforestation, Drought, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Green, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Illegal Logging, Mangroves, Rainforests, Rosewood, Subsistence Agriculture, Timber, Trees, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[“In the years when logging was not happening, sometimes you did not see the sunlight in the bush because of the tree cover,” said Musa Mballo, a forest protection activist from Velingara in the Casamance region of southern Senegal. After a decade of intensive illegal logging, endangered Pterocarpus erinaceus rosewood trees are becoming increasingly scarce [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[“In the years when logging was not happening, sometimes you did not see the sunlight in the bush because of the tree cover,” said Musa Mballo, a forest protection activist from Velingara in the Casamance region of southern Senegal. After a decade of intensive illegal logging, endangered Pterocarpus erinaceus rosewood trees are becoming increasingly scarce in the Casamance. Observers told Mongabay this is driving trafficking further into remote rural communities, such as Mballo’s home in the northeast of the region, damaging the environment and livelihoods. “Most of the community relies on agriculture, but now we have this trafficking, the edible fruits in the forest are not growing. Women, especially, don’t have enough resources to sell, some don’t go into the forest because they are afraid of the traffickers. A lot of people are negatively affected,” he told Mongabay. Palm nut processors in Bandajikaki village, Senegal. The palm nuts are harvested from the community forest. The women also act as wardens to protect the forest from illegal timber cutting. ©Jason Florio/United Purpose. The scale of the illegal harvesting and smuggling was recently revealed in a report by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), which found that approximately 1.6 million rosewood trees were illegally logged in the Casamance and exported from the Gambia to China between June 2012 and April 2020. Previous EIA investigations revealed how trafficking of protected rosewood in West Africa’s dry forests has become the largest in the world, supplying China’s rapacious billion-dollar market for hongmu, a type of rosewood&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/chinese-demand-and-domestic-instability-are-wiping-out-senegals-last-forests/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/chinese-demand-and-domestic-instability-are-wiping-out-senegals-last-forests/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-236421</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Catching fish to feed fish: Report details ‘unsustainable’ fishmeal and oil industry</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/catching-fish-to-feed-fish-report-details-unsustainable-fishmeal-and-oil-industry/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/catching-fish-to-feed-fish-report-details-unsustainable-fishmeal-and-oil-industry/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Dec 2019 15:26:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Monica Evans]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/12/04132549/MEvans_FMFOReport_ChangingMarkets1_Banner-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=225015</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Gambia, India, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Vietnam, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Aquaculture, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Food, food security, Global Environmental Crisis, Oceans, and Overfishing]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Every year, billions of fish — almost one-fifth of the world’s annual wild catch — are dried, pressed and ground into oil and meal. The majority of this material is then fed to other fish and crustaceans: in 2016, 69 percent of fishmeal and 75 percent of fish oil were used for seafood farming. A [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Every year, billions of fish — almost one-fifth of the world’s annual wild catch — are dried, pressed and ground into oil and meal. The majority of this material is then fed to other fish and crustaceans: in 2016, 69 percent of fishmeal and 75 percent of fish oil were used for seafood farming. A report released in October by the Netherlands-based Changing Markets Foundation (CM) followed fishmeal and fish oil (FMFO) supply chains “from fishery to fork.” It connected a number of farmed-fish products sold in European supermarkets — often bearing sustainability certifications — to fishing practices the authors deemed “highly unsustainable” in India, Vietnam and the Gambia. Supermarkets selling the products include big names such as Sainsbury’s, ALDI, Tesco, Iceland, Marks &amp; Spencer, Waitrose, REWE and Mercadona. Proponents of aquaculture often frame it as both a solution to unsustainable fishing and a rapidly scalable way to feed the world. And the industry is growing: by 2030, it’s estimated that 62 percent of the world’s seafood will be farmed rather than wild-caught. But cheery images of locally farmed salmon swimming in fjords belie a grimmer reality: according to mounting research, aquaculture that relies on “reduction fisheries,” as fisheries dedicated to FMFO production are known, can actually be far more damaging to the marine environment than conventional fishing. A salmon farm in the Shetland Islands, U.K. Image by Mike Pennington via geograph (CC BY-SA 2.0). It’s also much less efficient than eating wild fish themselves: the CM researchers found that&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/catching-fish-to-feed-fish-report-details-unsustainable-fishmeal-and-oil-industry/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/catching-fish-to-feed-fish-report-details-unsustainable-fishmeal-and-oil-industry/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-225015</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Dolphins caught in fishing nets: to eat or not to eat?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/09/dolphins-caught-in-fishing-nets-to-eat-or-not-to-eat/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/09/dolphins-caught-in-fishing-nets-to-eat-or-not-to-eat/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Sep 2015 11:41:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2015/09/03161951/TCollins_CONK20130131DMCTS3-007-494x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Bycatch, Conservation, Dolphins, Environment, Fishing, Hunting, Marine Mammals, and Overfishing]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Dolphins are often collateral damage of the fishing industry — they get entangled in fishing gear targeted at other fish species, and often sustain injuries and die. But what happens to such accidentally-trapped dolphins? Sometimes they get eaten, researchers have found. Small-scale or artisanal fishermen and women in West Africa commonly treat such accidentally caught animals as an [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic humpback dolphins inhabit shallow coastal waters and thus are often caught by artisanal fishers in West Africa. Photo by Tim Collins. Dolphins are often collateral damage of the fishing industry — they get entangled in fishing gear targeted at other fish species, and often sustain injuries and die. But what happens to such accidentally-trapped dolphins? Sometimes they get eaten, researchers have found. Small-scale or artisanal fishermen and women in West Africa commonly treat such accidentally caught animals as an opportunistic source of food, according to a recent study published in Human Ecology. Every year, over 300,000 dolphins and other cetaceans die from getting caught in fishing nets, according to marine experts. In the West African waters, too, dolphins often get trapped this way. “Gill nets, one of the most destructive forms of fishing, are probably responsible for a considerable proportion of the dolphin bycatch happening at an artisanal scale,” Ruth Leeney, lead author from Benguela Research &amp; Training in Walvis Bay, Namibia, told Mongabay. But detailed information about the different dolphin species that actually get caught and eaten is still unknown, she added. “I know that Bottlenose dolphins and Atlantic Humpback dolphins are caught by inshore fisheries in West Africa because I have seen evidence of the bycatch of the two species,” she said. To unmask the fate of dolphins that get trapped in fishing nets, Leeney and her colleagues interviewed nearly 500 fishermen and women in Senegal, The Gambia and Guinea-Bissau, between 2007 and 2012. The team found that many fishers admitted&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2015/09/dolphins-caught-in-fishing-nets-to-eat-or-not-to-eat/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/09/dolphins-caught-in-fishing-nets-to-eat-or-not-to-eat/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-140251</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Flag states can be held liable for violations of fishing vessels abroad, international tribunal rules</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/05/flag-states-can-be-held-liable-for-violations-of-fishing-vessels-abroad-international-tribunal-rules/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/05/flag-states-can-be-held-liable-for-violations-of-fishing-vessels-abroad-international-tribunal-rules/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 May 2015 13:35:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Melati Kaye]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2015/05/flag-states-can-be-held-liable-for-violations-of-fishing-vessels-abroad-international-tribunal-rules/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Cape Verde, Gambia, Global, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Green, Illegal Fishing, Law Enforcement, and Oceans]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Yu Feng, a vessel with Taiwanese flags suspected of fishing illegally, sails near Sierra Leone in 2009 before being detained by the U.S. Coast Guard and Sierra Leonean government agencies. Photo credit: U.S. Department of Defense/Petty Officer 2nd Class Shawn Eggert, U.S. Coast Guard. The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea ruled in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Yu Feng, a vessel with Taiwanese flags suspected of fishing illegally, sails near Sierra Leone in 2009 before being detained by the U.S. Coast Guard and Sierra Leonean government agencies. Photo credit: U.S. Department of Defense/Petty Officer 2nd Class Shawn Eggert, U.S. Coast Guard. The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea ruled in April that countries have responsibility for the actions of the fishing vessels they license, even when those boats operate abroad. The tribunal held that &#8220;flag states&#8221; have to take &#8220;due diligence&#8221; measures to ensure that the boats they license obey regulations in other countries. If not, the flag state can be taken to court by the country where its boats are fishing through illegal, underreported, or unregulated (IUU) means. This means that the Gambia, for example, could take the European Union to court if a boat flying the German flag nets more than its allowed catch and the EU cannot demonstrate that it took measures to prevent such misconduct. The tribunal made its ruling in the form of an advisory opinion responding to a request filed by the Sub-Regional Fisheries Commission (SRFC) in 2013. The commission manages fisheries and inter-state cooperation between the West African countries of Mauritania, Senegal, Cape Verde, the Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, and Sierra Leone. &#8220;Half the capture in these waters is illegally fished,&#8221; said Diénaba Bèye Traoré, head of the commission&#8217;s department on policy and legislation and its agent to the tribunal, in an interview with mongabay.com. Foreign trawlers from as&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2015/05/flag-states-can-be-held-liable-for-violations-of-fishing-vessels-abroad-international-tribunal-rules/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-23661</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Traditional belief in mythical beasts help protect forests</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2012/06/traditional-belief-in-mythical-beasts-help-protect-forests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2012/06/traditional-belief-in-mythical-beasts-help-protect-forests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Jun 2012 22:33:00 +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/2012/06/traditional-belief-in-mythical-beasts-help-protect-forests/</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Conservation and Religion]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Gambia and Malaysia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Anthropology, Conservation, Cryptozoology, Culture, Environment, Forests, Green, Mangroves, and Traditional People]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Giant lizards in Malaysia are real but customary beliefs in &#8220;cryptids&#8221; &#8212; creatures whose existence hasn&#8217;t been proven &#8212; has motivated conservation in some parts of the world. Cultural practices including beliefs in mythical beasts and animals that dance have helped maintain forests in the West African country of the Gambia and Malaysian Borneo, said [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Giant lizards in Malaysia are real but customary beliefs in &#8220;cryptids&#8221; &#8212; creatures whose existence hasn&#8217;t been proven &#8212; has motivated conservation in some parts of the world. Cultural practices including beliefs in mythical beasts and animals that dance have helped maintain forests in the West African country of the Gambia and Malaysian Borneo, said a researcher from Oxford University speaking at the annual meeting of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation in Bonito, Brazil. Ashley Massey looked at the relationship between forest cover and the perceived existence of a dinosaur-like creature known as the &#8220;Ninki-nanka&#8221; in the Gambia and dancing animals known as &#8220;Kopizo&#8221; in the Malaysian state of Sabah. In both cases, locals believed that encountering mythological animals in the forest would result in death, leading them to avoid areas where they are believed to reside. In the Gambia, Massey found that mangrove areas and woodlands believed to be inhabited by the Ninki-nanka had higher levels of forest cover than official protected areas. In the villages surveyed, nearly everyone expressed fear and concern about the Ninki-nanka. Dragon drawings: Adama M Saidy, Grade 6, Dumbuto Lower Basic School, The Gambia In Sabah&#8217;s Kudat area, Massey investigated the influence of the historical belief in Kopizo among the Rungus people on upland forest cover on Gumantong, a local mountain. Areas thought inhabited by Kopizo &#8212; corresponding to their watershed &#8212; were avoided by slash-and-burn farmers until the British colonial government brought in Iban people, outsiders who didn&#8217;t share the belief&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2012/06/traditional-belief-in-mythical-beasts-help-protect-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-30743</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Alarm rising over food crisis in Sahel region</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2012/06/alarm-rising-over-food-crisis-in-sahel-region/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2012/06/alarm-rising-over-food-crisis-in-sahel-region/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Jun 2012 16:41:00 +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/2012/06/alarm-rising-over-food-crisis-in-sahel-region/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central Africa, Chad, Gambia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Sahel, Senegal, South Sudan, Sudan, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Environment, Food, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Hunger, and Impact Of Climate Change]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A mother with her severely malnourished child in the Sahel region. Photo: UNICEF/Chad/2012/C Tidey. Warnings over a possible famine in Africa&#8217;s Sahel region are becoming louder and more intense. Abnormal drought, locally high food prices, and regional conflict have ramped up concerns that 18 million people could suffer from malnutrition and starvation as the lean [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A mother with her severely malnourished child in the Sahel region. Photo: UNICEF/Chad/2012/C Tidey. Warnings over a possible famine in Africa&#8217;s Sahel region are becoming louder and more intense. Abnormal drought, locally high food prices, and regional conflict have ramped up concerns that 18 million people could suffer from malnutrition and starvation as the lean season sets in. UNICEF says it needs $238 million to save over a million children from severe malnourishment in the region, but has to date only raised $93 million. &#8220;Across the Sahel we are dealing with multiple needs to save lives and help children, and the Mali crisis has only put more children in danger,&#8221; said Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF Regional Director for West and Central Africa, in a press release. A military coup in Mali has pushed 100,000-200,000 refugees from Mali in to neighboring countries, exacerbating community food shortages. Recent conflict in Nigeria and Syria have further worsened the situation. From January through April, UNICEF says it has treated 250,000 severely malnourished children under the age of five in the region. &#8220;We are frantically increasing resources to meet demand but urgently need more funding. The harsh reality is that we are only at the tip of the iceberg in this emergency. The biggest upsurge in children needing help will be over the coming three months because the region is now in the driest and harshest period of the year,&#8221; Dennis McKinlay, Executive Director at UNICEF New Zealand, says. Another NGO, Save the Children, says it&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2012/06/alarm-rising-over-food-crisis-in-sahel-region/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2012/06/alarm-rising-over-food-crisis-in-sahel-region/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-30776</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>15 million facing food shortages in Africa&#8217;s Sahel region</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2012/03/15-million-facing-food-shortages-in-africas-sahel-region/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2012/03/15-million-facing-food-shortages-in-africas-sahel-region/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Mar 2012 19:54:00 +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/2012/03/15-million-facing-food-shortages-in-africas-sahel-region/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Gambia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Sahel, Senegal, South Sudan, and Sudan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Environment, Food, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, and Hunger]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Dogon village Songo in Mali, Africa . The Dogon are an ethnic tribe in the Sahel. Photo by: Bigstock. The UN announced yesterday that food security in the Sahel region is deteriorating, putting over 15 million people at risk. Ongoing drought combined with conflict, has pushed the region into a crisis. The situation appears eerily [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Dogon village Songo in Mali, Africa . The Dogon are an ethnic tribe in the Sahel. Photo by: Bigstock. The UN announced yesterday that food security in the Sahel region is deteriorating, putting over 15 million people at risk. Ongoing drought combined with conflict, has pushed the region into a crisis. The situation appears eerily similar to last year when Somalia was hit by a devastating famine due to drought and political instability; the famine left an estimated 30,000 children dead. &#8220;This is already an appalling crisis in terms of the scale and degree of human suffering and it will get worse unless the response plans are properly funded,&#8221; John Ging, Director of Operations at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said in a press release. &#8220;It’s a matter of life or death for millions who are on the brink.&#8221; Instability in Nigeria and Syria have exacerbated the situation, while a military coup in Mali has pushed between 100,000-200,000 refugees into neighboring countries. Sahel nations, such as Mali, Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Senegal, Cameroon, Gambia, Nigeria and South Sudan, the world&#8217;s newest nation, are all seen as vulnerable. Response programs to the food crisis are currently underfunded by over 60 percent according to the OCHA, even as a report released in January found that a delayed response to Somalia crisis cost thousands of lives. &#8220;We all bear responsibility for this dangerous delay that cost lives in East Africa and need to learn the lessons of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2012/03/15-million-facing-food-shortages-in-africas-sahel-region/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-31112</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>U.S. Lacey Act, programs in Rwanda and Gambia, awarded for forest protection</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2011/09/u-s-lacey-act-programs-in-rwanda-and-gambia-awarded-for-forest-protection/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2011/09/u-s-lacey-act-programs-in-rwanda-and-gambia-awarded-for-forest-protection/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Sep 2011 16:57:00 +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/2011/09/u-s-lacey-act-programs-in-rwanda-and-gambia-awarded-for-forest-protection/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Gambia, Rwanda, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agroforestry, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forestry, Green, Illegal Logging, Lacey Act, Law, Law Enforcement, Logging, Reforestation, and Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Forest policies in the United States, Rwanda, and Gambia won U.N. backed awards for contributing to efforts to protect and sustainably manage forests. Rwanda, which experienced a reversal in deforestation since civil strife in the mid-1990s, won the gold Future Policy Award, which was granted by the World Future Council at UN Headquarters in New [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Forest policies in the United States, Rwanda, and Gambia won U.N. backed awards for contributing to efforts to protect and sustainably manage forests. Rwanda, which experienced a reversal in deforestation since civil strife in the mid-1990s, won the gold Future Policy Award, which was granted by the World Future Council at UN Headquarters in New York. The World Future Council consists of &#8220;50 respected personalities from all five continents representing governments, parliaments, the arts, civil society, science and business world,&#8221; according to the U.N. Rwanda&#8217;s forest policies includes a reforestation program using native species, incentives for agroforestry, and environmental education initiative. Overall Rwanda&#8217;s forest cover has increased 37 percent since 1990, boosting rural livelihoods, slowing biodiversity loss, and protecting important ecosystem services. The U.S. and Gambia shared silver awards. The U.S. was recognized for the 2008 amendment to the Lacey Act, which prohibits the sale and trade of wood products that are known to be illegally sourced. The Lacey Act holds importers responsible for ensuring that the raw materials they use have been sourced under the laws of their country of origin. Contrary to the assertions of Gibson Guitars, which is under investigation for violating the Lacey Act yet has tried to use the case as a public relations platform for self-promotion, the law does not expose people who unknowingly possess a musical instrument containing wood that was illegally harvested or transported. Supporters of the Lacey Act say that beyond the environmental benefits of reducing demand for illegally logged timber,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2011/09/u-s-lacey-act-programs-in-rwanda-and-gambia-awarded-for-forest-protection/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-31997</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Top forest policies recognized</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2011/03/top-forest-policies-recognized/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2011/03/top-forest-policies-recognized/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Mar 2011 19:13:00 +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/2011/03/top-forest-policies-recognized/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Bhutan, Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Finland, Gambia, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Norway, Rwanda, Switzerland, Turkey, United States, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Green, Law, and Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[19 forest policies have been nominated for an award by the World Future Council, a global think tank. The policies come from 16 countries: Bhutan, Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Finland, Gambia, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Norway, Rwanda, Switzerland, Turkey, the United States of America and Vietnam. Nominations were made by various international organizations, including UN [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[19 forest policies have been nominated for an award by the World Future Council, a global think tank. The policies come from 16 countries: Bhutan, Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Finland, Gambia, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Norway, Rwanda, Switzerland, Turkey, the United States of America and Vietnam. Nominations were made by various international organizations, including UN agencies. The contest aims to raise awareness of the policies and accelerate policy action. &#8220;Winners will represent the most inspiring, innovative and influential forest policies which contribute to the management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests for the benefit of current and future generations,&#8221; said the World Future Council in a statement. The awards will be announced September 21. The jury includes Jan McAlpine, Director, United Nations Forum on Forests; Professor Marie Claire Cordonier Segger, Director, Center for International Sustainable Development Law; Jakob von Uexkull, Chair, World Future Council and Right Livelihood Award; Tewolde Berhan Egziabher, Director General, Environmental Protection Authority, Ethiopia; and Pauline Tangiora, Maori elder from the Rongomaiwahine tribe, among others. It was not immediately clear whether policy enforcement will be a factor in determining the winner. Several of the recognized forest policies have been undermined by lack of enforcement. Nepal, India, and Brazil have seen substantial deforestation since their nominated policies were enacted.This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2011/03/top-forest-policies-recognized/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-32781</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How free trade has devastated Africa&#8217;s farmers and poor</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2010/02/how-free-trade-has-devastated-africas-farmers-and-poor/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2010/02/how-free-trade-has-devastated-africas-farmers-and-poor/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Feb 2010 19:59:00 +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/2010/02/how-free-trade-has-devastated-africas-farmers-and-poor/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Cote D'Ivoire, Gambia, Mali, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Disasters, Economics, Environment, Farming, Food, Food Prices, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Poverty, Poverty Alleviation, and Sustainability]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A push in the mid-1980s for Africa to embrace free trade to aid its economies backfired in many of the continent&#8217;s poorest countries, argues a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Africa was pushed to rollback government involvement in development and instead to rely on the private sector: government [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A push in the mid-1980s for Africa to embrace free trade to aid its economies backfired in many of the continent&#8217;s poorest countries, argues a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Africa was pushed to rollback government involvement in development and instead to rely on the private sector: government services shrunk, cash crops were pushed over staples, while tariffs and subsides were abolished. The insistence on free trade was meant to spur economic growth, but instead undercut traditional agricultural systems that had worked for centuries, eventually leading to a food crisis, which left millions hungry, caused multiple food riots, and destabilized governments. &#8220;Many of these reforms were designed to make countries more efficient, and seen as a solution to failing schools, hospitals and other infrastructure,&#8221; explains co-author Laurence Becker, an associate professor of geosciences at Oregon State University. &#8220;But they sometimes eliminated critical support systems for poor farmers who had no car, no land security, made $1 a day and had their life savings of $600 hidden under a mattress. A worker in Cote d&#8217;Ivoire in West Africa harvests locally grown rice. Photo courtesy of Oregon State University. &#8220;These people were then asked to compete with some of the most efficient agricultural systems in the world, and they simply couldn&#8217;t do it,&#8221; Becker adds. &#8220;With tariff barriers removed, less expensive imported food flooded into countries, some of which at one point were nearly self-sufficient in agriculture. Many people quit farming and abandoned systems that&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2010/02/how-free-trade-has-devastated-africas-farmers-and-poor/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-35645</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indigenous people, forest communities in Africa control less than 2% of forest land</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2009/05/indigenous-people-forest-communities-in-africa-control-less-than-2-of-forest-land/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2009/05/indigenous-people-forest-communities-in-africa-control-less-than-2-of-forest-land/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 May 2009 15:23:00 +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/2009/05/indigenous-people-forest-communities-in-africa-control-less-than-2-of-forest-land/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Angola, Cameroon, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Gambia, Indonesia, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Sudan, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Avoided Deforestation, carbon, climate finance, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Green, Human Rights, Rainforests, Redd, and Traditional People]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Less than 2 percent of Africa’s tropical forests are under community control, hindering efforts to slow deforestation and alleviate rural poverty, reports a new assessment from the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) and the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), a global coalition of non-governmental and community organizations. Deforestation rates in tropical Africa are among the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Less than 2 percent of Africa’s tropical forests are under community control, hindering efforts to slow deforestation and alleviate rural poverty, reports a new assessment from the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) and the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), a global coalition of non-governmental and community organizations. Deforestation rates in tropical Africa are among the highest on the planet while the region&#8217;s people are among the world&#8217;s poorest. Forest communities are highly dependent on natural resources for subsistence but without title to the lands they traditionally use, they face loss of forests to developers, including loggers and agroindustrial interests. The report urges land reform to give forest dwellers better control over their land. At less than 2 percent, the proportion of land owned by or designated for use by the African forest communities and indigenous groups is but a fraction of the nearly one-third of all forests in Latin America, Asia, and the Pacific controlled by such groups. Loita man in Kenya “The slowness of reform is suppressing a whole range of opportunities to reduce poverty and improve livelihoods,” said Emmanuel Ze Meka, ITTO’s Executive Director. “Africa’s forest communities already generate millions of jobs and dollars in domestic and regional trade, and in indigenous livelihoods, but current laws keep some of these activities illegal and also undermine opportunities to improve forest management.” The report says the legal recognition of community land will facilitate sustainable development activities under proposed systems to compensate tropical countries for reducing deforestation rates. The concept &#8212;&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2009/05/indigenous-people-forest-communities-in-africa-control-less-than-2-of-forest-land/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-36713</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Goodbye to West Africa&#8217;s Rainforests</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2006/01/goodbye-to-west-africas-rainforests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2006/01/goodbye-to-west-africas-rainforests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Jan 2006 15:19:39 +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/2006/01/goodbye-to-west-africas-rainforests/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Cameroon, Cote D'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Deforestation, Forests, Green, Poverty, Poverty Alleviation, Rainforests, and Threats To Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Goodbye to West Africa&#8217;s Rainforests Goodbye to West Africa&#8217;s Rainforests Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com January 22, 2006 The state of West Africa&#8217;s rainforests West Africa&#8217;s once verdant and extensive rainforests are now a historical footnote. Gone to build ships and furniture, feed hungry mouths, and supply minerals and gems to the West, the band of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[Goodbye to West Africa&#8217;s Rainforests Goodbye to West Africa&#8217;s Rainforests Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com January 22, 2006 The state of West Africa&#8217;s rainforests West Africa&#8217;s once verdant and extensive rainforests are now a historical footnote. Gone to build ships and furniture, feed hungry mouths, and supply minerals and gems to the West, the band of tropical forests that once extended from Guinea to Cameroon are virtually a memory. The loss of West Africa&#8217;s rainforests have triggered a number of environmental problems that have contributed to social unrest and exacerbated poverty across the region. Disappearing forests According to data provided by the United Nations, today about 1.5% of West Africa has primary forest cover. In the past 15 years, more than 5400 square miles (1.4 million hectares), or 26 percent, of primary&#8212;or old growth&#8212;forest has disappeared from the region, leaving West Africa with somewhere between 11,600 and 15,400 square miles (3 and 4 million hectares) of such forest. West Africa&#8217;s impoverishment of old-growth forest is a relatively new development. One hundred years ago, West Africa had some 193,000 square miles (50 million hectares) of coastal rainforest, but decades of relentless logging combined with road-building, mining, and subsistence activities including the collection of fuel wood and agricultural clearing for subsistence has left the region with precious little forest. High population growth rates have only worsened the loss&#8212;deforestation rates of primary forest have increased by more than 20% since the close of the 1990s. Civil strife Forest loss has made life more difficult&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2006/01/goodbye-to-west-africas-rainforests/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-61613</doi>				</item>
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