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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/rwanda/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Thu, 15 Oct 2026 07:00:05 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<title>Rwanda environmental news</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/rwanda/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>‘Birds know no borders’: Interview with BirdLife Africa’s Alex Ngari</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/birds-know-no-borders-interview-with-birdlife-africas-alex-ngari/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/birds-know-no-borders-interview-with-birdlife-africas-alex-ngari/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Sep 2026 07:36:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Wilson Odhiambo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/08072428/PallidharrierCircus.macrourus_OmskRussia2026_YaroslavBurmatovINaturalistBYNC4.0-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329044</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Chad, Nigeria, Rwanda, and South Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Birds, Conservation, Habitat Loss, Migration, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Every year, twice a year, millions of birds belonging to hundreds of species fly between breeding grounds in Europe and Asia and their non-breeding habitats in Africa. Scientists have surprisingly sparse knowledge of exactly where many species actually go — or what risks and obstacles the migrating birds encounter along the way. Populations of the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Every year, twice a year, millions of birds belonging to hundreds of species fly between breeding grounds in Europe and Asia and their non-breeding habitats in Africa. Scientists have surprisingly sparse knowledge of exactly where many species actually go — or what risks and obstacles the migrating birds encounter along the way. Populations of the vulnerable curlew sandpiper, which breeds in in Siberia, for example, appear everywhere from South Asia to East and Southern Africa during the northern hemisphere winter. “One important fact that we all need to understand is that migratory birds do not belong to any one country, but are a shared global heritage, and their survival requires a borderless safety net,” says Alex Ngari, who manages the migratory birds and flyways program for BirdLife Africa. “These birds know no borders, which means that the conservation methods that we develop must be aware of that fact, and every country has a responsibility to protect them.” Until recently, what monitoring there was relied on ringing — but piecing together birds’ year-long itinerary depends on where someone encounters a ringed bird, on that person knowing what the band on its leg means, and details of the encounter reaching some coordinating authority. As lighter and more reliable electronic tags that can be fitted to birds to record and broadcast their locations have become available, researchers have started to gather more detailed information about migratory pathways. This type of tracking is still relatively expensive, however, especially for tags small enough for small-bodied&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/birds-know-no-borders-interview-with-birdlife-africas-alex-ngari/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/birds-know-no-borders-interview-with-birdlife-africas-alex-ngari/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329044</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As African cities heat up, a new book argues trees are part of the solution</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/as-african-cities-heat-up-a-new-book-argues-trees-are-part-of-the-solution/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/as-african-cities-heat-up-a-new-book-argues-trees-are-part-of-the-solution/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 May 2026 15:25:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David Akana]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/29135532/My_city_kigali-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320302</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, Kenya, and Rwanda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Cities, Climate, Climate Science, Earth Science, Environment, Governance, Protected Areas, Sea Levels, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A newly released book documenting urban forestry efforts across Africa argues that trees and green spaces are no longer a luxury for African cities, but a critical response to climate change, biodiversity loss, and urban inequality. Published by Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo (JCPZ), Urban Forests and Green Spaces in Africa: Case Studies and Lessons [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A newly released book documenting urban forestry efforts across Africa argues that trees and green spaces are no longer a luxury for African cities, but a critical response to climate change, biodiversity loss, and urban inequality. Published by Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo (JCPZ), Urban Forests and Green Spaces in Africa: Case Studies and Lessons from Across the Continent brings together 34 case studies from 14 African countries, covering everything from restoring biodiversity around wetlands in Rwanda’s capital Kigali, creating Miyawaki forests (forests with native trees planted closely together) in Kenya’s capital Nairobi, greening heat-stressed neighborhoods in Zimbabwe’s capital Harare, transplanting baobabs in Senegal to rehabilitating degraded urban land in South Africa. Hot days, hot nights, and heatwaves have become more frequent across Africa, concludes the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world’s most authoritative scientific assessment on climate change. The report also finds that coastal cities are vulnerable to floods related to rainfall events and sea level rise. Palm-lined trees provide near-continuous canopy cover along a boulevard in Bahir Dar, the capital of Ethiopia’s Amhara region. The book notes that canopy closure along some of the city’s main streets approaches 100%, making Bahir Dar one of the most heavily treed urban centers in Africa. Image courtesy of Cathy Watson/CIFOR-ICRAF. As African cities experience rising temperatures, worsening floods, biodiversity loss, and rapid urbanization, the book argues that urban forests and green infrastructure are essential tools for climate resilience. Beyond storing carbon, trees and green spaces&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/as-african-cities-heat-up-a-new-book-argues-trees-are-part-of-the-solution/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/as-african-cities-heat-up-a-new-book-argues-trees-are-part-of-the-solution/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320302</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>From Kigali to the Congo Basin: Aimable Twahirwa’s path in environmental journalism</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/from-kigali-to-the-congo-basin-aimable-twahirwas-path-in-environmental-journalism/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/from-kigali-to-the-congo-basin-aimable-twahirwas-path-in-environmental-journalism/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Feb 2026 01:28:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Alejandro Prescott-Cornejo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alana Linderoth]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/06011547/Aimable_TWAHIRWA_Field-e1770341256501-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=313847</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, and Rwanda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Interviews, Interviews With Environmental Journalists, and Journalism]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As Mongabay deepens its reporting across Africa’s biodiversity and climate challenges, award-winning senior science journalist Aimable Twahirwa is bringing his decades of experience to ensure the region’s stories reach international audiences. For Twahirwa, journalism serves as a tool to not only report on facts, but strengthen general audiences and the media’s resilience. “Countering misinformation and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As Mongabay deepens its reporting across Africa’s biodiversity and climate challenges, award-winning senior science journalist Aimable Twahirwa is bringing his decades of experience to ensure the region’s stories reach international audiences. For Twahirwa, journalism serves as a tool to not only report on facts, but strengthen general audiences and the media’s resilience. “Countering misinformation and science denial is critical to bolster public trust and fortify the news ecosystem against manipulation,” Twahirwa says. Based in Kigali, Rwanda, Twahirwa draws on 25 years of science and environmental journalism experience for his role as a Central and West Africa staff writer at Mongabay. In that time, he’s covered a wide range of development-related issues in Rwanda, Central Africa and East Africa, with a growing interest in wildlife, biodiversity and nature. At its core, his day-to-day reporting is inspired by the potential to drive change. “I like telling impact stories covering topics that call for action, which can then be shared with those who are in a position to do something about it,” he says. Before joining Mongabay in September 2024, Twahirwa published in-depth feature stories for regional and international media outlets and global news agencies. His work has appeared in Nature, Inter Press Service, AllAfrica, Thomson Reuters Foundation (formerly known as AlertNet), SciDev.Net and many other platforms, where he has contributed to long-term reporting projects across multimedia formats. Twahirwa at Rwanda’s flagship Gorilla Naming Ceremony, at the foothills of Volcanoes National Park in the village of Kinigi in northern Rwanda. Image courtesy of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/from-kigali-to-the-congo-basin-aimable-twahirwas-path-in-environmental-journalism/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/from-kigali-to-the-congo-basin-aimable-twahirwas-path-in-environmental-journalism/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-313847</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A Thin Green Line: The 2,000-strong ranger force of African Parks</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/a-thin-green-line-the-2000-strong-ranger-force-of-african-parks/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/a-thin-green-line-the-2000-strong-ranger-force-of-african-parks/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Dec 2025 09:47:12 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ashoka Mukpo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/04235113/Nyungwe-6-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310627</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond the Safari]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Rwanda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conflict, Conservation, Environment, Human Rights, Law Enforcement, National Parks, Protected Areas, Violence, and Wildlife Rangers]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BWEYEYE, Rwanda — Josephine Irandwanahafi sits in a small, musty provisions shop off the main road in Bweyeye, a border town that marks the entrance from southern Rwanda into Burundi. Plantains and onions are stacked high in boxes next to her. She’s just gotten off work but is still wearing the olive-green uniform of her [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This is the sixth story in the Mongabay Series – Beyond the Safari. Read the others here. BWEYEYE, Rwanda — Josephine Irandwanahafi sits in a small, musty provisions shop off the main road in Bweyeye, a border town that marks the entrance from southern Rwanda into Burundi. Plantains and onions are stacked high in boxes next to her. She’s just gotten off work but is still wearing the olive-green uniform of her employer, the South Africa-based NGO African Parks. Irandwanahafi is an eco-guard, one of about 100 hired from the towns and villages around Nyungwe National Park, a 1,019-square-kilometer (393-square-mile) protected forest that’s been managed by African Parks since 2020. Irandwanahafi and her colleagues are ambassadors to the communities that surround the park, and serve as African Parks’ first line of defense. Their job is to patrol the outer ring of eucalyptus plantations that serve as a buffer zone around Nyungwe, warn their neighbors to stay out of the park, and when needed, to pass on intelligence about rule-breakers. Josephine Irandwanahafi, an eco-guard at Nyungwe National Park. Photo by Ashoka Mukpo/Mongabay. At 50,000 Rwandan francs per month, about $35, it doesn’t pay as well as her old job — cooking food for poachers at bush camps inside the forest and selling what they caught in local markets. But it’s safer. She isn’t risking jail time anymore. “I used to earn a lot better previously in trading wild meat compared to now,” she says, “but the risks of being caught and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/a-thin-green-line-the-2000-strong-ranger-force-of-african-parks/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/a-thin-green-line-the-2000-strong-ranger-force-of-african-parks/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310627</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>An Empire of Nature: African Parks and Rwanda’s Nyungwe Forest</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/an-empire-of-nature-african-parks-and-rwandas-nyungwe-forest/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/an-empire-of-nature-african-parks-and-rwandas-nyungwe-forest/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Dec 2025 11:52:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ashoka Mukpo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/04201035/Nyungwe-8-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310435</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond the Safari]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Congo Basin, East Africa, and Rwanda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conflict, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Land Conflict, Law, Law Enforcement, National Parks, Parks, Politics, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Social Conflict, Tourism, Violence, and Wildlife Rangers]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[NYUNGWE NATIONAL PARK, Rwanda — It’s a cool morning in the montane rainforest of western Rwanda’s Nyungwe National Park. Sunbeams stream down from the canopy, glowing in the mist. Birdsong pierces the still air. Jacques Habimana, a baby-faced 23-year-old trail guide, stops abruptly, pressing a finger to his lips. He points toward the treetops. A [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This is the fifth story in the Mongabay Series – Beyond the Safari. Read the others here. NYUNGWE NATIONAL PARK, Rwanda — It’s a cool morning in the montane rainforest of western Rwanda’s Nyungwe National Park. Sunbeams stream down from the canopy, glowing in the mist. Birdsong pierces the still air. Jacques Habimana, a baby-faced 23-year-old trail guide, stops abruptly, pressing a finger to his lips. He points toward the treetops. A troop of a dozen or so blue monkeys rustles in the leaves, jumping from branch to branch and peering down with eerie orange eyes ringed with gray fur. They skitter back into the shadows. A few meters down, the trail opens into a panoramic view of the hills beyond — dark, undulating waves that roll into the horizon. A blue monkey (Cercopithecus mitis) in Rwanda&#8217;s Nyungwe National Park. Image by Ashoka Mukpo for Mongabay. To walk through Nyungwe’s emerald tangles is to be bathe in nature&#8217;s quiet majesty. One of the largest montane rainforests in Africa, its treetops host eastern chimpanzees, colobus monkeys, and 11 other primate species. Two hundred different kinds of orchids grow here, upon which one of 300 varieties of butterfly might land. A bird-watcher’s paradise, 30 of its 350 or so avian species are only found here in East Africa’s Albertine Rift. In 2023, the 1,019-square-kilometer (393-square-mile) park was bestowed with World Heritage status by UNESCO. By any measure, it is a special place. Habimana’s shirtsleeve displays a circular patch with two letters in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/an-empire-of-nature-african-parks-and-rwandas-nyungwe-forest/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310435</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Friendship benefits male and female mountain gorillas differently, study shows</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/friendship-benefits-male-and-female-mountain-gorillas-differently-study-shows/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/friendship-benefits-male-and-female-mountain-gorillas-differently-study-shows/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Jun 2025 15:06:30 +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/20/2025/06/27144639/Image1_BeetsmeGroup_Copyright_DianFosseyGorillaFund-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=301574</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Rwanda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Conservation, Endangered Species, Forests, Gorillas, Mammals, Primates, Rainforests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Titus was just 4 years old when poachers killed his father and several other close adults in his group. Despite the violence, the young mountain gorilla developed an approach to leadership characterized by gentleness and calm behavior, building close bonds with the females in his group, who often stayed in physical contact with him. This [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Titus was just 4 years old when poachers killed his father and several other close adults in his group. Despite the violence, the young mountain gorilla developed an approach to leadership characterized by gentleness and calm behavior, building close bonds with the females in his group, who often stayed in physical contact with him. This friendship-focused style worked out for Titus. He remained the dominant male for two decades, until his death in 2009. A 21-year study of 164 wild mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei), including Titus, found that strong friendships produce both advantages and disadvantages, which differ based on sex and environment. The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, analyzed decades of behavioral and health records to examine how social bonds influence survival and reproduction in one of the world&#8217;s most endangered species, the mountain gorillas of the Virunga Mountains in East Africa. &#8220;King&#8221; Titus and his daughter Ikaze in the Virunga Mountains. Titus was characterized as a gentle and calm leader. Image courtesy of Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. There are only around 1,000 living mountain gorillas. Just over half live in the Virunga Mountains, a range of extinct volcanoes that straddle the borders of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda. The remainder inhabit Uganda&#8217;s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. Past studies in humans and other animals have shown that strong social bonds typically improve health and help animals live longer; however, this study found that these relationships can sometimes work differently than researchers&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/friendship-benefits-male-and-female-mountain-gorillas-differently-study-shows/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/friendship-benefits-male-and-female-mountain-gorillas-differently-study-shows/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-301574</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rwanda’s Olivier Nsengimana inspires protection for gray crowned cranes in East Africa</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/rwandas-olivier-nsengimana-inspires-protection-for-gray-crowned-cranes-in-east-africa/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/rwandas-olivier-nsengimana-inspires-protection-for-gray-crowned-cranes-in-east-africa/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Apr 2025 19:52:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Musinguzi Blanshe]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/04/29184334/Olivier_Nsengimana_Fieldwork_Headshot_Olivier_with_Researcher_during_Rugezi_Biodiversity_Survey_Credit_James_Rooney_NGS-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=298353</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, Rwanda, Tropics, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Degraded Lands, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Policy, Governance, Water, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Just 10 years ago, spotting a gray crowned crane in Rwanda’s wetlands had become a rarity. These elegant birds — tall and statuesque, with golden plumes fanning from their heads — once flourished across East Africa. But by the middle of the last decade, their numbers in Rwanda had collapsed drastically. “It shocked me,” says [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Just 10 years ago, spotting a gray crowned crane in Rwanda’s wetlands had become a rarity. These elegant birds — tall and statuesque, with golden plumes fanning from their heads — once flourished across East Africa. But by the middle of the last decade, their numbers in Rwanda had collapsed drastically. “It shocked me,” says Olivier Nsengimana, a Rwandan veterinarian and conservationist who founded the Rwanda Wildlife Conservation Association (RWCA). He says a 2017 census counted fewer than 500 of the birds across the country. “We had more cranes in people’s homes than we had in the wild.” Faced with habitat loss, capture for illegal trade as pets, and other threats, the gray crowned crane (Balearica regulorum) was quietly slipping toward local extirpation in Rwanda. A similar story was unfolding in neighboring countries, including Burundi and Uganda, and elsewhere in the cranes’ range, which extends across East and Southern Africa. In 2012, the cranes were assessed as endangered by the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority. Gray crowned cranes: Olivier Nsengimana says nearly 80% of Rwanda’s crane population over the past 50 years. Image courtesy of RWCA. To protect cranes, protect wetlands The survival of these birds rests on the preservation of wetlands. Across Africa, vast areas of wetlands are being lost, frequently drained and converted into farmland or to make way for peri-urban expansion. Nearly 50% of these ecologically vital landscapes were lost over the past 50 years. “[Cranes] find food and breed in wetlands,” Nsengimana says. “In five&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/rwandas-olivier-nsengimana-inspires-protection-for-gray-crowned-cranes-in-east-africa/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/rwandas-olivier-nsengimana-inspires-protection-for-gray-crowned-cranes-in-east-africa/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-298353</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Discovery of critically endangered bat in Rwanda leads to conservation talks</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/discovery-of-critically-endangered-bat-in-rwanda-leads-to-conservation-talks/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/discovery-of-critically-endangered-bat-in-rwanda-leads-to-conservation-talks/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Apr 2025 16:17:36 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimable Twahirwa]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Christophe Assogba]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/04/25144732/image1_Bats_roost_Rwanda-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=298201</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Rwanda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bats, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Habitat Loss, Mammals, Rediscovered Species, Research, and Species Discovery]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KIGALI, Rwanda ― Following the recent rediscovery of the critically endangered Hill’s horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus hilli) at Nyungwe National Park in southwestern Rwanda, researchers are calling for actions and policies aimed at their conservation. Scientists say that this is the first sighting and documentation of the horseshoe bat Rhinolophus webalaiin the park and Rwanda’s first [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KIGALI, Rwanda ― Following the recent rediscovery of the critically endangered Hill’s horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus hilli) at Nyungwe National Park in southwestern Rwanda, researchers are calling for actions and policies aimed at their conservation. Scientists say that this is the first sighting and documentation of the horseshoe bat Rhinolophus webalaiin the park and Rwanda’s first observation of the Damara woolly bat (Kerivoula argentata) since it was last observed in 1981. According to Paul Webala, a senior lecturer in wildlife biology at the department of forestry and wildlife management at Kenya’s Maasai Mara University, scientists consider bats the second-most diverse group of mammals after rodents. In countries like Rwanda, he says, where most of the natural forests and savannah habitats have been lost, altered or degraded, bats may comprise “at least 40% of the overall mammal diversity.” According to a 2022 study that Webala co-authored, insectivorous bats in Rwanda provide critical ecosystem services and also act as pest controllers in agricultural areas. Health concerns, and habitat loss “In Rwanda, one of the [bat] species of concern, although not threatened according to the IUCN Red List, is the Egyptian fruit bat [Rousettus aegyptiacus] because it has been identified by health officials as a natural reservoir host for the Marburg virus disease,” Webala says. In February this year, Rwandan health officials decided to construct a wall in a mining site located in Nyamirambo a suburb of the capital city Kigali separating a working area from the bats’ habitat. “This barrier is intended to reduce&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/discovery-of-critically-endangered-bat-in-rwanda-leads-to-conservation-talks/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/discovery-of-critically-endangered-bat-in-rwanda-leads-to-conservation-talks/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-298201</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Smallholder agriculture blossoming with the use of renewables in Africa</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/smallholder-agriculture-blossoming-with-the-use-of-renewables-in-africa/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/smallholder-agriculture-blossoming-with-the-use-of-renewables-in-africa/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Mar 2025 06:57:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimable Twahirwa]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/29150357/solar_powered_irrigation_Rwanda_3-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296691</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Rwanda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Energy, Environment, Farming, Food, Food Industry, Natural Resources, Renewable Energy, Solar Power, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KIREHE, Rwanda — Victor Ndwaniye, a smallholder farmer from Nasho, a small lakeside village in Kirehe district in eastern Rwanda, used to irrigate his vegetable farm by collecting water in a bucket and pouring it onto the fields. However, since 2020, the father of six has been using a new solar-powered irrigation system on his [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KIREHE, Rwanda — Victor Ndwaniye, a smallholder farmer from Nasho, a small lakeside village in Kirehe district in eastern Rwanda, used to irrigate his vegetable farm by collecting water in a bucket and pouring it onto the fields. However, since 2020, the father of six has been using a new solar-powered irrigation system on his plot of flat land. “The old irrigation system has long been unable to cope with the needs of many local farmers in the region,” Ndwaniye told Mongabay. The situation has since changed with the integration of solar panels into farming practices in Rwanda, which is part of a nationwide effort to add solar power to various stages of the agricultural supply chain. Officials have set a target to increase the area irrigated by solar power from the current 646 hectares (1,600 acres) to 1,146 hectares (2,830 acres) by 2029. Other countries, like Bangladesh and India, have similar plans. During the implementation phase, farmers must pay for the maintenance of the systems. At the same time, the government and stakeholders provide financial assistance that helps to make solar energy more affordable to local communities. However, the capital investment for ordinary farmers to acquire the technology is still high. According to the government’s Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board, the project aims to strengthen smallholding farmers’ resilience to climate-related disasters and promote sustainable agricultural practices to boost productivity. The hope is to avoid emissions associated with diesel pumps, especially in rural areas where access to grid&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/smallholder-agriculture-blossoming-with-the-use-of-renewables-in-africa/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/smallholder-agriculture-blossoming-with-the-use-of-renewables-in-africa/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-296691</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>EU parliament calls for end to Rwanda mineral pact over DRC conflict links</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/eu-parliament-calls-for-end-to-rwanda-mineral-pact-over-drc-conflict-links/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/eu-parliament-calls-for-end-to-rwanda-mineral-pact-over-drc-conflict-links/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Feb 2025 14:08:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Didier Makal]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Christophe Assogba]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/27134641/Miners-interviewed-by-Enough-supported-Dodd-Frank-768x512-2.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=295094</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, Democratic Republic Of Congo, European Union, and Rwanda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[cobalt, Conflict, Conservation, Electric Cars, Environment, Governance, Mining, Resource Conflict, Resource Curse, and Supply Chain]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[-1.5507262583252246, 28.87682353768903]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On Feb. 13, the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly to suspend a cooperation agreement with Rwanda on a trio of minerals critical to the clean energy transition, citing their links to the ongoing violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The so-called 3T minerals — tin, tungsten, tantalum — are mined in large volumes in the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On Feb. 13, the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly to suspend a cooperation agreement with Rwanda on a trio of minerals critical to the clean energy transition, citing their links to the ongoing violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The so-called 3T minerals — tin, tungsten, tantalum — are mined in large volumes in the DRC’s eastern provinces of North and South Kivu. Since late January 2025, a rebel group known as M23, widely believed to be backed by Rwanda, has seized key parts of the region, including the two provincial capitals, Goma and Bukavu, with the mineral trade said to be fueling the violence, according to a December 2024 report by a U.N. expert group. “Parliament regrets the European Union’s failure to take appropriate measures to address the crisis and pressure Rwanda to end its support for M23,” the European Parliament said in a statement issued after its Feb. 13 vote. It called on the EU Commission and Council “to immediately suspend the EU Memorandum of Understanding on Sustainable Raw Materials Value Chains with Rwanda, until the country ceases all interference in the DRC, including exporting minerals mined from M23-controlled areas.” French MEP Thierry Mariani, who has spoken out about the heavy toll of persistent instability in the DRC — driven in large part by the illicit exploitation of natural resources and responsible for at least 6 million deaths over nearly 30 years — the EU Parliament’s decision demands concrete action from the EU. “It’s only a resolution! Now&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/eu-parliament-calls-for-end-to-rwanda-mineral-pact-over-drc-conflict-links/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/eu-parliament-calls-for-end-to-rwanda-mineral-pact-over-drc-conflict-links/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-295094</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Environmental &#038; rights activists flee and hide as M23 captures DRC’s cities</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/environmental-rights-activists-flee-and-hide-as-m23-captures-drcs-cities/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/environmental-rights-activists-flee-and-hide-as-m23-captures-drcs-cities/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Feb 2025 05:00:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elodie Toto]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/17232217/8.-20140329-171047-2-1-e1739834552646-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=294556</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Endangered Environmentalists]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Democratic Republic Of Congo, East Africa, and Rwanda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conflict, Conservation, Critical Minerals, Environment, Forests, Human Rights, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Mining, Poverty, Rainforests, Resource Conflict, and War]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[“Since Goma fell, I&#8217;ve lived in fear. I don&#8217;t dare leave my house.” These are the words of Justin Shamutwa Masumbuko, general coordinator of the Indigenous rights NGO ADELIPO-Congo. For several months now, he and his organization have been visiting camps for internally displaced people in and around the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) eastern [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[“Since Goma fell, I&#8217;ve lived in fear. I don&#8217;t dare leave my house.” These are the words of Justin Shamutwa Masumbuko, general coordinator of the Indigenous rights NGO ADELIPO-Congo. For several months now, he and his organization have been visiting camps for internally displaced people in and around the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) eastern city of Goma. They were there to help Indigenous Batwa people, who, according to him, continue to face discrimination, segregation and lack of social services while they fled armed conflict. But today, among those fleeing conflict and hiding in the region are activists like Shamutwa and environmentalists, who were among the few to denounce illegal extractive activities and protect natural resources in the mineral-rich region. Their work, they say, puts them in jeopardy. A recent freezing of foreign aid, like USAID, has also left some Congolese conservationists without salaries and wary of how they will support themselves and their families during the conflict. Since the resurgence of the armed group M23 (March 23 Movement) in 2021, fighting with other armed groups and the DRC’s military forced people throughout the eastern North Kivu province to escape. Over time, at least nine displacement camps sprung up in the province’s capital, Goma, sheltering hundreds of thousands of people in extremely poor conditions. In January, fighting intensified and forced another 400,000 people to flee, according to the United Nations refugee agency. On Jan. 21, the M23, in association with Rwanda’s military (the Rwanda Defence Force), seized Minova (a town&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/environmental-rights-activists-flee-and-hide-as-m23-captures-drcs-cities/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/environmental-rights-activists-flee-and-hide-as-m23-captures-drcs-cities/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-294556</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Amid bombs and chaos, Goma’s displaced residents share their fears and hopes</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/amid-bombs-and-chaos-gomas-displaced-residents-share-their-fears-and-hopes/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/amid-bombs-and-chaos-gomas-displaced-residents-share-their-fears-and-hopes/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Feb 2025 18:32:36 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ajabu Adolphe]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Ochieng' Ogodo]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/17165512/8068469904_5c8ddb3b6c_c-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=294546</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, Democratic Republic Of Congo, East Africa, and Rwanda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conflict, Conservation, Critical Minerals, Environment, Forests, Illegal Mining, Mining, Poverty, and Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo — “I fled the fighting in Bweremana between the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo [FARDC] and the M23 armed group. I saw how a whole family was [wiped out] when a bomb exploded,” says Viviane Muteule, a mother of six. Muteule was an internally displaced person at [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo — “I fled the fighting in Bweremana between the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo [FARDC] and the M23 armed group. I saw how a whole family was [wiped out] when a bomb exploded,” says Viviane Muteule, a mother of six. Muteule was an internally displaced person at the Rusayo camp northwest of Goma in January but was forced to flee with her family into the middle of Goma, to avoid being killed during bombardments of the camps at a time when fighting was raging in Sake, 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) west of Goma. A recent onslaught on the city of Goma by M23, a Rwanda-backed rebel force, displaced hundreds of thousands of people in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, which has witnessed armed conflicts for decades. An M23 fighter near the border between Rwanda and DRC at La Corniche Stop Border. Image by Ajabu Adolphe. “I was forced to become a double war displaced person within 20 days. I fled misery at home in Bweremana, but it pursued me right into the camp. I saw the bodies of people who had died from bomb shrapnel not far from my tent,” she recalls, full of remorse. Since Jan. 27, M23 fighters, who, according to the United Nations, are backed by Rwanda, have seized the city of Goma, the provincial capital of North Kivu province, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Shortly before the city fell, intense military movements that had lasted about&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/amid-bombs-and-chaos-gomas-displaced-residents-share-their-fears-and-hopes/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-294546</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The key factors fueling conflict in eastern DRC</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/in-eastern-drc-the-history-of-conflicts-is-fueled-by-new-factors/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/in-eastern-drc-the-history-of-conflicts-is-fueled-by-new-factors/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Feb 2025 17:02:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Ochieng' Ogodo]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/14131619/4.-FARDC-MONUSCO-Goma-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=294440</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, Democratic Republic Of Congo, East Africa, and Rwanda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conflict, Conservation, Critical Minerals, Environment, Forests, Green, Illegal Mining, Mining, Poverty, Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The past three years have been turbulent for the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a region that has experienced prolonged conflict for many years. The recent advancement of M23, a Rwanda-backed rebel force, has displaced hundreds of thousands of people. The militia has captured key sites, including Goma, the region&#8217;s largest city, and, on Feb. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The past three years have been turbulent for the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a region that has experienced prolonged conflict for many years. The recent advancement of M23, a Rwanda-backed rebel force, has displaced hundreds of thousands of people. The militia has captured key sites, including Goma, the region&#8217;s largest city, and, on Feb. 14, the airport in Bukavu, a city to the south. The underlying causes of the conflict stem from a complex interplay of ethnic tensions linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide, political and corporate corruption, and the lingering effects of Western colonialism in Africa. Throughout this turmoil, the quest to profit from natural resources has exacerbated violence and poverty, in sharp contrast with the technological progress the minerals have enabled in other parts of the world. The disparity, between the richness of the DRC in coltan, cobalt, gold, diamonds and other valuable minerals and the often-crippling poverty that besets many Congolese people, is striking. According to the World Bank, nearly three-quarters of the country’s 102.3 million citizens live on less than $2.15 a day. The country’s GDP per capita, at less than $630, ranks among the lowest globally, even as the companies that rely heavily on Congolese minerals rake in trillion dollars annually. The majority of people in the Democratic Republic of Congo live in poverty. Image by Emilie Languedoc for Mongabay. The DRC is also home to verdant lowland and mountain rainforests, expansive green savannas, and swampy wetlands, all supporting human communities and a unique array&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/in-eastern-drc-the-history-of-conflicts-is-fueled-by-new-factors/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-294440</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Like you, I fear the demise of the elephants’</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/like-you-i-fear-the-demise-of-the-elephants/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/like-you-i-fear-the-demise-of-the-elephants/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Dec 2024 15:55:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ashoka Mukpo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/12/17153346/QENP23-3-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=291766</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond the Safari]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Forests, Human Rights, Human-wildlife Conflict, Indigenous Peoples, Ivory, Mammals, Mongabay Data Studio, National Parks, Protected Areas, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On June 13, 1959, the Waata hunter Galogalo Kafonde surrendered himself to colonial Kenya’s “Field Force,” Africa’s first militarized antipoaching unit. For centuries, the ethnic Waata had hunted elephants. Killing one was a rite of passage; unlike their neighbors, who raised and kept cows, the Waata lived off game meat and wore elephant skins. Ivory [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This is the first story in the Mongabay Series – Beyond the Safari. Read the others here. On June 13, 1959, the Waata hunter Galogalo Kafonde surrendered himself to colonial Kenya’s “Field Force,” Africa’s first militarized antipoaching unit. For centuries, the ethnic Waata had hunted elephants. Killing one was a rite of passage; unlike their neighbors, who raised and kept cows, the Waata lived off game meat and wore elephant skins. Ivory wasn’t of much use to them, but it could be bartered for other goods with Arab traders in nearby Mombasa. As the ivory trade picked up steam in the 17th century, fueled by the growth of European consumer markets, the Waata’s reputation grew. They were among the best elephant trackers in East Africa, known as the “people of the long bow” for their skilled use of poisoned arrows. But European hunters came to view the Waata and other Indigenous people as competition. In 1897, as Britain set its sights on a permanent Kenyan colony, it banned unauthorized &#8220;native&#8221; hunting. At the stroke of a pen, the core of the Waata’s way of life became illegal. Traders weighing ivory in 1935. Image by Ewing Galloway via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0). In 1948, the British created Tsavo National Park, one of the first in Kenya. But its eastern flank was a Waata hunting ground. Richard Sheldrick, one of the 20th century’s most prominent conservation icons, was tasked with stamping it out. Kafonde, the Waata’s most famed hunter, was his prime&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/like-you-i-fear-the-demise-of-the-elephants/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-291766</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>WWF report offers glimmer of conservation hope — yet warns of a planet in peril</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/wwf-report-offers-glimmer-of-conservation-hope-yet-warns-of-a-planet-in-peril/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/wwf-report-offers-glimmer-of-conservation-hope-yet-warns-of-a-planet-in-peril/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Oct 2024 16:33:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Anne NzouankeuDavid Akana]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Christophe Assogba]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/10/10154622/Original_WW179779-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=288525</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, Democratic Republic Of Congo, East Africa, Rwanda, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Climate Change, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Elephants, Gorillas, Illegal Trade, Primates, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[With recent conservation efforts and the involvement of Indigenous peoples and local communities in managing protected areas, forest elephant populations are on the verge of stabilizing,in at least one national park. This is, among other things, what WWF Africa said during a recent press briefing for the launch of the Living Planet Report. Elephant populations, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[With recent conservation efforts and the involvement of Indigenous peoples and local communities in managing protected areas, forest elephant populations are on the verge of stabilizing,in at least one national park. This is, among other things, what WWF Africa said during a recent press briefing for the launch of the Living Planet Report. Elephant populations, which are primarily found in Central and West Africa, had declined by more than 80% in past decades due to poaching for the lucrative ivory trade. However, “there are signs that, in certain specific places, conservation efforts are bearing fruit,” reassures Martin Kabaluapa, WWF regional director for the Congo Basin, contacted by Mongabay for a comment. He explains that in the Central African Republic (CAR), “anti-poaching teams have been set up in the Dzanga-Sangha National Park. These efforts have significantly reduced elephant poaching for ivory, one of the main causes of the population&#8217;s decline in the past. Collaboration with local communities and judicious land use planning have also played a key role”. It should be noted that almost half of all forest elephants in Central Africa are believed to reside in Gabon. Indeed, with justover a 1000 left in the world, the mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei), according to the report, have experienced a 3% increase per year between 2010 and 2016, representing another ray of hope. Mountain gorillas are known to live primarily in Rwanda Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Conservation interventions such as dedicated management of protected areas, extensive engagement with&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/wwf-report-offers-glimmer-of-conservation-hope-yet-warns-of-a-planet-in-peril/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-288525</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation at 60: A look back and forward</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/association-for-tropical-biology-and-conservation-at-60-a-look-back-and-forward/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/association-for-tropical-biology-and-conservation-at-60-a-look-back-and-forward/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Sep 2024 19:26:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Erik Iverson]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/09/09161612/ATBCPanel-BETTER-CROP-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=287070</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Global, Latin America, Rwanda, South America, and Tropics]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biocultural Diversity, Biodiversity, Biology, Conservation, Environment, Forests, Research, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KIGALI — When scientists, conservationists and policymakers from around the world gathered in East Africa this July — exchanging ideas, celebrating successes and planning for the future — the international group represented a living showcase of the dramatic transformations in tropical ecology research that has occurred over the last 60 years. Founded in 1963 by [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KIGALI — When scientists, conservationists and policymakers from around the world gathered in East Africa this July — exchanging ideas, celebrating successes and planning for the future — the international group represented a living showcase of the dramatic transformations in tropical ecology research that has occurred over the last 60 years. Founded in 1963 by a group of 32 men — mostly white, mostly from the U.S. — and just one woman, the Association for Tropical Biology focused primarily on advancing Neotropical botanical science. A 2003 name change to the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation reflected the expansion of that mission to include tropical conservation. With 1,000 members in 70 nations today, the professional society’s international membership represents an increasingly diverse roster of scientists from the Global North, tropical Latin America, Africa and Asia, with expertise in everything from carnivores to climate change. Participants in a workshop at the ATBC’s 2024 conference in Kigali discuss issues of diversity, equity and inclusion in tropical field science. Image courtesy of the ATBC. The roots of tropical ecology The ATBC was born at the height of the Cold War, a time of intense global geopolitical upheaval. It was also an era in which the study of tropical ecology still heavily reflected the legacy of the 19th-century colonial period, when jungle collections gathered by European and U.S. explorers attracted the interest of scientists who mostly viewed tropical organisms from afar, and as strange but worth learning about. In 1898, at the end of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/association-for-tropical-biology-and-conservation-at-60-a-look-back-and-forward/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-287070</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nearly 30% of all tree cover in Africa may be outside of forests, study says</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/nearly-30-of-all-tree-cover-in-africa-may-be-outside-of-forests-study-says/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/nearly-30-of-all-tree-cover-in-africa-may-be-outside-of-forests-study-says/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Jun 2023 11:20:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawahare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/06/02104904/Screenshot-2023-06-02-at-11.46.56-AM-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=269292</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Rwanda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agroforestry, Carbon Emissions, Carbon Sequestration, Deforestation Alert System, Ecosystems, Landscape Restoration, Mapping, Remote Sensing, Research, Restoration, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When it comes to mapping green cover, it&#8217;s easy to miss the trees for the forest. New research suggests that there are a lot of missed trees: almost 30% of all tree cover in Africa may be outside of forests, according to an analysis published in Nature Communications. This research allows us to look “at [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When it comes to mapping green cover, it&#8217;s easy to miss the trees for the forest. New research suggests that there are a lot of missed trees: almost 30% of all tree cover in Africa may be outside of forests, according to an analysis published in Nature Communications. This research allows us to look “at the big picture and at individual trees,” University of Copenhagen geographer Florian Reiner told Mongabay. Reiner and his colleagues trained a machine-learning model to identify tree crowns in high-resolution satellite imagery by manually labeling a smaller subset. They generated a tree-cover map for 45 African countries for 2019, down to individual tree crowns. One of the enduring questions in landscape mapping is: what configuration of trees qualifies as a forest? There&#8217;s no universally accepted definition of forests, but widely used ones rely on tree canopy. While all forests are made up of trees in some shape or form, not all trees fit inside forests. Mapping individual trees shows us where these elemental forest units exist but also distinguishes them as woody resources in their own right. Different government agencies can also use different definitions of forests, complicating the task of creating a continentwide inventory. National statistics often don&#8217;t capture tree resources outside designated forest areas, and governments overlook them in decision-making. To their disadvantage, as this paper shows: Ignoring trees not affiliated with forests can lead to an underestimation of a nation’s carbon stocks. Contribution of trees outside forests (TOF) to total tree cover at&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/nearly-30-of-all-tree-cover-in-africa-may-be-outside-of-forests-study-says/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-269292</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>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-267373</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mountain gorilla reproduction slows with female transfers, study shows</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/mountain-gorilla-reproduction-slows-with-female-transfers-study-shows/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/mountain-gorilla-reproduction-slows-with-female-transfers-study-shows/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Nov 2022 12:12:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ini Ekott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/11/15162819/mountain-gorillas-rwanda-Ludovic-Hirlimann-flickr-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=262922</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Great Apes]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, and Rwanda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Gorillas, Great Apes, Mammals, Protected Areas, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Mountain gorillas are currently the only nonhuman great ape whose population is not declining. Thanks to successful conservation interventions, the species&#8217; population has increased from 620 in 1989 to more than 1,000 today, enabling the International Union for Conservation of Nature to change the species&#8217; conservation status from critically endangered to endangered. However, with mountain [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Mountain gorillas are currently the only nonhuman great ape whose population is not declining. Thanks to successful conservation interventions, the species&#8217; population has increased from 620 in 1989 to more than 1,000 today, enabling the International Union for Conservation of Nature to change the species&#8217; conservation status from critically endangered to endangered. However, with mountain gorilla habitat confined to a few islands of protected area, a growing body of research shows that rising population numbers have come at a price. Previous research showed that as their numbers increased and mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) formed new groups within a fixed habitat, intergroup clashes became more frequent. That, in turn, correlated with a sharp increase in infanticide, higher mortality rates for adult males and a slowdown in population growth. Now, a new study points to another factor dragging down population growth: When intergroup contact increases, so do transfers of females between groups, leading to delayed reproduction. The study also emphasizes that all of these factors — higher encounter rates, more infant and male deaths, more female transfers — cascade. “All of this in combination means that the group fissions lead to higher mortality and slower reproduction resulting in a considerable slow in population growth,” Robin Morrison, postdoctoral researcher at the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund and co-author of the study, told Mongabay by email. Mother and baby mountain gorilla, part of the Sabyinyo group in Rwanda&#8217;s Volcanoes National Park. Increased infanticide as gorilla group density increases is a significant factor in slowing the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/mountain-gorilla-reproduction-slows-with-female-transfers-study-shows/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-262922</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Kigali call to action a step forward but not far enough, Indigenous and local leaders say</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/iplc-leaders-in-africa-demand-a-reckoning-over-protected-areas-they-get-a-call-to-action/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/iplc-leaders-in-africa-demand-a-reckoning-over-protected-areas-they-get-a-call-to-action/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Jul 2022 13:21:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawahare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/07/29131318/IPLC-leaders-in-Africa-demand-a-reckoning-over-protected-areas-They-get-a-call-to-action-1-768x500.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=258702</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Rwanda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[30x30 conservation target, Community Development, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation leadership, Environment, Environmental Policy, Governance, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Land Rights, Politics, and Traditional People]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When Milka Chepkorir Kuto took the stage on July 18 at the opening ceremony of the Africa Protected Areas Congress (APAC) in Kigali, Rwanda, she came with a sobering message on behalf of fellow Indigenous peoples and local communities, or IPLCs. &#8220;We, IPLCs, have had many experiences of conservation gone wrong: human rights violations, forced [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When Milka Chepkorir Kuto took the stage on July 18 at the opening ceremony of the Africa Protected Areas Congress (APAC) in Kigali, Rwanda, she came with a sobering message on behalf of fellow Indigenous peoples and local communities, or IPLCs. &#8220;We, IPLCs, have had many experiences of conservation gone wrong: human rights violations, forced evictions, dispossession, displacement, and violence,” said Kuto, an Indigenous Sengwer from Kenya. Milka Chepkorir Kuto speaking at the opening of the APAC. Image courtesy of APAC/IUCN/AWF. “To say this is only in the past will be a lie,” she continued. Days earlier, members of the Mosopisyek of Benet Indigenous group had peacefully occupied a Uganda Wildlife Authority station to protest their eviction from Mount Elgon National Park. On July 23, the APAC culminated in the Kigali Call to Action, which foregrounded the role of Indigenous peoples and local communities and women and youth. It also acknowledged the injustices suffered by them. But it didn’t go far enough in addressing their demands, some observers say. The congress, the first pan-African meeting of conservation leaders and experts, marks a crucial moment in shaping the global conservation agenda. A centerpiece of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, currently under discussion, is the massive expansion of protected areas to cover 30% of land and marine areas by 2030, referred to as the “30 by 30” plan. About 17% of terrestrial areas are currently defined as protected areas, or PAs. In Africa, the figure is closer to 14%. The G7, a group of heavily&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/iplc-leaders-in-africa-demand-a-reckoning-over-protected-areas-they-get-a-call-to-action/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/iplc-leaders-in-africa-demand-a-reckoning-over-protected-areas-they-get-a-call-to-action/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-258702</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Comical’ bat not seen in 40 years is found again in a Rwandan park</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/comical-bat-not-seen-in-40-years-is-found-again-in-a-rwandan-park/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/comical-bat-not-seen-in-40-years-is-found-again-in-a-rwandan-park/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Mar 2022 16:15:43 +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/20/2022/03/08070549/Screen-Shot-2022-03-07-at-11.05.24-PM-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=253490</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, and Rwanda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bats, Biodiversity, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Mammals, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Rediscovered Species, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[“When we caught it, we all just looked at it and said, ‘You look ridiculous. Look how big your nose leaf is,’” Jon Flanders, director of endangered species interventions at Bat Conservation International, told Mongabay. The odd-looking creature in their net was a Hill&#8217;s horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus hilli)—the first seen since 1981. “We feared the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[“When we caught it, we all just looked at it and said, ‘You look ridiculous. Look how big your nose leaf is,’” Jon Flanders, director of endangered species interventions at Bat Conservation International, told Mongabay. The odd-looking creature in their net was a Hill&#8217;s horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus hilli)—the first seen since 1981. “We feared the species may have already gone extinct,” Flanders said. “To think that we&#8217;ve been the first people to actually see this bat in almost 40 years … It was just remarkable.” The Hill’s horseshoe bat, not seen in 40 years, was found again in Rwanda’s Nyungwe National Park. Photo by  Jon Flanders, Bat Conservation International. Flanders was part of a 10-day, 10-night expedition searching for the elusive bat in the old-growth cloud forests of Rwanda’s Nyungwe National Park. The fieldwork was brutal, he said, almost continuous rain pummeling down as they hiked through the steep terrain on little sleep. But their work paid off one night around 4 a.m. when they pulled the odd-looking bat from their net. “We knew immediately that the bat we had captured was unusual and remarkable,” Winifred Frick, chief scientist of Bat Conservation International and a member of the expedition, said in a press release. “The facial features were exaggerated to the point of comical.” As soon as they caught the fluffy, wrinkle-faced mammal, Flanders said, the group went nearly silent and began poring over textbooks to be sure of their find. On their quest for the lost bat, the researchers&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/comical-bat-not-seen-in-40-years-is-found-again-in-a-rwandan-park/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/comical-bat-not-seen-in-40-years-is-found-again-in-a-rwandan-park/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-253490</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Call for COVID rules that reduced infections in gorilla parks to remain</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/call-for-covid-rules-that-reduced-infections-in-gorilla-parks-to-remain/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/call-for-covid-rules-that-reduced-infections-in-gorilla-parks-to-remain/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Feb 2022 13:55:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ryan Truscott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/02/24132418/Rwanda-Mountain-Gorillas-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=253064</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Atlantic Forest, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Welfare, Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Charismatic Animals, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Diseases, Endangered Species, Environment, Gorillas, Great Apes, Health, Mammals, Pandemics, Protected Areas, Solutions, Tourism, Wildlife, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Stricter measures implemented to protect endangered mountain gorillas from COVID-19 should be made permanent long after the pandemic has passed, conservationists say, citing a significant drop in respiratory infections among human-habituated gorillas in one major park in Rwanda. Respiratory infections recorded among mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) in Volcanoes National Park (VNP) dropped from an [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Stricter measures implemented to protect endangered mountain gorillas from COVID-19 should be made permanent long after the pandemic has passed, conservationists say, citing a significant drop in respiratory infections among human-habituated gorillas in one major park in Rwanda. Respiratory infections recorded among mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) in Volcanoes National Park (VNP) dropped from an average of 5.4 outbreaks among family groups per year between January 2015 and February 2020, to just 1.6 per year after the start of the pandemic in March 2020, according to veterinarians from Gorilla Doctors. The group works to protect the two subspecies of eastern gorillas — mountain gorillas and eastern lowland gorillas (Gorilla beringei graueri) — in Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The drop correlates with the decline in the number of tourists visiting the park, and stricter guidelines for viewing gorillas. VNP was shut in March 2020 as COVID-19 spread around the globe. When it reopened three months later, tourists had to wear face masks and maintain a distance of at least 10 meters (33 feet) from the gorillas, an increase from 7 m (23 ft) before the pandemic. Wearing a mask was previously not mandatory for tourists visiting the park. When Volcanoes National Park reopened three months after a lockdown, tourists had to wear face masks and maintain a distance of at least 10 meters (33 feet) from the gorillas. Image by Peter Prokosch/GRID-Arendal via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0). “As the Omicron viral variant surges and tourism returns, we consider&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/call-for-covid-rules-that-reduced-infections-in-gorilla-parks-to-remain/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/call-for-covid-rules-that-reduced-infections-in-gorilla-parks-to-remain/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-253064</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Translocation brings white rhinos to Rwanda, a new land for an old species</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/translocation-brings-white-rhinos-to-rwanda-a-new-land-for-an-old-species/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/translocation-brings-white-rhinos-to-rwanda-a-new-land-for-an-old-species/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Dec 2021 15:17:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Elizabethalberts]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/12/06132249/White-rhino-released-into-Akagera-Rwanda-%C2%A9-Gael-Vande-Weghe-African-Parks-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=250240</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Rwanda, and South Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Black Rhino, Charismatic Animals, Conservation, Endangered Species, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Northern White Rhino, Poaching, Rhinos, Species, Tracking, White Rhino, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Traveling these days isn’t easy. When it involves moving 30 rhinos by air across a continent, it gets even trickier. “Anything can change in seconds,” Jes Gruner, Rwanda regional operations manager, told Mongabay in a phone interview. “The aircraft charter delayed us by eight hours, unfortunately, due to technical issues. We already had the rhinos [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Traveling these days isn’t easy. When it involves moving 30 rhinos by air across a continent, it gets even trickier. “Anything can change in seconds,” Jes Gruner, Rwanda regional operations manager, told Mongabay in a phone interview. “The aircraft charter delayed us by eight hours, unfortunately, due to technical issues. We already had the rhinos in the crates … but the team got together and sorted it very quickly.” A delayed flight was just one of many challenges. Before the rhinos even got on the plane, Gruner and his team had worked for years to organize their translocation from South Africa to Rwanda, and recently battled COVID-19-related delays and setbacks. Then they had to figure out how to safely sedate the animals and get them into crates on a tight schedule. And once they arrived in Rwanda, the rhinos had to be loaded onto trucks and driven another six hours to Akagera National Park, a 1,120-square-kilometer (430-square-mile) stretch of wetlands, woodlands and savannas. But when the trucks drove the 30 rhinos into the park on Nov. 29, Gruner knew the toil and stress had paid off. “It’s a good feeling,” Gruner said. “When you&#8217;re driving through the communities, and they&#8217;re welcoming the rhinos and &#8230; showing they&#8217;re committed to conservation, it just makes all the work feel worthwhile. That’s a human-to-human feeling, but I wish the rhinos could feel that, too, because they are coming to a place where they truly are welcome.” A rhino crate being lifted by crane&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/translocation-brings-white-rhinos-to-rwanda-a-new-land-for-an-old-species/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/translocation-brings-white-rhinos-to-rwanda-a-new-land-for-an-old-species/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-250240</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>COVID could wreak havoc on gorillas, but they social distance better than we do</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/covid-could-wreak-havoc-on-gorillas-but-they-social-distance-better-than-we-do/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/covid-could-wreak-havoc-on-gorillas-but-they-social-distance-better-than-we-do/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Oct 2021 09:17:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ryan Truscott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/10/22085800/gorillas-rwanda-volcanoes-national-park-banner-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=248444</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Great Apes]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Atlantic Forest, East Africa, and Rwanda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Conservation, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Diseases, Endangered Species, Environment, Gorillas, Great Apes, Mammals, Research, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Editor&#8217;s Note: The journal article discussed in this report, &#8220;Exploring the potential effect of COVID-19 on an endangered great ape,&#8221; was formally retracted by its authors Jan. 25, 2022. According to the retraction note, which can be read in full here, the authors made an error in their simulations and as a result &#8220;significantly overestimated [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Editor&#8217;s Note: The journal article discussed in this report, &#8220;Exploring the potential effect of COVID-19 on an endangered great ape,&#8221; was formally retracted by its authors Jan. 25, 2022. According to the retraction note, which can be read in full here, the authors made an error in their simulations and as a result &#8220;significantly overestimated the chances of extinction of the population should a COVID-19 outbreak occur.&#8221; Endangered mountain gorillas in Rwanda’s famous Volcanoes National Park could face &#8220;population collapse&#8221; within 50 years if some of them contract COVID-19, new research suggests. There are only around 1,000 mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) left in the wild, all in protected areas in Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and tourists come from all over the world to see them. Although they&#8217;re susceptible to COVID-19 infection because they share a similar physiology to humans, there has been no recorded outbreak among wild gorillas. But outbreaks among closely related western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) in zoos in the United States and the Czech Republic show that transmission between humans and great apes is possible and alarming. &#8220;It is crucial to anticipate the potential impact of emergent diseases such as COVID-19 on the dynamics of small populations of endangered primates,&#8221; researchers write in a new study published in the journal Scientific Reports. The research, led by Fernando Colchero from the University of Southern Denmark&#8217;s Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, used more than 50 years of gorilla population data gathered from&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/covid-could-wreak-havoc-on-gorillas-but-they-social-distance-better-than-we-do/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/covid-could-wreak-havoc-on-gorillas-but-they-social-distance-better-than-we-do/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-248444</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>For World Gorilla Day 2021, a conservation success story</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/for-world-gorilla-day-2021-a-conservation-success-story/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/for-world-gorilla-day-2021-a-conservation-success-story/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Sep 2021 21:23:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Tara Stoinski]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/09/23204043/JAN-PTO-EW_TIT_PTO_DSC_1214-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=247507</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Analysis, Animals, Apes, Community Development, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Ecotourism, Endangered Species, Gorillas, Great Apes, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Mammals, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[I saw my first wild gorillas in Rwanda in 2002 and I was immediately drawn in by their power, their beauty, and the awareness that these amazing creatures were, despite their size and strength, at risk of disappearing from our planet. I was hooked. I’ve been privileged to work alongside scientists and conservationists in Rwanda [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[I saw my first wild gorillas in Rwanda in 2002 and I was immediately drawn in by their power, their beauty, and the awareness that these amazing creatures were, despite their size and strength, at risk of disappearing from our planet. I was hooked. I’ve been privileged to work alongside scientists and conservationists in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo ever since, studying wild gorillas and searching for ways to protect them and their critically important, biodiverse habitat. When I started out, there were just a few hundred mountain gorillas remaining on the planet, although Dian Fossey’s fear that they would be extinct before the year 2000 had fortunately not come true. Fast forward to 2017. The organization I lead, the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, was celebrating its 50th year, and we worked with partners to launch a new celebration to coincide with the start of Dian’s pioneering work: World Gorilla Day has been observed every year since on September 24. In the five years since, the governments of Rwanda, Uganda and DR Congo, together with the larger conservation community, have made incredible strides in bringing mountain gorillas back from the brink. There are now 1,063 individual mountain gorillas in two separate populations, and in 2018 mountain gorillas were upgraded from IUCN’s “critically endangered” list to “endangered” — a fragile success, but still a cause for celebration. An infant Grauer&#8217;s gorilla in Kahuzi-Biéga National Park in the DR Congo. About 60% of the species&#8217; global population lives in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/for-world-gorilla-day-2021-a-conservation-success-story/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/for-world-gorilla-day-2021-a-conservation-success-story/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-247507</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Without room to expand, mountain gorillas’ population growth could backfire</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/06/without-room-to-expand-mountain-gorillas-population-growth-could-backfire/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/06/without-room-to-expand-mountain-gorillas-population-growth-could-backfire/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Jun 2021 13:22:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ini Ekott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/06/29123114/Mountain-gorilla-family-VolcanoesNationalPark-Rwanda-2020-copy-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=244243</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Great Apes]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Conservation, Diseases, Endangered Species, Environment, Great Apes, Health, Mammals, Parasites, Protected Areas, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Mountain gorillas, one of the world’s endangered apes, appear be facing a fresh health threat after a successful conservation campaign saved them from looming extinction, a new study says. Thanks to intensive conservation efforts, the population of mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) has risen to more than 1,000, up from 620 in 1989, according to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Mountain gorillas, one of the world’s endangered apes, appear be facing a fresh health threat after a successful conservation campaign saved them from looming extinction, a new study says. Thanks to intensive conservation efforts, the population of mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) has risen to more than 1,000, up from 620 in 1989, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. As a result, in 2018 the organization changed the conservation status of mountain gorillas from critically endangered to endangered. However, the habitat available to mountain gorillas has not expanded in tandem with population growth. The entirety of the species is confined to parks in Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Bounded by human settlements, the gorillas are unable to expand beyond these protected areas, leading to increasing population density. The study, led by biologist Klára J. Petrželková of the Czech Academy of Sciences, found that as the mountain gorilla density increased, populations have become more susceptible to health problems. After gastrointestinal diseases were reported in the primates, researchers examined the prevalence of two parasitic worms (helminths) — strongylids and tapeworms — and found the pattern of infection appears to be influenced by the age, location and group size of the gorillas. The findings, which the authors of the report say point to possible “side effects” of the conservation success, are expected to guide future conservation efforts and academic studies on gorillas. The mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei) is a subspecies of the eastern gorilla and is&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/06/without-room-to-expand-mountain-gorillas-population-growth-could-backfire/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/06/without-room-to-expand-mountain-gorillas-population-growth-could-backfire/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-244243</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>For Africa’s great apes, a post-pandemic future looks beyond tourism</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/06/for-africas-great-apes-a-post-pandemic-future-looks-beyond-tourism/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/06/for-africas-great-apes-a-post-pandemic-future-looks-beyond-tourism/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Jun 2021 12:57:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Heather Richardson]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/11/15162819/mountain-gorillas-rwanda-Ludovic-Hirlimann-flickr-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=243451</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Great Apes]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Rwanda, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Bonobos, Conservation, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Ecotourism, Endangered Species, Environment, Gorillas, Mammals, Tourism, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On Jan. 11 this year, something happened that primatologists had both feared and expected: two western lowland gorillas at San Diego Zoo Safari Park tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. Right from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, experts had assumed great apes would be susceptible to the virus. IUCN great ape specialists sent out a document in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On Jan. 11 this year, something happened that primatologists had both feared and expected: two western lowland gorillas at San Diego Zoo Safari Park tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. Right from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, experts had assumed great apes would be susceptible to the virus. IUCN great ape specialists sent out a document in March 2020 to advise on the risk, and most great ape tourism sites closed immediately. People were nervous; great ape conservation heavily depends on tourism revenue. What no one knew then was how long the pandemic would last. Now, more than a year on, how has the global shutdown affected great ape conservation in Africa? “COVID affected every single aspect of what we do,” says Karen Kemp, communications director of U.S.-based Friends of Bonobos, which manages fundraising and marketing for the world’s only bonobo sanctuary, Lola ya Bonobo in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Last year, a planned release of bonobos (Pan paniscus) into the wild was delayed due to pandemic-related travel restrictions. Talks of starting a bonobo trekking industry stalled. Outreach programs were put on hold, though the organization and its local partners have since been able to resume conservation education, recently reaching 1,000 children through a series of school visits. The small amount of income from visiting researchers also fell away, and with it, of course, a lack of new bonobo research over the past year. And as its income dropped substantially, the sanctuary received more bonobo babies than in the last&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/06/for-africas-great-apes-a-post-pandemic-future-looks-beyond-tourism/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/06/for-africas-great-apes-a-post-pandemic-future-looks-beyond-tourism/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-243451</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Bad science’: Planting frenzy misses the grasslands for the trees</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/05/bad-science-planting-frenzy-misses-the-grasslands-for-the-trees/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/05/bad-science-planting-frenzy-misses-the-grasslands-for-the-trees/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 May 2021 00:08:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/05/11225222/Highland_Grassland_Shola_of_Silent_Valley_National_Park-768x493.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=242524</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Brazil, India, Latin America, Madagascar, North America, Rwanda, South Africa, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Afforestation, Animals, Critically Endangered Species, Dry Forests, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Grasslands, Green, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Reforestation, Restoration, Savannas, Temperate Forests, Trees, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[There’s a tree-planting frenzy everywhere you look. In August 2019, the state of Uttar Pradesh in northern India announced that more than a million Indians had planted 220 million trees on a single day. A month earlier, Ethiopia had made a similar declaration: more than 350 million trees had been planted in one day. “Always [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[There’s a tree-planting frenzy everywhere you look. In August 2019, the state of Uttar Pradesh in northern India announced that more than a million Indians had planted 220 million trees on a single day. A month earlier, Ethiopia had made a similar declaration: more than 350 million trees had been planted in one day. “Always be suspicious of such big claims,” says William Bond, a grasslands researcher and emeritus professor at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. “It&#8217;s taken for granted that tree planting is good. But look at what they’re planting, where they’re planting.” Intuitively, planting trees makes sense, especially given the high levels of forest loss and fires around the world. Even in 2020, when it was in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world lost 4.2 million hectares (10.4 million acres) of old-growth tropical forest in places such as the Brazilian Amazon — 12% higher compared to the previous year, according to data from the University of Maryland and Global Forest Watch. Carbon emissions from fossil fuel burning and forest clearing are also at an all-time high. Where pre-industrial levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide were about 278 parts per million (ppm), contemporary levels exceeded 420 ppm in April 2021, according to data from the Mauna Loa observatory in Hawai‘i. Reforestation after logging in western U.S. Image by Downtowngal via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0). Planting trees, then, can seem like the easiest way to battle both problems — it has the potential to create&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/05/bad-science-planting-frenzy-misses-the-grasslands-for-the-trees/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/05/bad-science-planting-frenzy-misses-the-grasslands-for-the-trees/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-242524</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rwanda’s Akagera park thrives thanks to community-led anti-poaching drive</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/rwandas-akagera-park-thrives-thanks-to-community-led-anti-poaching-drive/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/rwandas-akagera-park-thrives-thanks-to-community-led-anti-poaching-drive/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Apr 2020 11:55:30 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maggie Andresen]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Genevieve Belmaker]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/04/29103411/Andresen_AkageraCommunity_300DPi-10-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=229599</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Rwanda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Forests, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Poaching, Rainforests, Solutions, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The first time Bugingo Gaspard illegally entered Akagera National Park in Rwanda, he was 10 years old. With no fence separating the now 112,200-hectare (277,300-acre) protected area from the agricultural plots of community members, families in the neighboring villages frequently grazed livestock past the park limits, sharing grass with impala, zebra and other protected wildlife. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The first time Bugingo Gaspard illegally entered Akagera National Park in Rwanda, he was 10 years old. With no fence separating the now 112,200-hectare (277,300-acre) protected area from the agricultural plots of community members, families in the neighboring villages frequently grazed livestock past the park limits, sharing grass with impala, zebra and other protected wildlife. While grazing a herd of cattle, Gaspard and his friends were startled by a bushbuck, an antelope native to the region. Together the children stoned the animal to death, acting mostly from a kind of misguided childish curiosity. “At that time I was at a bad age,” Gaspard says. “I was young, so I found that fun.” Gaspard grew up in Nyankora village on the outskirts of Akagera park. Now 40 years old, he has worked as a chief builder for construction projects in the park for the last nine years. His father, Nayo Landuard, settled the family there in 1973. A father of 11, Landuard says he felt he had little choice when he began poaching meat in order to keep his family from starving. “I was a good poacher,” Landuard remembers, sitting with his family outside their home in the late afternoon sun. “I used to do that for my babies, for my kids.” Bugingo Gaspard (r), 40, and his father, Nayo Landuard, 72, outside of Landuard&#8217;s family home in Nyankora village in February, 2020. Photo by Maggie Andresen. Although occasionally apprehended by park rangers and punished with severe beatings, Languard was not&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/rwandas-akagera-park-thrives-thanks-to-community-led-anti-poaching-drive/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-229599</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>For great apes at risk of infection, COVID-19 is also an economic threat</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/for-great-apes-at-risk-of-infection-covid-19-is-also-an-economic-threat/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/for-great-apes-at-risk-of-infection-covid-19-is-also-an-economic-threat/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Apr 2020 15:22:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Heather Richardson]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/06/14191600/ug8_6030ENH-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=228976</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Great Apes]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Central Africa, Congo Basin, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Indonesia, Rwanda, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Conservation, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Ecotourism, Endangered Species, Environment, Gorillas, Great Apes, Mammals, Orangutans, Tourism, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the 23 years since founding Volcanoes Safaris, Praveen Moman has weathered a range of crises in the region around Rwanda and Uganda: Ebola outbreaks, economic strife, kidnappings, political unrest. But the COVID-19 pandemic, he says, is “off the Richter scale.” During previous crises, gorilla and chimpanzee trekking companies like his could fall back on [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the 23 years since founding Volcanoes Safaris, Praveen Moman has weathered a range of crises in the region around Rwanda and Uganda: Ebola outbreaks, economic strife, kidnappings, political unrest. But the COVID-19 pandemic, he says, is “off the Richter scale.” During previous crises, gorilla and chimpanzee trekking companies like his could fall back on their expertise to encourage travelers to visit. “You know the geography, you know the topography, you know the politics,” Moman says. But the COVID-19 pandemic has grounded the vast majority of international flights. Many countries, like Uganda and Rwanda, are on lockdown, and tourism has come to a standstill across the world. The situation is unprecedented. “9/11 was a major global event,&#8221; Moman says. &#8220;But in the end, the world started again within a few weeks of it.” Amid fears that resident apes could be susceptible to COVID-19, parks in Uganda and Rwanda closed to tourists, and Moman shuttered his company&#8217;s four lodges until at least June. He sent most of his staff home, providing “financial assistance as appropriate” and food in some cases. But with tourism on hold for the foreseeable future, these funds won’t last forever. Moman’s story is one that’s currently playing out at all great ape tourism sites. The lack of visitors could have potentially devastating consequences for conservation operations that rely on tourism income. That revenue also provides financial incentives for governments and citizens to protect the wildlife around their communities. Mountain gorilla tourism is arguably the most effective example&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/for-great-apes-at-risk-of-infection-covid-19-is-also-an-economic-threat/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/for-great-apes-at-risk-of-infection-covid-19-is-also-an-economic-threat/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-228976</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Camera traps in trees reveal a richness of species in Rwandan park</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/03/camera-traps-in-trees-reveal-a-richness-of-species-in-rwandan-park/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/03/camera-traps-in-trees-reveal-a-richness-of-species-in-rwandan-park/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Mar 2020 16:18:14 +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/20/2020/03/27123038/CT_Colobus-3-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=228360</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Rwanda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Camera Trapping, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Conservation Technology, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Mammals, Primates, Protected Areas, Raptors, Research, Solutions, Technology, Wildlife, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Sneaking up on animals can be tough. That’s why wildlife researchers often turn to motion-sensing cameras, also known as camera traps, to study animals in the wild. However, most of these camera traps are positioned at or near ground level, leaving a diverse world of animals unexamined: those that dwell in the trees above. Listen [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Sneaking up on animals can be tough. That’s why wildlife researchers often turn to motion-sensing cameras, also known as camera traps, to study animals in the wild. However, most of these camera traps are positioned at or near ground level, leaving a diverse world of animals unexamined: those that dwell in the trees above. Listen to this article here: A blue monkey (Cercopithecus mitus) photographed by an arboreal camera trap. Photo courtesy of WCS Rwanda. In the montane tropical forest of Nyungwe National Park, Rwanda, a team of researchers climbed 10 meters (30 feet) up into the trees to rig arboreal camera traps. They also placed a camera at the base of each tree. The 108 cameras captured more than 27,000 photos of wildlife over a 30-day period, according to a study published in the journal Animal Conservation conducted in collaboration with WCS Rwanda, University of Florida, WWF, and Rice University. Among the photos were 35 different mammal species, including six primate species and a rare Central African oyan (Poiana richardsonii), a small catlike mammal that was not previously seen in the park. A Central African oyan (Poiana richardsonii) photographed by an arboreal camera trap. This was the first record of this species in Nyungwe National Park. Photo courtesy of WCS Rwanda. Nyungwe National Park contains many globally threatened and endangered species and is a top priority site for biodiversity conservation. Knowing what animals are present in an area is an important first step toward taking measures to protect them.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/03/camera-traps-in-trees-reveal-a-richness-of-species-in-rwandan-park/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-228360</doi>				</item>
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