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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/tanzania/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:47:00 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<title>Tanzania environmental news</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/tanzania/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Women patrol Tanzania’s Pemba waters in a community-led push to protect the sea</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/women-patrol-tanzanias-pemba-waters-in-a-community-led-push-to-protect-the-sea/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/women-patrol-tanzanias-pemba-waters-in-a-community-led-push-to-protect-the-sea/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Jun 2026 11:38:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David Akana]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/27103927/20260622_1048430-1bis-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321946</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, Indian Ocean, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[blue economy, Conservation, Environmental Policy, Fish, Fishing, Freshwater Fish, Governance, Illegal Fishing, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Trade, Water, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PEMBA, Tanzania — Patrolling the sea is not the kind of work many women on Tanzania’s Pemba Island are traditionally expected to do. Yet, for Amina Gharib Issa, it has become part of her life recently. At 55 years old, Issa has spent years around the sea, including as a fisher. But when fish stocks [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PEMBA, Tanzania — Patrolling the sea is not the kind of work many women on Tanzania’s Pemba Island are traditionally expected to do. Yet, for Amina Gharib Issa, it has become part of her life recently. At 55 years old, Issa has spent years around the sea, including as a fisher. But when fish stocks began dwindling and communities in Pemba introduced temporary closures, periods during which fishing is suspended to allow marine life to recover, she took on the task of helping patrol the waters to ensure the rules were respected. She is part of a seven-member community patrol team that goes out about eight times a month, checking boats, fishing gear and licenses. The work can mean hours on the water, sometimes in rough conditions, for pay of about $8 a day. In much of Pemba, women participate widely in fisheries, but being out on patrol with men is another matter. The community is predominantly Muslim, and gender roles can be closely examined. &#8220;Some of the women are not permitted by their husbands,&#8221; Ali Said Hamad, a member of the Mwambao team, said, explaining one of the reasons more women do not join. Said has spent decades on these waters — not as an enforcement officer — but helping implement community-led conservation programs. For those women who do patrol the waters, family support can make the difference. Issa said her husband supported her decision to take part. Her work is part of a broader community-led conservation effort supported&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/women-patrol-tanzanias-pemba-waters-in-a-community-led-push-to-protect-the-sea/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/women-patrol-tanzanias-pemba-waters-in-a-community-led-push-to-protect-the-sea/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321946</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>East African Crude Oil Pipeline threatens wetlands, wildlife corridors: Report</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/east-african-crude-oil-pipeline-threatens-wetlands-wildlife-corridors-report/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/east-african-crude-oil-pipeline-threatens-wetlands-wildlife-corridors-report/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Jun 2026 10:55:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Victoria Schneider]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/12102919/Shoebill.Balaeniceps.rex_MurchisonNPUganda_KylaMarinoFlickrBY2.0-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321059</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Birds, Economics, Energy, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Lakes, Oil, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), which stretches from oil fields in Uganda’s Lake Albert region to Tanzania’s port town of Tanga, is once again under scrutiny after a new report mapped out the biodiversity areas and wildlife habitats it runs through or passes by. Drawing data from maps and economic value estimates, the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), which stretches from oil fields in Uganda’s Lake Albert region to Tanzania’s port town of Tanga, is once again under scrutiny after a new report mapped out the biodiversity areas and wildlife habitats it runs through or passes by. Drawing data from maps and economic value estimates, the report by U.S.-based NGO Earth Insight shows that the 1,443-kilometer (990-mile) pipeline is close to areas that are important for livelihoods and water security for millions of people and serve as migration corridors for animals. The report concludes that the construction of the pipeline has already disturbed communities and the environment and that oil transportation will bring further long-term risks. EACOP is a joint project involving TotalEnergies (62% stake), the governments of Uganda (15%) and Tanzania (15%), and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC, 8%). EACOP will carry oil extracted from two oilfields in the Lake Albert region: Kingfisher, owned by CNOOC, and Tilenga, owned by TotalEnergies. According to Earth Insight, the project is nearing completion. Oil transportation through the pipeline is expected to start as early as October 2026. Construction of the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) in Uganda. Image courtesy of Thomas Lewton. “It crosses right through endangered species ranges, the most important and critical one being the black rhino habitat range,” Earth Insight’s Katie Boston, the study’s main researcher, told Mongabay on the phone. She added that the pipeline could cause habitat fragmentation in the Kibale/Bukoora River Crossing area, where&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/east-african-crude-oil-pipeline-threatens-wetlands-wildlife-corridors-report/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/east-african-crude-oil-pipeline-threatens-wetlands-wildlife-corridors-report/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321059</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Huge ivory bust raises questions about follow-up investigations in Tanzania</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/huge-ivory-bust-raises-questions-about-follow-up-investigations-in-tanzania/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/huge-ivory-bust-raises-questions-about-follow-up-investigations-in-tanzania/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Jun 2026 18:06:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Charles Mpaka]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/08180430/Elephant_Tanzania_sama093FlickrBYNCND2.0-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320774</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Illegal Trade, Ivory, Mammals, Poaching, trafficking, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A North Korean man is set to face trial in Tanzania this week following his arrest in April while in possession of 500 elephant tusks. Un Hyok Ra was arrested April 19 at a hotel in Dar es Salaam, and is scheduled on June 9 to answer to charges of unlawful possession of the ivory [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A North Korean man is set to face trial in Tanzania this week following his arrest in April while in possession of 500 elephant tusks. Un Hyok Ra was arrested April 19 at a hotel in Dar es Salaam, and is scheduled on June 9 to answer to charges of unlawful possession of the ivory and intent to trade it. Tanzania is a signatory to CITES, the global wildlife trade convention, which requires parties to conduct forensic analysis of ivory seizures of 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) or more to determine where it came from. This is intended to support investigations that go beyond the typically low-level traffickers who are caught in possession. Tanzanian police did not respond to questions from Mongabay about the origins of the seized ivory or who Ra allegedly planned to sell it to. During an administrative hearing on May 28, prosecutor Florida Wancelaus told the court only that investigations are ongoing. Chris Morris, founder of wildlife crime monitoring group Saving Elephants through Education and Justice (SEEJ), based in neighboring Kenya, estimated that 504 tusks would weigh roughly 2,500 kg (about 5,500 lbs). In an email to Mongabay, he said law enforcement in the region does not always meet the CITES requirement to conduct DNA analysis on confiscated ivory. “It remains to be seen if Tanzania will comply with this directive,” Morris wrote. Morris, a former war crimes investigator, said Tanzanian authorities have often withheld information that would help sister agencies in the region and beyond trace&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/huge-ivory-bust-raises-questions-about-follow-up-investigations-in-tanzania/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/huge-ivory-bust-raises-questions-about-follow-up-investigations-in-tanzania/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320774</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How trade bans and local conservation helped save a dazzling blue gecko</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/how-trade-bans-and-local-conservation-helped-save-a-dazzling-blue-gecko/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/how-trade-bans-and-local-conservation-helped-save-a-dazzling-blue-gecko/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Jun 2026 06:43:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Manuel Fonseca]]>
						</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/20/2026/06/06063558/TurquoiseDwarfGecko_MorogoroTanzania_ArdgardINaturalistBYlarge-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320662</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Conservation, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Fires, Forests, Habitat Loss, Herps, Primary Forests, Protected Areas, Reptiles, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Beauty is a curse — at least for the turquoise dwarf gecko of central Tanzania. Between December 2004 and July 2009, demand for this gecko from collectors in Europe boomed, leading to the capture and export of an estimated 40,000 of these striking reptiles from Tanzania. “I remember when I saw them for the first [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Beauty is a curse — at least for the turquoise dwarf gecko of central Tanzania. Between December 2004 and July 2009, demand for this gecko from collectors in Europe boomed, leading to the capture and export of an estimated 40,000 of these striking reptiles from Tanzania. “I remember when I saw them for the first time [at] a fair, it was about 600 euros per specimen,” or about $700, Dennis Rödder, a herpetologist at the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change in Germany, told Mongabay in a video call. “I think within three or four years, the species appeared everywhere across Europe. You could buy them in every pet shop.” Turquoise dwarf geckos (Lygodactylus williamsi) grow to a length of 6-9 centimeters (about 2.5-3.5 inches) and are known from only two small patches of forest in Tanzania: The Kimboza and Ruvu forest reserves. These protected areas cover a combined 34 square kilometers (13 square miles). Adult females have a green-brownish color that mimics the leaves of the trees they live in, but the males’ skins are a vivid contrasting blue, one of the rarest colors in nature, meant to stand out and attract females. Turquoise dwarf gecko (Lygodactylus williamsi). Image © Simon via iNaturalist (CC BY-NC 4.0). Active during the day, and so fiercely territorial they evict their young hatchlings from their home trees soon after birth, this species lives exclusively on screwpines (Pandanus rabaiensis), a tree found in Kenya and Tanzania. Standing anywhere from 3-20 meters tall&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/how-trade-bans-and-local-conservation-helped-save-a-dazzling-blue-gecko/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/how-trade-bans-and-local-conservation-helped-save-a-dazzling-blue-gecko/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320662</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>From Africa to Central Asia, the European roller’s migration builds relationships</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/from-africa-to-central-asia-the-european-rollers-migration-builds-relationships/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/from-africa-to-central-asia-the-european-rollers-migration-builds-relationships/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 May 2026 07:05:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/08162937/European.roller.Coracias.garrulus_BostonliqUzbekistan_bereztletikINaturalistBYNC4.0-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319029</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, China, Europe, India, Kenya, Somalia, South Africa, Southern Africa, Tanzania, and Uzbekistan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Habitat Loss, Migration, Research, Species, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The European roller is a small, striking migratory bird that breeds in open woodlands — or farms and orchards — across Europe and Central Asia. Coracias garrulus is also well-known to Southern and South Africa&#8217;s avid birdwatching communities, including many citizen scientists who participate in the Southern African Bird Atlas Project. But the rollers that [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The European roller is a small, striking migratory bird that breeds in open woodlands — or farms and orchards — across Europe and Central Asia. Coracias garrulus is also well-known to Southern and South Africa&#8217;s avid birdwatching communities, including many citizen scientists who participate in the Southern African Bird Atlas Project. Image courtesy of Lourenço Afonso. But the rollers that spend November to March in South Africa appear to be mostly the C. g. semenowi subspecies. The routes these populations follow to their breeding grounds as far as 10,000 kilometers (6,200 miles) away in Central Asia are not known. Image courtesy of Ma Ming. Since 2024, scientists at BirdLife South Africa have fit tiny 3.8-gram (0.1-ounce) trackers to seven birds to investigate the birds’ migration routes and stopover sites. Image courtesy of Jean-Richard Snoer. The tagged rollers traveled north through Tanzania and Kenya, paused in Somalia, and then flew on to Central Asia via Oman and India. One individual ended up in China, two others in Uzbekistan. Image courtesy of BirdLife SA One year&#8217;s tracking of just seven birds has connected South Africa to bird clubs in Gujarat, India, and a Chinese researcher studying the rollers&#8217; breeding behavior in Xinjiang, China. Image courtesy of Ma Ming. BirdLife SA&#8217;s tiny staff dedicated to the European Roller Monitoring Project is supported by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. The tracking devices are paid for by individual donors. Image courtesy of Jean-Richard Snoer. In the years ahead, Flyway and Migrants Project&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/from-africa-to-central-asia-the-european-rollers-migration-builds-relationships/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-319029</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Tanzania cracks down on mining sector, aims for inclusivity and sustainability</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/tanzania-cracks-down-on-mining-sector-aims-for-inclusivity-and-sustainability/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/tanzania-cracks-down-on-mining-sector-aims-for-inclusivity-and-sustainability/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 May 2026 13:12:45 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Nkwimba Nkwimba]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/07123009/Leseni-1-1-e1778157040581-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318933</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Critical Minerals, Ecology, Economics, Environment, Governance, Human Rights, Illegal Mining, and Mining]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Tanzania canceled 40 mining exploration licenses and put another 43 license holders on notice in a crackdown linked to the government’s “Mining for a Brighter Tomorrow” program that aims to create a more “inclusive and sustainable” mining sector. Anthony Mavunde, the minerals minister, told journalists on April 15, in Tanzania’s capital, Dodoma, that the government [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Tanzania canceled 40 mining exploration licenses and put another 43 license holders on notice in a crackdown linked to the government’s “Mining for a Brighter Tomorrow” program that aims to create a more “inclusive and sustainable” mining sector. Anthony Mavunde, the minerals minister, told journalists on April 15, in Tanzania’s capital, Dodoma, that the government wanted to restore order in the mining sector, and curb violations of license conditions by mine developers who hoard mining blocks without developing them. The concerned concessions cover approximately 900 square kilometers (350 square miles), according to the minister. The government plans to reallocate some of the recovered mining blocks to women, youth and people with disabilities to expand local participation in the sector. “Some investors hold land for many years without any meaningful investment. This is wastage of economic opportunities and a catalyst for environmental destruction and conflicts,” Mavunde said. Besides holding on to the land, the 40 license holders are accused of failing to pay the requisite fees, fulfilling local content requirements (the use of domestically produced goods, services and labor) as well as failing to meet corporate social responsibility obligations. Joyce Andrew, a small-scale miner in Tanzania’s Shinyanga region, examines mined ore. Image courtesy of Shaaban Njia. “We do not want to see our resources turn into a curse. Mining must go hand in hand with environmental conservation,” Mavunde said. Stakeholders interviewed by Mongabay expressed concerns about how neglected exploration sites become hubs for unregulated mining activity, leading to severe land degradation&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/tanzania-cracks-down-on-mining-sector-aims-for-inclusivity-and-sustainability/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318933</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nearly a million birds shipped from Africa to Asia in 15 years; canaries top the list</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/nearly-a-million-birds-shipped-from-africa-to-asia-in-15-years-canaries-top-the-list/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/nearly-a-million-birds-shipped-from-africa-to-asia-in-15-years-canaries-top-the-list/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Apr 2026 15:04:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/15120913/Photo-5-yfc-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317571</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Atlantic Forest, Guinea, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Mali, Mozambique, North America, Senegal, Singapore, Southeast Asia, Tanzania, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Crime, Environment, Health, Invasive Species, Parrots, Pet Trade, Planetary Health, Public Health, Regulations, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, Wildlife Trafficking, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Worldwide, people buy and hunt nearly half of the 11,000 bird species in existence. In Asia, Europe, and North and South America, songbirds and parrots are highly desired pets. Collectors pay exorbitant sums for rare species or melodious birds to compete in high-stakes singing competitions. Falconers and sport hunters capture or kill raptors. Belief-based rituals [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Worldwide, people buy and hunt nearly half of the 11,000 bird species in existence. In Asia, Europe, and North and South America, songbirds and parrots are highly desired pets. Collectors pay exorbitant sums for rare species or melodious birds to compete in high-stakes singing competitions. Falconers and sport hunters capture or kill raptors. Belief-based rituals in West Africa incorporate vulture parts. Buyers in North America seek dead hornbills and hummingbirds as home décor. The list goes on. This massive commerce threatens more than 200 avian species with extinction. Now, as online marketplaces proliferate, customers can order a bird with a swipe on their phone from anywhere on the planet. Moving birds around the world also spreads deadly diseases, from avian influenza to circovirus, and when non-native birds get loose, they may proliferate, outcompeting residents. “There&#8217;s a lack of awareness and appreciation for the scale of this trade, and little attention on the impacts that this could be having on wild populations or the risks for the spread of invasive species and infectious diseases,” said Rowan Martin, director of bird trade at the nonprofit World Parrot Trust. “If people are not aware that this is even happening, then how are we going to be able to mitigate the risks associated with it?” In an attempt to understand the scale of the live bird trade, Martin and his colleagues used records from U.N. Comtrade, a database that aggregates information on all commodities traded between countries. The team analyzed live bird imports into&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/nearly-a-million-birds-shipped-from-africa-to-asia-in-15-years-canaries-top-the-list/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/nearly-a-million-birds-shipped-from-africa-to-asia-in-15-years-canaries-top-the-list/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317571</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>George Schaller: The field biologist who helped redefine conservation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/george-schaller-the-field-biologist-who-helped-redefine-conservation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/george-schaller-the-field-biologist-who-helped-redefine-conservation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Apr 2026 12:08:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/13210433/Art31_52830005-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317452</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Brazil, China, Global, India, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Apes, Bears, Big Cats, Biodiversity, Books, Cats, Conservation, Conservation Philosophy, Endangered Species, Environmental Heroes, Gorillas, Great Apes, Jaguars, Lions, Mammals, Pandas, Primates, Protected Areas, Research, Snow Leopards, Tigers, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Some lives seem to belong less to a nation or a profession than to a disposition. George B. Schaller’s was one of them. He belonged, above all, to animals—gorillas, lions, tigers, snow leopards, pandas—and to the landscapes that still made room for them. In Homesick for a World Unknown: The Life of George B. Schaller, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Some lives seem to belong less to a nation or a profession than to a disposition. George B. Schaller’s was one of them. He belonged, above all, to animals—gorillas, lions, tigers, snow leopards, pandas—and to the landscapes that still made room for them. In Homesick for a World Unknown: The Life of George B. Schaller, Miriam Horn attempts something both straightforward and unusually difficult: to write a full biography of a man who spent most of his life turning his attention away from himself. Schaller is not obscure. He is widely regarded as the most important field biologist of the twentieth century, a figure whose work reshaped zoology, conservation biology, and the way humans think about animal lives. Yet he remains oddly resistant to biography. He disliked introspection, avoided publicity, and wrote sparingly about his own emotions even when describing moments of extreme danger or revelation. Horn’s achievement is to take this reticence seriously rather than try to overcome it. The result is a book that is expansive without being intrusive, admiring without being reverential, and alert to ambiguity even when recounting an extraordinary career. The arc of Schaller’s life has the shape of an adventure story, though Horn is careful not to write one. Born in Berlin in 1933 to an American mother and a German diplomat father, Schaller’s early years were marked by displacement, war, and a persistent sense of not quite belonging. His childhood moved across Nazi Germany, occupied Europe, and eventually the United States. These experiences&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/george-schaller-the-field-biologist-who-helped-redefine-conservation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/george-schaller-the-field-biologist-who-helped-redefine-conservation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317452</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Wildlife concerns remain after Kenya court ruling over luxury safari camp</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/wildlife-concerns-remain-after-kenya-court-ruling-over-luxury-safari-camp/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/wildlife-concerns-remain-after-kenya-court-ruling-over-luxury-safari-camp/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Apr 2026 09:13:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elodie Toto]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Elodietoto]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/01192301/a.-BANNER-Wildebeest_Jumping_Into_the_Mara_River-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316695</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, Kenya, Serengeti, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Law, Mammals, Tourism, Traditional Knowledge, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This is the end of a saga that has stirred nature and tourism enthusiasts in Kenya for the past six months. The Environment and Land Court at Narok dismissed a petition filed in August 2025 by Meitamei Olol Dapash, director of the Institute for Maasai Education, Research and Conservation. The environmentalist had opposed the opening [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This is the end of a saga that has stirred nature and tourism enthusiasts in Kenya for the past six months. The Environment and Land Court at Narok dismissed a petition filed in August 2025 by Meitamei Olol Dapash, director of the Institute for Maasai Education, Research and Conservation. The environmentalist had opposed the opening of the Ritz-Carlton, Masai Mara Safari Camp, operated by Lazizi Mara Ltd. “The Court finds that it lacks jurisdiction to deal with this matter as there are relevant alternative disputes resolution mechanisms, which were not employed by the Plaintiffs and therefore this suit was prematurely filed, and the Court is divested of Jurisdiction. Without Jurisdiction, the Court’s hands are tied,” the court decision states. The Narok court, in its ruling, specifies that the plaintiff, before filing a claim, should have filed a complaint under Section 117 of the Wildlife Conservation and Management Act, which stipulates that all remedies, including community-based ones, must be pursued, and also appealed under Section 129 of the Environmental Management and Coordination Act. For further information, Mongabay contacted the Narok court and county authorities, but they did not respond to our interview request. From the perspective of environmentalists like Johnson Yiamat, the ruling is sending the wrong message. “I feel that procedural outcomes should not overshadow the substance of the concerns that were raised,” he said in a message to Mongabay. Yiamat is a Maasai and founder of Osotua Green Alliance, a community-led organization focused on biodiversity conservation, climate action and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/wildlife-concerns-remain-after-kenya-court-ruling-over-luxury-safari-camp/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-316695</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Today is Jane Goodall Day. Her movement continues.</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/today-is-jane-goodall-day-her-movement-continues/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/today-is-jane-goodall-day-her-movement-continues/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Apr 2026 00:30:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/02221614/jane-planting-trees-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316892</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, Global, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Environment, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Hope and optimism, Jane Goodall, Restoration, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[April 3 now carries a different kind of weight. It was always Jane Goodall’s birthday. Now it is also a marker—a point in the year when people are asked not just to remember her, but to do something with what she set in motion. The idea behind the first Jane Goodall Day is simple. Take [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[April 3 now carries a different kind of weight. It was always Jane Goodall’s birthday. Now it is also a marker—a point in the year when people are asked not just to remember her, but to do something with what she set in motion. The idea behind the first Jane Goodall Day is simple. Take one action. It can be small. It should be real. The intent is to treat her life as something still in motion and to see those habits she cultivated continue in others. That framing feels appropriate. Goodall resisted the idea that her work belonged to her alone. Even at the height of her recognition, she redirected attention outward—toward the forests she had studied, the chimpanzees whose lives she had made visible, and the people who would decide what came next. In later years, when asked what she wanted to be remembered for, she returned to two things: changing how we see animals, and starting Roots &amp; Shoots. The second of those matters more than it first appears. Roots &amp; Shoots was designed as a way of distributing responsibility. It asked young people, and eventually adults, to look at their immediate surroundings and act on what they saw. It requires no permission and begins at any scale. The premise was that agency begins locally, and that it grows through repetition. Jane Goodall. Courtesy of Moby Anna Rathmann, who leads the Jane Goodall Institute in the United States, describes Jane Goodall Day in similar terms. The goal,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/today-is-jane-goodall-day-her-movement-continues/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/today-is-jane-goodall-day-her-movement-continues/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-316892</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Outlook for migratory species worsens amid habitat loss &#038; avian flu, report finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/outlook-for-migratory-species-worsens-amid-habitat-loss-avian-flu-report-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/outlook-for-migratory-species-worsens-amid-habitat-loss-avian-flu-report-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Mar 2026 16:03:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gloria Dickie]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/12132145/Sea-Turtle-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315646</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Arctic, Asia, Central Asia, Chad, East Africa, Europe, Global, Kenya, Serengeti, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Birds, Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, Diseases, Elasmobranchs, Environment, Fish, Fishing, Freshwater Fish, Habitat Loss, Hunting, Jaguars, Mammals, Mapping, Migration, Mining, Poaching, Sea Turtles, Sharks, Species, Turtles, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[From shorebirds flying between their Arctic breeding grounds and southerly foraging ranges to freshwater fish returning to native spawning streams, migratory animals are struggling. About half of all migratory species populations protected under a global treaty are now in decline, with the situation worsening in just the last two years, according to a new United [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[From shorebirds flying between their Arctic breeding grounds and southerly foraging ranges to freshwater fish returning to native spawning streams, migratory animals are struggling. About half of all migratory species populations protected under a global treaty are now in decline, with the situation worsening in just the last two years, according to a new United Nations-backed report. When the first State of the World’s Migratory Species report was published in 2024, 44% of migratory species populations listed under the U.N. Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) were declining, according to data from the IUCN Red List, the world’s most comprehensive guide to global extinction risk. Since then, the proportion of imperiled CMS-listed species rose to 49%, according to updated Red List data and new research. Though the next status report isn’t due until around 2030, conservation advocates said the deteriorating situation required an interim report, as many countries are moving in the wrong direction when it comes to conserving wildlife that depend on various habitats to complete their life cycles. “This [interim report] is saying there are some alarming trends in the meantime; that we don’t want to wait six years to talk about this,” said CMS executive secretary Amy Fraenkel. Jaguars have no subspecies. Their range extends from Mexico to Argentina, but some populations are cut off, at risk of inbreeding and the demise that comes with it. Image by Gregoire Dubois. The convention, established in 1979, aims to conserve migratory species by protecting&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/outlook-for-migratory-species-worsens-amid-habitat-loss-avian-flu-report-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/outlook-for-migratory-species-worsens-amid-habitat-loss-avian-flu-report-finds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315646</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Works on planned luxury resort on Pemba island go ahead despite concerns</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/works-on-planned-luxury-resort-on-pemba-island-go-ahead-despite-concerns/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/works-on-planned-luxury-resort-on-pemba-island-go-ahead-despite-concerns/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Mar 2026 16:39:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Victoria Schneider]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/10163217/9B-Road-building-VC-scaled-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315515</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Corporate Social Responsibility, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Green, Insects, Islands, Mammals, Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Earlier this year, workers built a concrete perimeter wall for a planned resort on Pemba Island off the coast of Tanzania. There’s scant public information about the Mantuli development, but the wall is just a few hundred meters west of the 1,440-hectare (3,558-acre) Ngezi-Vumawimbi Nature Forest Reserve, where scientists have identified more than 80 new [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Earlier this year, workers built a concrete perimeter wall for a planned resort on Pemba Island off the coast of Tanzania. There’s scant public information about the Mantuli development, but the wall is just a few hundred meters west of the 1,440-hectare (3,558-acre) Ngezi-Vumawimbi Nature Forest Reserve, where scientists have identified more than 80 new species of plants in recent years — some of which they fear would be driven to extinction by the development. According to a noticeboard near the forest and plans previously published on the website of South Africa-based Acoarch Architects, the luxury resort’s chalets, pools, fitness center and coffee lounge will stretch along 3 kilometers (nearly 2 miles) of Vumawimbi Beach, denying residents of nearby Makangale village access to the sea. Some of the online content has since been removed, and the architecture firm didn’t respond to Mongabay’s inquiries. Tim Caro is an evolutionary ecologist who has conducted research in the area and is a member of U.K.-registered charity Friends of Ngezi, which works with communities and promotes conservation of the forest. He said around a third of Makangale residents are involved in fishing, launching their boats from Vumawimbi Beach, which is also a popular recreational spot for island residents. &#8220;According to weekly reports we receive from members of the community, the perimeter wall blocks Makangale villagers&#8217; access to their fishing sites, to the graves of their ancestors, to their football field, and to paths to other villages,&#8221; a representative of Friends of Ngezi told Mongabay&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/works-on-planned-luxury-resort-on-pemba-island-go-ahead-despite-concerns/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315515</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Fishing ‘modernization’ leaves Tanzania’s small-scale crews struggling to stay afloat</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/fishing-modernization-leaves-tanzanias-small-scale-crews-struggling-to-stay-afloat/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/fishing-modernization-leaves-tanzanias-small-scale-crews-struggling-to-stay-afloat/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Dec 2025 00:15:12 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/29170441/28787589160_8cfa4dc2b8_6k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312236</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Development, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Marine, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Overfishing, and Social Justice]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KILWA, Tanzania — For some fishers in Tanzania’s Kilwa district who were among the first to receive fishing boats under a government-sponsored program, the vessels are proving to be a costly burden. The initiative, launched in November 2023 by the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries under President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s administration, was designed to transform [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KILWA, Tanzania — For some fishers in Tanzania’s Kilwa district who were among the first to receive fishing boats under a government-sponsored program, the vessels are proving to be a costly burden. The initiative, launched in November 2023 by the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries under President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s administration, was designed to transform the fishing sector by replacing outdated wooden boats with modern vessels. When Hassan visited Kilwa two months earlier, she pledged that small-scale fishers would receive the boats through low-interest loans. The promise generated excitement among fishing communities long constrained by aging vessels and with limited access to capital to buy new boats. To finance the initiative, the government partnered with the Tanzania Agricultural Development Bank (TADB), which provides concessional loans to fishing groups. The loans come with very low interest rates, offer long repayment periods, and include a grace period of about five to 10 years before repayment begins. “We publish a national announcement when boats become available,” said Mohammed Sheikh, director of fisheries at Tanzania&#8217;s Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries. “Interested cooperatives apply, and once approved, they receive boats that are fully insured and ready for operation.” Each boat’s value depends on its size (typically 5-14 meters, or 16-46 feet), with an average cost of around 80 million shillings ($32,200). The program promised to boost productivity, create jobs and discourage destructive fishing practices, such as the use of dynamite and undersized netting. The latter captures small juvenile fish that haven’t had a chance to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/fishing-modernization-leaves-tanzanias-small-scale-crews-struggling-to-stay-afloat/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312236</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Photos: Top new species from 2025</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/photos-top-new-species-from-2025/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/photos-top-new-species-from-2025/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Dec 2025 14:22:20 +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/20/2025/12/29141103/Screenshot-2025-12-28-at-5.12.22-PM-1-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312133</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Andes, Angola, Atlantic Ocean, Brazil, Cerrado, Global, Himalayas, India, Peru, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Acoustic, Amphibians, Animals, Biodiversity, Captive Breeding, Climate Change, Cloud Forests, Conservation, Deep Sea, Deforestation, DNA, Ecosystem Services, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Farming, Forests, Fungi, Habitat Loss, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Indigenous Peoples, Invasive Species, Marine, Mining, Oceans, Old Growth Forests, Pollution, Protected Areas, Ranching, Research, Science, Snakes, Species, Species Discovery, Swamps, Threatened species, Traditional Knowledge, Traditional People, Trees, Tropical Forests, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The world still holds its secrets. Hidden under wet rocks, in the ocean&#8217;s twilight crevices, and in the minutiae of the genetic code are creatures unknown and unnamed by the human species. Every year, scientists find hundreds of new animals, insects, plants and fungi. This year, researchers described a tiny new marsupial, a new Himalayan [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The world still holds its secrets. Hidden under wet rocks, in the ocean&#8217;s twilight crevices, and in the minutiae of the genetic code are creatures unknown and unnamed by the human species. Every year, scientists find hundreds of new animals, insects, plants and fungi. This year, researchers described a tiny new marsupial, a new Himalayan bat, an ancient tree, a bright blue butterfly, a parrot snake, and a fairy lantern plant, among others. &#8220;I think most people believe that we know most species on Earth,&#8221; Mario Moura, a professor at the Federal University of Paraíba in Brazil, told Mongabay, &#8220;but in the best-case scenario, we know 20% of Earth&#8217;s species.&#8221; Some estimate that only 10% of all the species on the planet have been described. Unfortunately, many species may be threatened with extinction before they’re even formally named — victims of human activities like development and climate change. Some of these species could be food or medicine for humans, but each plays a unique role in Earth’s interconnected web of life. “We’re understanding more and more that every species on the planet has a role, and in one way or another, is linked to our well-being through the part they play in ecosystems,&#8221; said Boris Worm, a marine conservation biologist who co-authored a study that quantifies the number of undescribed species on land and in the ocean. “We can’t protect them … if we don’t know them.&#8221; Atlantic manta ray (Mobula yarae) with a diver off the coast of Mexico. Originally&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/photos-top-new-species-from-2025/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/photos-top-new-species-from-2025/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312133</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New study splits giraffe experts on future wild captures for zoos</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/new-study-splits-giraffe-experts-on-future-wild-captures-for-zoos/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/new-study-splits-giraffe-experts-on-future-wild-captures-for-zoos/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Dec 2025 15:05:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shradha Triveni]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/15141413/5.-Southern-giraffe-c-GCF-Billy-Dodson-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=311371</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Kenya, North America, South Africa, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Captive Breeding, Conservation, Environment, Genetics, Giraffes, Mammals, Species Discovery, Wildlife, and Zoos]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the vast savanna grasslands of sub-Saharan Africa towers the giraffe, draped in mosaics of brown and tan patches. Long regarded as a single species, this iconic African megafauna was recently reclassified by the global wildlife conservation authority IUCN into four distinct species: the northern (Giraffa camelopardalis), reticulated (G. reticulata), Masai (G. tippelskirchi) and southern [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the vast savanna grasslands of sub-Saharan Africa towers the giraffe, draped in mosaics of brown and tan patches. Long regarded as a single species, this iconic African megafauna was recently reclassified by the global wildlife conservation authority IUCN into four distinct species: the northern (Giraffa camelopardalis), reticulated (G. reticulata), Masai (G. tippelskirchi) and southern giraffe (G. giraffa). The tallest living land animal, giraffes wander the open grasslands of Tanzania, South Africa, Kenya and other African nations, as well as appearing in zoos around the world. But their genetic distinctness is largely limited to the wild, as many giraffes held in zoos are now known to be hybrids. Given the new discovery that giraffes aren’t one species but four, the scientific community remains split on how to proceed with conservation, especially in zoos. Hybrid giraffes and conservation A new study argues that excessive hybridization of captive giraffes in North American zoos diminishes their conservation value. The researchers analyzed the genetics of 52 such giraffes and then compared their genes to 63 wild giraffes in Africa. The results found that most giraffes in North America were of mixed ancestry, primarily between northern and reticulated giraffes. Only a few giraffes retained their species’ unmixed genetics. Alfred L. Roca, professor at the Animal Sciences Laboratory at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and lead author of the study, said decades of interbreeding of giraffes in North American zoos has eroded their value as an insurance population. The study shows that offspring of genetically distant&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/new-study-splits-giraffe-experts-on-future-wild-captures-for-zoos/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/new-study-splits-giraffe-experts-on-future-wild-captures-for-zoos/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-311371</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Tanzanian community-led innovation wins global award for boosting conservation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/tanzanian-community-led-innovation-wins-global-award-for-boosting-conservation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/tanzanian-community-led-innovation-wins-global-award-for-boosting-conservation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Dec 2025 11:08:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Joyce Bazira]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Lemae Mortimer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/16110753/e53b6d28-ab83-4ff2-990f-e72d14cabe24-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310815</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation Technology, data, Grasslands, Technology, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Pastoralists in rural Tanzania have been recognized globally for applying a blend of local knowledge and new technology in efforts to restore degraded land and provide pasture. The community-led project dubbed Sustainable Rangelands Initiative, developed by African People &#38; Wildlife (APW), won in the NatureTech Stewards category at the inaugural IUCN Tech4Nature Awards, held during [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Pastoralists in rural Tanzania have been recognized globally for applying a blend of local knowledge and new technology in efforts to restore degraded land and provide pasture. The community-led project dubbed Sustainable Rangelands Initiative, developed by African People &amp; Wildlife (APW), won in the NatureTech Stewards category at the inaugural IUCN Tech4Nature Awards, held during the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Abu Dhabi last October. The Sustainable Rangelands Initiative (SRI) has been implemented in Northern and Central Tanzania, in Simanjiro, Babati, Longido, Same, Monduli, Ngorogoro, and Mwanga districts. APW’s Director of Community Conservation and Environment Neovitus Sianga says this was because the areas are crucial for livestock and wildlife activities. Under this initiative by APW and the local community, local grazing committees and trained community grassland monitors use mobile phones to collect information about water sources, vegetation cover, grass growth rates, soil health and invasive species. Nasma Mustafa, a Rangeland Monitor from Engaluka Village, describes the key steps: “We use a measuring tape, a rope and a phone. The rope is stretched over 100 meters on the ground, at the same level with a measuring tape with five marks. We then observe which of the five marks touches vegetation and which ones touch bare ground. The information collected is transferred to a form through phones. This is repeated until a targeted area is covered. The collected data is transmitted to the community grazing committee for further steps.” The data is channeled to central village level technology centers and used to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/tanzanian-community-led-innovation-wins-global-award-for-boosting-conservation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/tanzanian-community-led-innovation-wins-global-award-for-boosting-conservation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310815</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Zanzibar must act to conserve its natural &#038; cultural heritage for the future (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/zanzibar-must-act-to-conserve-its-natural-cultural-heritage-for-the-future-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/zanzibar-must-act-to-conserve-its-natural-cultural-heritage-for-the-future-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Oct 2025 14:46:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Tim Caro]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/22131650/Zanzibar-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=308126</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, Indian Ocean, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Commentary, Conservation, Development, Ecotourism, Governance, Islands, Protected Areas, Sustainable Development, and Tourism]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Zanzibar has a reputation as an island paradise in the Indian Ocean. Lying 20 kilometers (12 miles) off the East African mainland, it is governed as a semiautonomous zone of the United Republic of Tanzania and consists of two large islands — Unguja (1,666 square kilometers, or 643 square miles) to the south, and Pemba [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Zanzibar has a reputation as an island paradise in the Indian Ocean. Lying 20 kilometers (12 miles) off the East African mainland, it is governed as a semiautonomous zone of the United Republic of Tanzania and consists of two large islands — Unguja (1,666 square kilometers, or 643 square miles) to the south, and Pemba (988 km2, or 381 mi2) to the north, each with several small outlying islets mostly on their western sides. The archipelago is one of the most densely populated areas of Africa, with a total population of 1.9 million, according to the 2022 census. With a 3.8% annual population growth rate and mean household size of five people, there is immense pressure on natural resources. Nonetheless, the archipelago still has unique tropical broadleaf coastal forests, old-growth trees, and mangroves with rare and endemic species. Moreover, communities are still largely forest-dependent. A decision fork has emerged between development and conservation on these islands: over the last 30 years, a huge tourism industry has developed on Unguja with its sandy beaches (more than 500 hotels), although not on Pemba with its mainly rocky coastline (with approximately 20 hotels). The archipelago now receives more than 100,000 visitors a month in the holiday season, and the 106,108 visitors in July 2025 represented a 31% increase from 2024. Most of these visitors go to Unguja, where much of the tourist development has occurred with little consideration for the environment. Examples include new tarmac roads running through the protected Masingini Forest Reserve,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/zanzibar-must-act-to-conserve-its-natural-cultural-heritage-for-the-future-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-308126</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Tanzanian conservationists mourn death of plant expert Aloyce Mwakisoma</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/tanzanian-conservationists-mourn-death-of-plant-expert-aloyce-mwakisoma/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/tanzanian-conservationists-mourn-death-of-plant-expert-aloyce-mwakisoma/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Oct 2025 13:56:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ryan Truscott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/13134641/c05f14d2-b700-45d2-b3ab-bd9f0aeaac4e-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307500</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Forests, Obituary, Rainforests, Research, Saving Rainforests, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Tanzanian conservationists are mourning the tragic death of renowned plant expert Aloyce Mwakisoma, who played a critical role in forest restoration and recently helped identify and describe a giant new species of rainforest tree. Mwakisoma, 45, was struck and killed by a bus on Oct. 6 near the village of Sanje, in Tanzania’s Udzungwa Mountains. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Tanzanian conservationists are mourning the tragic death of renowned plant expert Aloyce Mwakisoma, who played a critical role in forest restoration and recently helped identify and describe a giant new species of rainforest tree. Mwakisoma, 45, was struck and killed by a bus on Oct. 6 near the village of Sanje, in Tanzania’s Udzungwa Mountains. It was on the same day he had visited family members to share news about his imminent church wedding to longtime partner Salma Jabili. Mwakisoma was born and raised in the Kilombero Valley, near the Udzungwa Mountains, an isolated massif in eastern Tanzania that’s part of a chain known as the Eastern Arc. As the son of a hunter, Mwakisoma acquired a profound knowledge of the region&#8217;s plants and animals. When hunting was formally outlawed, following the establishment of Udzungwa Mountains National Park in 1992, Mwakisoma&#8217;s father, Langsom, became a research assistant, working with scientists studying the massif&#8217;s treasure trove of biodiversity. As a young boy, Mwakisoma would accompany his father and the researchers. Aloyce Mwakisoma, left, and Pastory Njekela, former nurseries manager at Udzungwa Corridor, working on plans for future seed collections for the reforestation project. Image courtesy of Andrea Bianchi. Mngeta Valley, Udzungwa Mountains, Tanzania. Image by Andrea Bianchi. He later became a research assistant himself. During one notable early assignment 15 years ago, Mwakisoma was tasked with following a troop of Udzungwa red colobus monkeys (Piliocolobus gordonorum) on a daily basis. One afternoon, during the hottest time of the day, both he&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/tanzanian-conservationists-mourn-death-of-plant-expert-aloyce-mwakisoma/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-307500</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Scientists rethink Serengeti migration numbers with satellite, AI tools</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/scientists-rethink-serengeti-migration-numbers-with-satellite-ai-tools/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/scientists-rethink-serengeti-migration-numbers-with-satellite-ai-tools/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Oct 2025 14:19:30 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhishyant Kidangoor]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhishyantkidangoor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/03125638/charl-durand-Yu8GhTbbmc-unsplash-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307041</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, Kenya, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Artificial Intelligence, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Environment, Mammals, Migration, Research, Satellite Imagery, Technology, Wildlife, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[If you’ve watched The Lion King, you probably remember the scene where Mufasa falls into and is trampled by a massive herd of stampeding wildebeests. In real life, as one of the largest mammal migrations in the world, it’s as hectic as it is on the screen. However, a recent AI-powered satellite survey found that [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[If you’ve watched The Lion King, you probably remember the scene where Mufasa falls into and is trampled by a massive herd of stampeding wildebeests. In real life, as one of the largest mammal migrations in the world, it’s as hectic as it is on the screen. However, a recent AI-powered satellite survey found that the actual number of wildebeests migrating across the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem might not be as high as the million-plus figure widely cited for the past half-century. A study published in the journal PNAS Nexus described how a team of scientists used satellite imagery and deep-learning models to find there were “fewer than 600,000 individuals — approximately half the widely cited estimate of 1.3 million wildebeest, which has remained largely unchanged since the 1970s.” “We&#8217;re not trying to say that there&#8217;s 700,000 that have died or that they&#8217;re missing,” Isla Duporge, one of the lead authors of the study and a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University in the U.S., told Mongabay in a video interview. “We were surprised to find so many fewer compared to findings from aerial surveys. We&#8217;re just opening up the question as to why different methods are producing rather different results.” Wildebeests, along with zebras and other animals, follow the rains and migrate in a circular path through Kenya and Tanzania. They travel 800 kilometers (500 miles) during each cycle in pursuit of areas with better food and grass. The migration is crucial for the ecosystem as the animals fertilize the soil while&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/scientists-rethink-serengeti-migration-numbers-with-satellite-ai-tools/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-307041</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Jane Goodall (1934–2025): primatologist, conservationist, and messenger of hope</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/jane-goodall-1934-2025-primatologist-conservationist-and-messenger-of-hope/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/jane-goodall-1934-2025-primatologist-conservationist-and-messenger-of-hope/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Oct 2025 23:15:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/01215754/Jane-Goodall-credit-Michael-Neugebauer-2560x1720-bw-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=306934</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[California, Global, Tanzania, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Chimpanzees, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Heroes, Green, Jane Goodall, Obituary, and Primates]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Jane Goodall, who revealed the intimate lives of chimpanzees and gave the modern world a language of hope, has died at the age of 91. Over the course of six decades, she moved from an unlikely young researcher in the forests of East Africa to one of the most recognizable scientists and conservationists of her [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Jane Goodall, who revealed the intimate lives of chimpanzees and gave the modern world a language of hope, has died at the age of 91. Over the course of six decades, she moved from an unlikely young researcher in the forests of East Africa to one of the most recognizable scientists and conservationists of her time. Her patient fieldwork at Gombe transformed primatology, overturning entrenched beliefs about the uniqueness of humans and forcing science to reckon with animal minds. She went on to found the Jane Goodall Institute, launch sanctuaries and community programs across Africa, and inspire millions through her Roots &amp; Shoots movement for young people. Her influence reached far beyond science: she became a United Nations Messenger of Peace, an advocate for animal welfare, and a tireless voice for conservation at a time of mounting global crisis. Yet through all of this she remained known simply as “Jane,” a figure who insisted that hope was not naïve but necessary. Jane Goodall in 2024. Courtesy of the Jane Goodall Institute. When she stepped into the forests of Gombe, on the shores of Lake Tanganyika in Tanzania in 1960, she carried little more than a notebook, binoculars, and an unlikely determination. She was not a scientist by training, but a young woman from Bournemouth with a childhood fascination for Africa, encouraged by a mother who told her never to give up. Within a few years she had overturned long-held certainties. Her observations showed that chimpanzees were not mere instinctive creatures&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/jane-goodall-1934-2025-primatologist-conservationist-and-messenger-of-hope/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-306934</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How AI helps conservationists better understand and protect giraffes</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/how-ai-helps-conservationists-better-understand-and-protect-giraffes/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/how-ai-helps-conservationists-better-understand-and-protect-giraffes/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Sep 2025 07:33:45 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhishyant Kidangoor]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhishyantkidangoor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/16072423/reticulated-giraffes-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=306053</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Artificial Intelligence, Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Endangered Species, Environment, Mammals, Technology, Ungulates, Wildlife, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Monica Bond and Derek Lee’s “love and obsession” for giraffes started during a trip to Uganda in 2005. Since then, they said, their mission was clear: return to Africa and lead the “world’s greatest giraffe study.” Five years later, the duo co-founded the nonprofit Wild Nature Institute, based in Tanzania, where the Masai giraffe (Giraffa [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Monica Bond and Derek Lee’s “love and obsession” for giraffes started during a trip to Uganda in 2005. Since then, they said, their mission was clear: return to Africa and lead the “world’s greatest giraffe study.” Five years later, the duo co-founded the nonprofit Wild Nature Institute, based in Tanzania, where the Masai giraffe (Giraffa tippelskirchi) is the national animal. Here, their team has focused on identifying individual giraffes based on the unique patterns on their bodies. For years, the team did the work manually, after which they experimented with different iterations of technology. Neither approach yielded the results they were looking for, however. Now, artificial intelligence models — developed in collaboration with Microsoft’s AI For Good Lab — are helping the team speed up their work. Project GIRAFFE (Generalized Image-based Re-identification using AI for Fauna Feature Extraction) is an AI-based, open-source tool that’s helping Bond and Lee efficiently identify and re-identify individual giraffes. “It can now be done in minutes, and we can have the output the same day we collect the data,” Lee told Mongabay in a video interview. Identifying individual giraffes, and being able to subsequently re-identify them, is crucial to understanding the areas that are important for their survival. It’s an urgent task, given how giraffe populations have declined in the last few decades primarily due to habitat loss and poaching. Moreover, protecting giraffe habitats serve a larger purpose for the ecosystem. “Giraffes take up a lot of space themselves,” Lee said. “If you can protect&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/how-ai-helps-conservationists-better-understand-and-protect-giraffes/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/how-ai-helps-conservationists-better-understand-and-protect-giraffes/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-306053</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A forest garden project attempts to expand into the Sahel</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/a-forest-garden-project-attempts-to-expand-into-the-sahel/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/a-forest-garden-project-attempts-to-expand-into-the-sahel/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Jul 2025 06:00:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Victoria Schneider]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/24214056/20231115_UNEP_Decade-on-Ecosystem-Restoration_African-Farmers-Transforming-Food-System_Senegal_Todd-Brown_14-e1753393737352-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=303161</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, Kenya, Mali, Sahel, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation, Adaptation To Climate Change, Agriculture, Agroforestry, Climate Change, Conservation, Crops, Degraded Lands, Drought, Dry Forests, Erosion, Extreme Weather, Farming, Food, Hunger, Land Use Change, Monocultures, Natural Resources, Plants, Poverty, Poverty Alleviation, Reforestation, Trees, and Water Scarcity]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Drought, irregular rainfall, deforestation, and the legacy of unsustainable human activities have left vast areas across the arid and semiarid regions of sub-Saharan Africa degraded, causing major challenges for the human population. According to environmentalists, one solution to this problem might be forest gardens. These “gardens” use regenerative agroforestry to revive patches of degraded agricultural [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Drought, irregular rainfall, deforestation, and the legacy of unsustainable human activities have left vast areas across the arid and semiarid regions of sub-Saharan Africa degraded, causing major challenges for the human population. According to environmentalists, one solution to this problem might be forest gardens. These “gardens” use regenerative agroforestry to revive patches of degraded agricultural land. In 2024, the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) selected a project led by Trees for the Future (TREES), a U.S.-based NGO, as one of seven world restoration flagships for its “forest garden approach” used in five countries in sub-Saharan Africa. These flagships promote restoration projects around the world that show potential to tackle challenges at scale and provide financial support. “Forest gardens promote healthy soil and diverse crops, leading to increased income and access to healthier food,” Enoch Makobi, country director for TREES in Uganda, told Mongabay. “Farmers are fighting climate change and can overcome poverty and hunger.” While NGO leaders say they’re optimistic about the outcomes of the project so far and their plans for expansion, some other conservationists have expressed skepticism, pointing to a lack of scientific evidence on impacts and the difficulty international NGOs face in tackling local problems and needs. A forest garden is a modern term for an ancient agroforestry model that mixes shrubs, herbs, vines, fruit and nut trees, and perennial vegetables, with the aim of supplying communities with food, medicine and animal feed. According to scientists, forest gardens can have significant&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/a-forest-garden-project-attempts-to-expand-into-the-sahel/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-303161</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Down on the ranch with Mafia Island’s free-range sea cucumbers</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/down-on-the-ranch-with-mafia-islands-free-range-sea-cucumbers/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/down-on-the-ranch-with-mafia-islands-free-range-sea-cucumbers/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 May 2025 18:31:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ashoka Mukpo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/12181237/Mpogo1-4-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=298968</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Aquaculture, Conservation, Deep Sea, Endangered Species, Environment, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Oceans, and Poaching]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MAFIA ISLAND, Tanzania — His white beard streaming in the turquoise waters, Waziri Mpogo dives under the surface a few hundred meters offshore of a palm-lined beach. Holding his breath, he heads for the seagrass below, emerging with a slimy yellow tube in his hand. It’s prickly and thick, about 15 centimeters (6 inches) long [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MAFIA ISLAND, Tanzania — His white beard streaming in the turquoise waters, Waziri Mpogo dives under the surface a few hundred meters offshore of a palm-lined beach. Holding his breath, he heads for the seagrass below, emerging with a slimy yellow tube in his hand. It’s prickly and thick, about 15 centimeters (6 inches) long with a small hole at one end. He points at it excitedly as he swims back up. This is a sea cucumber — a Thelenota ananas, or “pineapple” sea cucumber, to be exact. It’s one of hundreds that roam free-range on the seabed here at Mpogo Ocean Ranching Ltd, off the coast of Tanzania’s Mafia Island. It might not look like it, but this slug-like bottom-feeder is one of the most valuable species in the East African ocean. Because of that, it’s been poached to the edge of extinction here and across the world. This 67-hectare (166-acre) underwater ranch is part of Tanzania’s efforts to get the sea cucumber trade under control and help their population recover. Waziri Mpogo diving in his sea cucumber ranch on Mafia Island. Image by Ashoka Mukpo for Mongabay. Mpogo holds the undulating cylinder above the surface, grinning. He’s 67 and heavyset with an elder’s bearing, but in the water he’s almost childlike, darting in and out of the seagrass and teasing crabs as he tracks down his herd, which he deposits into a bucket on a small boat nearby. They call him the “father” of sea cucumber ranching here,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/down-on-the-ranch-with-mafia-islands-free-range-sea-cucumbers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-298968</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New strategy launched to protect Tanzanian biodiversity hotspot</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/new-strategy-launched-to-protect-tanzanian-biodiversity-hotspot/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/new-strategy-launched-to-protect-tanzanian-biodiversity-hotspot/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Apr 2025 09:57:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ryan Truscott]]>
						</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/20/2025/04/02093002/One-of-approximately-200-individuals-of-the-kipunji-monkey-in-the-Udzungwa-Mountains_A.-Jarrett-SMALL-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296900</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Carbon Credits, climate finance, Community Development, Community Forests, Conservation, Conservation Finance, Deforestation, Ecosystems, Environment, Forest Carbon, Forest Recovery, Forests, Habitat Degradation, Rainforests, Sustainable Development, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Conservationists have launched a 20-year-long project to protect what is arguably Tanzania’s most biologically rich landscape: the Udzungwa Mountains. The strategy places notable emphasis on communities living here, with more than half of its budget allocated to social and economic projects and managing human-wildlife conflict. The Udzungwa Mountains’ evergreen forests, woodlands and grasslands are home [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Conservationists have launched a 20-year-long project to protect what is arguably Tanzania’s most biologically rich landscape: the Udzungwa Mountains. The strategy places notable emphasis on communities living here, with more than half of its budget allocated to social and economic projects and managing human-wildlife conflict. The Udzungwa Mountains’ evergreen forests, woodlands and grasslands are home to plants and animals found nowhere else on Earth. Scientists, however, estimate that over the last 2,000 years the massif has lost more than three-quarters of its forest cover. In the past century, expansion of small-scale farming, tea and exotic timber plantations, and hardwood logging have been primary drivers of deforestation. Udzungwa red colobus. Image courtesy Trevor Jones. A forest research camp in the Udzungwa Mountains. Image courtesy Nikolaj Scharff. While the rate of forest loss has slowed in some areas since 1992, when formal conservation areas were established, Trevor Jones, director of strategy and development at the Southern Tanzania Elephant Program (STEP), says the goal now is to halt deforestation entirely, and eventually reverse it. The Udzungwa Landscape Strategy (ULS) was launched in October last year. A collaborative effort between conservation groups, government agencies and communities, the ULS aims to safeguard three key protected areas in Udzungwa, the largest among a dozen isolated massifs in the Eastern Arc, a mountain chain stretching between Tanzania and Kenya. “The opportunity that we saw, that we wanted to focus on, was the protection of these three core protected areas, which is only about 60% of the area&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/new-strategy-launched-to-protect-tanzanian-biodiversity-hotspot/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-296900</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Chain-link fencing protects livestock from big cat attacks in Tanzania: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/chain-link-fencing-protects-livestock-from-big-cat-attacks-in-tanzania-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/chain-link-fencing-protects-livestock-from-big-cat-attacks-in-tanzania-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Mar 2025 11:27:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gilbert Nakweya]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Ochieng' Ogodo]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/31133122/1280px-Lion_Ruaha_National_Park_9_28407027344-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296737</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Big Cats, Carnivores, Cattle, Fences, Human-wildlife Conflict, Lions, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[NAIROBI ― For the last two decades, Matambire Mgemaa, a pastoralist in southern Tanzania in the environs of Ruaha National Park, nighttime has meant staying vigilant to protect his goats, sheep and cattle from lion and leopard attacks in an area that is home to 10% of the world’s wild lions. “This [is] a hectic [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[NAIROBI ― For the last two decades, Matambire Mgemaa, a pastoralist in southern Tanzania in the environs of Ruaha National Park, nighttime has meant staying vigilant to protect his goats, sheep and cattle from lion and leopard attacks in an area that is home to 10% of the world’s wild lions. “This [is] a hectic task. … I [spend] the whole day with the livestock outside, making sure they are fed, but I cannot sleep at night because I will lose them,” Mgemaa says. Because of their excellent night vision, which enables them to hunt more successfully in low light, lions, leopards and hyenas are mostly active at night, the time for their dinner. But a new study published this month in Conservation Letters has found that multiple medium- or high-density fortified enclosures in a neighborhood can shield livestock from the marauding carnivores, as they avoid such areas. The researchers reveal that such fortified pens not only help those who have them reduce attacks on their livestock but also those of their neighbors. In southern Tanzania, a key landscape for large carnivore conservation, agropastoralists keep livestock in fenced compounds at night and herd them to community grazing lands during the day. On average, Mgemaa and his neighbors have lost two of their livestock weekly to the carnivores, but the attacks have drastically reduced. Early in 2024, Mgemaa constructed a chain-link corral to prevent his livestock from being raided in the night by carnivores. Winston Mtandamo, field operations manager at conservation&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/chain-link-fencing-protects-livestock-from-big-cat-attacks-in-tanzania-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-296737</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Tanzania’s marine reserves offer long-term benefits to communities, study finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/tanzanias-marine-reserves-offer-long-term-benefits-to-communities-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/tanzanias-marine-reserves-offer-long-term-benefits-to-communities-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Mar 2025 15:13:30 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mark DeGraff]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/24115723/34848229512_51b036554c_k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296340</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Community Development, Fishing, Marine, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, and Protected Areas]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Marine protected areas in Tanzania boosted living standards in nearby communities over a span of nearly 20 years, a recent study in Conservation Letters found. Near MPAs, living standards improved, and there was a shift away from agricultural work, said study author Julia Girard, a Ph.D. student in environmental economics at the University of Montpellier, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Marine protected areas in Tanzania boosted living standards in nearby communities over a span of nearly 20 years, a recent study in Conservation Letters found. Near MPAs, living standards improved, and there was a shift away from agricultural work, said study author Julia Girard, a Ph.D. student in environmental economics at the University of Montpellier, France. How marine reserves fare in conservation and community development is an important question for Tanzania, where 20% of the population is heavily dependent on fisheries for food and income. The country established five multiuse MPAs in the 1990s, which allow fishing with additional rules designed to promote sustainability. Scientists have identified MPAs where regulated fishing activity is permitted as powerful tools to help Tanzania and other nations protect 30% of their oceans by 2030 without denying fishers their livelihoods. To see how these MPAs have impacted local development, the research team surveyed 840 households in 24 villages in 2021, asking questions about employment, fishing history, standard of living, and perceptions about the marine reserves. They then compared the data with the results of a similar survey conducted in 2003. This is one of just a few studies documenting the long-term impacts of multiuse MPAs on local development. All villages surveyed saw their living conditions, as measured by 18 variables including home ownership, food security and access to refrigeration, improve between 2003 and 2021. But residents in settlements within 5 kilometers (3 miles) of a protected area saw their standard of living improve significantly more&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/tanzanias-marine-reserves-offer-long-term-benefits-to-communities-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-296340</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘3,000 year-old’ trees in Tanzania are new species</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/3000-year-old-trees-in-tanzania-are-new-species/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/3000-year-old-trees-in-tanzania-are-new-species/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Mar 2025 05:17:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ryan Truscott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/20045623/Tessmannia.princeps_MngetaValleyTanzania_AndreaBianchi-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=295298</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Forestry, Forests, Happy-upbeat Environmental, and Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Botanist Andrea Bianchi and local plant experts Aloyce Mwakisoma and his brother Ruben were exploring two tiny village forest reserves in the Udzungwa mountains in 2019, when they stumbled upon some imposing trees. Bianchi turned to the Mwakisoma brothers for advice, but even they had never seen this kind of tree before. “This was already [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Botanist Andrea Bianchi and local plant experts Aloyce Mwakisoma and his brother Ruben were exploring two tiny village forest reserves in the Udzungwa mountains in 2019, when they stumbled upon some imposing trees. Bianchi turned to the Mwakisoma brothers for advice, but even they had never seen this kind of tree before. “This was already quite a shiver-down-your-back moment because if they didn’t know [the species], it could have been something interesting,” the botanist recalls. The trees have now been identified as a new species, and named Tessmannia princeps. Some of them could be up to 3,000 years old. In total, Bianchi and his companions found around 100 mature T. princeps trees in the Boma la Mzinga and Uluti Village Land Forest Reserves. They say this small population and tiny distribution makes them vulnerable to extinction. The trees’ specific name – princeps – comes from the Latin word for “most eminent”, a reference to their crowns that protrude through the forest canopy as they grow up to 40 meters above the ground supported by large buttress roots. Other similar trees from the Tessmannia genus are more commonly associated with the rainforests of West Africa. Aloyce Mwakisoma with a Tessmannia princeps leaf sample. Image by Andrea Bianchi. The team found an individual tree that had fallen from natural causes and took samples to test the wood density. In a single centimeter of wood extracted from its core, Bianchi counted 12-15 rings. Trees normally deposit rings at a rate of one per&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/3000-year-old-trees-in-tanzania-are-new-species/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-295298</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Forest of rare trees in Zanzibar now earmarked for ‘eco-resort’</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/forest-of-rare-trees-in-zanzibar-now-earmarked-for-eco-resort/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/forest-of-rare-trees-in-zanzibar-now-earmarked-for-eco-resort/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Feb 2025 12:48:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ryan Truscott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/13114632/Anthocleista_PembaIslandTanzania_RyanTruscott-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=294321</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Islands, Mammals, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MICHEWENI, Tanzania — Botanists have found a stand of rare trees in Tanzania’s Zanzibar archipelago not known to grow wild anywhere else in Africa. The intsia trees (Intsia bijuga) were found growing within moist coastal forest in the north of Ngezi Forest Reserve on the island of Pemba. Worryingly, the area is earmarked for the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MICHEWENI, Tanzania — Botanists have found a stand of rare trees in Tanzania’s Zanzibar archipelago not known to grow wild anywhere else in Africa. The intsia trees (Intsia bijuga) were found growing within moist coastal forest in the north of Ngezi Forest Reserve on the island of Pemba. Worryingly, the area is earmarked for the first phase of a new “eco-resort.” Earthmoving equipment and tipper trucks are already stationed near the forest, Mongabay witnessed. “It is the only place in Africa where Intsia dominates a forest formation,” says Andrea Bianchi, a consultant tropical botanist. He, fellow botanist Simone Orsenigo and plant taxonomist Giacomo Baldesi from the University of Pavia, Italy, conducted plant surveys throughout Ngezi in early December. The trio found 80 plants never before recorded in Pemba. “This coastal forest is really interesting, it’s super-rich [in plant species],” Bianchi says. Some of the plants are potentially new to science, including a tiny white ground orchid found by Orsenigo that stands a few centimeters above the forest floor. The orchids are thought to be a species of Disporis, a genus also known from the Eastern Arc Mountains on the Tanzanian mainland. “It may be a montane species that evolved into something unique,” Bianchi says. “It’s very much restricted to this little patch of forest.” A Dec. 2024 botanical survey of the Ngezi reserve found 80 plant species never before recorded. Some may even be new to science, including this ground orchid found growing in a patch of moist coastal forest&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/forest-of-rare-trees-in-zanzibar-now-earmarked-for-eco-resort/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-294321</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Meet the giant rats fighting wildlife trafficking</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/meet-the-giant-rats-fighting-wildlife-trafficking/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/meet-the-giant-rats-fighting-wildlife-trafficking/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Feb 2025 18:12:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Lucia Torres]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/12064806/DSCF1073-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=294215</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animal Intelligence, Conservation, Crime, Endangered Species, Videos, Wildlife, Wildlife consumption, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MOROGORO, Tanzania — Often dismissed as pests, rats have long been misunderstood. But the African giant pouched rat (Cricetomys ansorgei), the world’s longest, is challenging that perception. With its intelligence and super sense of smell, this species has captured the interest of scientists in Tanzania, who now plan to use it as a crime fighter [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[MOROGORO, Tanzania — Often dismissed as pests, rats have long been misunderstood. But the African giant pouched rat (Cricetomys ansorgei), the world’s longest, is challenging that perception. With its intelligence and super sense of smell, this species has captured the interest of scientists in Tanzania, who now plan to use it as a crime fighter against illegally trafficked wildlife parts. This story starts in the 1990s, when industrial engineer Bart Weetjens was looking for viable technologies to detect landmines in countries in the Global South. He then had a thought: Why not use rats? They’re cheap, possess remarkable olfactory systems, and are social and intelligent animals, contrary to popular belief. And so Weetjens founded APOPO, a nonprofit rat training organization based in the Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) in Tanzania, home to the largest and longest-living rat species. Some of the African giant pouched rats trained by APOPO can live up to a decade, while typical domestic rats typically live only two to four years. This longer lifespan, along with their exceptional sense of smell, has made the African giant pouched rat of invaluable service for many years in various projects. Previous generations of these giant rats have successfully assisted in landmine detection, which was Weetjens&#8217;s initial goal, and in detecting tuberculosis. Now, the rats have been trained for a new project, focusing on tackling the illegal wildlife trade. In its final trial stages, trainers have worked with the first cohort of wildlife detection rats. A wildlife detection rat looks&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/meet-the-giant-rats-fighting-wildlife-trafficking/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-294215</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>World Bank cancels $150m tourism project in Tanzania after abuse claims</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/world-bank-cancels-150m-tourism-project-in-tanzania-after-abuse-claims/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/world-bank-cancels-150m-tourism-project-in-tanzania-after-abuse-claims/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Jan 2025 09:22:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ashoka Mukpo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/01/23091241/53832385583_cf8847e261_c-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=293292</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Environmental Law, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Protected Areas, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The World Bank has cancelled a $150 million project to boost tourism to Tanzania’s Ruaha National Park, following allegations of human rights abuses by park authorities. Under the Tanzanian government’s plans to expand Ruaha, 21,000 local people could be displaced. The Oakland Institute, a U.S.-based advocacy group, called the decision to cancel the project a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[The World Bank has cancelled a $150 million project to boost tourism to Tanzania’s Ruaha National Park, following allegations of human rights abuses by park authorities. Under the Tanzanian government’s plans to expand Ruaha, 21,000 local people could be displaced. The Oakland Institute, a U.S.-based advocacy group, called the decision to cancel the project a “landmark victory” for people living in and near Ruaha. The project, called Resilient Natural Resource Management for Tourism and Growth (REGROW), was designed to help generate tourism revenues at Ruaha and other parks in Tanzania’s south, which receive fewer visitors than the better-known Serengeti and Ngorongoro parks in the north. In 2008, the Tanzanian government issued an edict that doubled Ruaha’s size, confirming the decision again in 2022. Following through on the plan could require the eviction of tens of thousands of villagers. The Oakland Institute and local people allege that rangers from TANAPA, the national parks agency, waged a campaign of intimidation against pastoralists and farmers inside the expansion zone, using tactics such as extrajudicial killings, confiscation of cattle, and disappearances. In 2023, the Oakland Institute helped two of the area’s residents file a complaint against REGROW with the World Bank’s Inspection Panel, in which they accused the bank of failing to follow its internal safeguard policies. The bank sent a delegation to investigate the claims raised in the complaint and suspended funding to REGROW in April 2024. In November 2024, the project was officially closed at the request of the Tanzanian government, a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/world-bank-cancels-150m-tourism-project-in-tanzania-after-abuse-claims/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-293292</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘An oval with legs’: In search of Tanzania’s tiny island antelope</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/an-oval-with-legs-in-search-of-tanzanias-tiny-island-antelope/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/an-oval-with-legs-in-search-of-tanzanias-tiny-island-antelope/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Jan 2025 20:54:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ryan Truscott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/01/20202944/BlueDuiker.Philantomba.monticola_DerekKeatsWikimediaBYSA2.0-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=293177</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Forests, Mammals, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PEMBA ISLAND, Tanzania — Pemba Island’s Ngezi Forest Reserve, a complex of moist evergreen and coastal forests, mangroves and heathland in the Zanzibar archipelago, is the last refuge of the Pemba blue duiker . But are there any of these tiny antelopes still alive? Philantomba monticola pembae, or paa wa pemba as it’s known locally, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PEMBA ISLAND, Tanzania — Pemba Island’s Ngezi Forest Reserve, a complex of moist evergreen and coastal forests, mangroves and heathland in the Zanzibar archipelago, is the last refuge of the Pemba blue duiker . But are there any of these tiny antelopes still alive? Philantomba monticola pembae, or paa wa pemba as it’s known locally, is believed to be a subspecies of the blue duiker (Philantomba monticola), a small antelope widely distributed throughout East, Southern and Central Africa. While the Pemba blue duiker may resemble its mainland cousins, the island&#8217;s long separation may have created conditions for the animal to become something genetically unique. &#8220;When species end up in a place under similar ecological pressure, morphologically they can stay similar to the original population, even if they&#8217;ve been isolated for a million years,&#8221; said Michele Menegon, a conservationist and herpetologist based in the mainland Tanzanian city of Arusha. &#8220;An oval with legs and two little horns — there are not many features that can change.&#8221; The diminutive blue duiker, standing just 30 centimeters (12 inches) at the shoulder, belongs to the Bovidae family of mammals, notable for its much larger members. &#8220;Basically it&#8217;s the same family as the buffalo, but probably only weighs the same as the tongue of a buffalo,&#8221; said Menegon, who was helping to survey wildlife in early December alongside the Oikos Institute, an Italian nonprofit working with the Zanzibar government to manage the Ngezi reserve. The Pemba blue duiker lives in dense undergrowth in Ngezi’s tall,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/an-oval-with-legs-in-search-of-tanzanias-tiny-island-antelope/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-293177</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Growing conservation and community: Interview with Ngezi reserve chief</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/growing-a-conservation-minded-community-interview-with-ngezi-reserve-chief/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/growing-a-conservation-minded-community-interview-with-ngezi-reserve-chief/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Jan 2025 20:53:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ryan Truscott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/01/20145449/Pemba_Khamis_portrait-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=293162</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Forests, Mammals, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The people living around the Ngezi Forest Reserve on Pemba Island, off the coast of Tanzania, depend on its resources for many things: timber for building materials, a place to gather firewood and hunt animals for food, and sometimes pasture for cows or goats. Khamis Ali Khamis is the acting chief-in-charge of the 2,900-hectare (7,200-acre) [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The people living around the Ngezi Forest Reserve on Pemba Island, off the coast of Tanzania, depend on its resources for many things: timber for building materials, a place to gather firewood and hunt animals for food, and sometimes pasture for cows or goats. Khamis Ali Khamis is the acting chief-in-charge of the 2,900-hectare (7,200-acre) reserve. Leading a small team of forest guards, he has the difficult job of protecting the reserve from illegal activity, while also balancing the needs of tens of thousands of local villagers who depend on it. Khamis was born on the Zanzibar archipelago’s biggest island, Unguja, where he trained as a teacher, obtained a diploma in forestry, and ran his own butterfly farm. Later, he spent 10 years as a volunteer guide at Unguja’s Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park. He moved to Pemba Island to take up his current role six years ago. Khamis spoke to Mongabay about the challenges of the work and his vision for the forest. The conversation was lightly edited for length and clarity. Mongabay: How do the needs of surrounding communities affect your work as a forest guard? Because it&#8217;s your job to protect the forest, and yet the community depends on the forest for resources. So is there conflict? Khamis Ali Khamis: That is a big challenge facing us because we have some trees which are very good for furniture, like iroko (Milicia excelsa), like intsia (Intsia bijuga) — these are the trees that local people like to cut&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/growing-a-conservation-minded-community-interview-with-ngezi-reserve-chief/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-293162</doi>				</item>
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