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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/uganda/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Thu, 30 Jul 2026 12:27:18 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<title>Uganda environmental news</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/uganda/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>A trailblazing Ugandan championing women in African fisheries: Q&#038;A with Lovin Kobusingye</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/a-trailblazing-ugandan-championing-women-in-african-fisheries-qa-with-lovin-kobusingye/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/a-trailblazing-ugandan-championing-women-in-african-fisheries-qa-with-lovin-kobusingye/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Jun 2026 13:45:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David Akana]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/26090506/Ghana_-women-in-fisheries_a6c5141cc54bf13eb3cff9f60a7e5c1b-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321885</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Freshwater Fish, Governance, Illegal Fishing, Marine Animals, Oceans, and Overfishing]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Speaking at a gathering of ocean conservation groups and development practitioners in Watamu, Kenya, Lovin Kobusingye had a simple message: The women who catch, process and sell fish are still largely missing from conversations about Africa&#8217;s growing blue economy. For Kobusingye, the challenges facing women in fisheries are part of her everyday life. “My reality [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Speaking at a gathering of ocean conservation groups and development practitioners in Watamu, Kenya, Lovin Kobusingye had a simple message: The women who catch, process and sell fish are still largely missing from conversations about Africa&#8217;s growing blue economy. For Kobusingye, the challenges facing women in fisheries are part of her everyday life. “My reality every day is that I wake up to an industrial person taking over my landing place, taking over my fishing zone,” she told the audience, describing how tourism developments and other coastal investments increasingly compete with traditional fishing communities for access to the sea. Kobusingye said many women face dangers in the fisheries sector, poor working conditions and growing pressure from developments that compete for access to the coast. In some communities, traditional rights are overlooked by the government; while rising seas, erosion and declining fish catches are making an already difficult livelihood even harder, she told the attendees of the meeting organized by the Ocean Resilience Climate Alliance (ORCA). Despite these challenges, Kobusingye said women remain central to sustaining fisheries and coastal economies. They process fish, trade seafood and support households, including paying school fees, from the income they earn. Yet despite their role in the sector, many women still have little say in how fisheries are managed. Lovin Kobusingye is also the founder and CEO of Kati Farms Ltd, an agro-processing firm. Image courtesy of Kati Farms Ltd. “If you are invisible, you receive invisible budgets. If you are invisible, you receive invisible&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/a-trailblazing-ugandan-championing-women-in-african-fisheries-qa-with-lovin-kobusingye/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/a-trailblazing-ugandan-championing-women-in-african-fisheries-qa-with-lovin-kobusingye/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321885</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>Can deforestation predict Ebola outbreaks? Q&#038;A with CDC’s Carson Telford</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/can-deforestation-predict-ebola-outbreaks-qa-with-cdcs-carson-telford/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/can-deforestation-predict-ebola-outbreaks-qa-with-cdcs-carson-telford/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Jun 2026 09:39:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ashoka Mukpo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/10/02142438/hammer-headed-fruit-bat-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320520</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Democratic Republic Of Congo, East Africa, Uganda, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Deforestation, Ebola, Environment, Governance, Health, Planetary Health, and Public Health]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The 2026 Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak in Central and East Africa has already left at least 49 people dead, with health authorities racing to stop the spread of the disease. What if they could have known ahead of time where it would begin? That’s the question behind a study published last year by Carson Telford and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The 2026 Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak in Central and East Africa has already left at least 49 people dead, with health authorities racing to stop the spread of the disease. What if they could have known ahead of time where it would begin? That’s the question behind a study published last year by Carson Telford and a group of researchers with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC). They wanted to know whether it would be possible to predict where Ebola outbreaks might start by looking at the characteristics of areas where the virus had already “spilled over” from an animal host into a human. Telford and his colleagues analyzed 24 outbreaks between 2001 and 2022, using variables like population density and forest cover to train their model. When they ran the analysis of where those outbreaks occurred, they found a high correlation with forest loss and fragmentation. The model they built with that data was strikingly accurate. It put a town in the Democratic Republic of Congo in its top 0.1% of risk areas — just a few months before an outbreak happened there in 2022. Another that followed in Uganda was in a district it had identified as being in the top 6% for that country. Mongabay’s Ashoka Mukpo spoke to Telford about the link between Ebola and deforestation, and how understanding it could help stop outbreaks early on. Medical staff carry an Ebola patient to a treatment center. Image by Moses Sawasawa via Associated Press. Mongabay: How would&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/can-deforestation-predict-ebola-outbreaks-qa-with-cdcs-carson-telford/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/can-deforestation-predict-ebola-outbreaks-qa-with-cdcs-carson-telford/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320520</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Ebola outbreak draws attention to longstanding virus spillover risks in western Uganda</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/ebola-outbreak-draws-attention-to-longstanding-virus-spillover-risks-in-western-uganda/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/ebola-outbreak-draws-attention-to-longstanding-virus-spillover-risks-in-western-uganda/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 May 2026 06:37:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika VyawahareSharon Muzaki]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/26225057/IMG_9541-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320158</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bats, Diseases, Ebola, Environment, Governance, Health, Planetary Health, Public Health, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KAMPALA — In the hills and trading centers of western Uganda, bordering the Democratic Republic of Congo, authorities are racing to limit the spread of Bundibugyo ebolavirus, a rare species of Ebola for which there is currently no vaccine or cure. The number of suspected cases in the DRC is fast approaching 1,000, with Uganda [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KAMPALA — In the hills and trading centers of western Uganda, bordering the Democratic Republic of Congo, authorities are racing to limit the spread of Bundibugyo ebolavirus, a rare species of Ebola for which there is currently no vaccine or cure. The number of suspected cases in the DRC is fast approaching 1,000, with Uganda reporting seven cases, as of May 25. The first cluster of cases of the ongoing outbreak was detected in early May in Ituri province in the DRC, which shares a border with Uganda. The close community and economic ties between people residing on both sides of the border has complicated efforts to contain the outbreak, with Uganda taking measures to stem the flow of people. The Ebola virus driving the current outbreak is named for Uganda’s Bundibugyo district, where it was first detected almost two decades ago. (International health bodies including the World Health Organization have since moved away from naming disease-causing pathogens after places, citing stigmatization.) Most Ebola outbreaks to date have been caused by the Zaire ebolavirus, which also drove the 2014-2016 epidemic centered on West Africa. The Bundibugyo ebolavirus has been linked to two outbreaks in the past. The second outbreak emerged in the DRC in 2012 remained limited to the country, before subsiding later that year. This time may be different, since cases have emerged in Uganda, and the risk of regional spread is high. On May 23, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) identified 10 other&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/ebola-outbreak-draws-attention-to-longstanding-virus-spillover-risks-in-western-uganda/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/ebola-outbreak-draws-attention-to-longstanding-virus-spillover-risks-in-western-uganda/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320158</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Elephants return to Mount Elgon side of Uganda after four decades</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/elephants-return-to-mount-elgon-side-of-uganda-after-four-decades/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/elephants-return-to-mount-elgon-side-of-uganda-after-four-decades/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 May 2026 10:03:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Benjamin Jumbe]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/18062559/Mount-Elgon-Uganda-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319622</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, Kenya, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Fences, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Human-wildlife Conflict, Infrastructure, Mammals, Migration, Protected Areas, Tracking, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[According to monitoring with tracking collars by the Mount Elgon Foundation (MEF), last year at least 60 elephants crossed from Kenya into the Ugandan side of Mount Elgon, a vast volcanic mountain that straddles the border, returning to a part of their natural range where they’ve not been seen for over 40 years. MEF funds [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[According to monitoring with tracking collars by the Mount Elgon Foundation (MEF), last year at least 60 elephants crossed from Kenya into the Ugandan side of Mount Elgon, a vast volcanic mountain that straddles the border, returning to a part of their natural range where they’ve not been seen for over 40 years. MEF funds community projects aimed at reducing forest degradation and raising awareness of environmental issues, as well as a team of 18 community scouts on the Kenyan side of the mountain, part of the East African Wild Life Society’s Mount Elgon Elephant Project. MEF’s chair, Chris Powles, told Mongabay that back in 2022, scouts tracked four elephants crossing the Suam river, which marks the border between the two countries. Drone footage of elephants on the Ugandan side of Mount Elgon. Image courtesy of UWA. In an email interview, Powles said a number of factors could explain the elephants’ return, though it’s impossible to say for certain what’s prompted them to reestablish themselves. “[These] include the growth of the elephant population on the Kenya side, the increasing human pressure on the Kenya side, the relative safety for them on the Uganda side as it is all national park (unlike in Kenya),” he wrote. “And, maybe, the elephants alive from the time when others of them were killed in Uganda have now died naturally and so their memory of what happened in Uganda may have passed.” In the late 1970s and 80s, elephants in Uganda and other parts of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/elephants-return-to-mount-elgon-side-of-uganda-after-four-decades/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/elephants-return-to-mount-elgon-side-of-uganda-after-four-decades/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-319622</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Chimp ‘civil war’ follows rare community split in a Ugandan national park</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/chimp-civil-war-follows-rare-community-split-in-a-ugandan-national-park/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/chimp-civil-war-follows-rare-community-split-in-a-ugandan-national-park/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Apr 2026 13:27:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Keith Anthony Fabro]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/17012030/4.-Old-male-BF-was-the-last-male-to-go-between-groups-photo-by-Aaron-Sandel-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317688</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Atlantic Forest, East Africa, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Apes, Chimpanzees, Conservation, Environment, Forests, Great Apes, Primates, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A chimpanzee community in Uganda’s Kibale National Park that split into rival factions later attacked former allies in what researchers are describing as a rare chimpanzee “civil war.” The new study, published in the journal Science, draws on nearly three decades of observations at the Ngogo chimpanzee research site, led by primatologist Aaron A. Sandel [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A chimpanzee community in Uganda’s Kibale National Park that split into rival factions later attacked former allies in what researchers are describing as a rare chimpanzee “civil war.” The new study, published in the journal Science, draws on nearly three decades of observations at the Ngogo chimpanzee research site, led by primatologist Aaron A. Sandel of the University of Texas at Austin, in the U.S. He and his colleagues say this is a rare event that may occur only once every 500 years. It’s only been observed once before by humans. Before the split, the Ngogo community was unusually large, with roughly 150 to 200 chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), making it one of the largest chimp groups ever recorded in the wild. After the rupture, the community divided into two factions, which researchers call the Central and Western groups — named after the areas of forest they occupied. Before the Ngogo chimps divided into two groups, it was one of the largest groups ever recorded: between 150 &#8211;  200 animals. Image by Aaron Sandel. Between 2018 and 2024, the Western group carried out 24 attacks on the Central group, killing at least seven adult males and 17 infants. Sandel told Mongabay the conflict is still unfolding and may have lasting consequences for the population. “The Central group is at risk — they have had a dramatic increase in mortality,” Sandel said. “A key question is: How are they going to fight back?” Unlike most primate group fissions, the Ngogo split involved&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/chimp-civil-war-follows-rare-community-split-in-a-ugandan-national-park/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/chimp-civil-war-follows-rare-community-split-in-a-ugandan-national-park/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317688</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Decades after poaching drove them extinct, rhinos are back in the wild in Uganda</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/decades-after-poaching-drove-them-extinct-rhinos-are-back-in-the-wild-in-uganda/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/decades-after-poaching-drove-them-extinct-rhinos-are-back-in-the-wild-in-uganda/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Mar 2026 07:15:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Benjamin Jumbe]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/30123308/RhinoByCrate_ZiwaUganda_UWA-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316524</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Charismatic Animals, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Endangered Species, Extinction, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Mammals, Poaching, Protected Areas, Rhinos, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, White Rhino, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Forty-three years after the last free-ranging rhinos were seen in the country, the Uganda Wildlife Authority has welcomed four southern white rhinos to Kidepo Valley National Park, in the country’s north, from a breeding sanctuary designed for the species’ reintroduction. “We are glad and privileged to be taking back rhinos much as it is a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Forty-three years after the last free-ranging rhinos were seen in the country, the Uganda Wildlife Authority has welcomed four southern white rhinos to Kidepo Valley National Park, in the country’s north, from a breeding sanctuary designed for the species’ reintroduction. “We are glad and privileged to be taking back rhinos much as it is a different subspecies from that that used to exist, because the northern white rhino is the one which used to exist there but was hunted to extinction,” UWA executive director James Musinguzi said at the Ziwa sanctuary on Mar. 17. According to the wildlife authority, a total of eight rhinos will be released in the park by May this year, marking the beginning of a longer process aimed at establishing a viable free-ranging rhino population in Kidepo Valley National Park. Kidepo Valley National Park. Image by Rod Waddington via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0). Uganda was once home to around 300 northern white rhinos (Ceratotherium simum cottoni) and 400 eastern black rhinos (Diceros bicornis michaeli). But these populations were devastated by intense poaching that flourished amid the civil war that began in the late 1970s. The last of the country’s wild rhinos was killed in 1983. In 2005, a breeding program for rhinos was established at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary. Six southern white rhinos (Ceratotherium simum simum) — four from Kenya and two from a sanctuary in the U.S. — were introduced the following year, and by 2023, that herd had grown to 42, according to the sanctuary’s&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/decades-after-poaching-drove-them-extinct-rhinos-are-back-in-the-wild-in-uganda/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-316524</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Five more community-led African groups join global landscape restoration network</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/five-more-community-led-african-groups-join-global-landscape-restoration-network/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/five-more-community-led-african-groups-join-global-landscape-restoration-network/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Mar 2026 15:57:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Charles Mpaka]]>
						</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/20/2026/03/25153904/U2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316292</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Community Development, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Deforestation, Environment, Forests, NGOs, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Amid rapid deforestation in Uganda’s Kalangala district, the School Food Forest Initiative launched a tree-planting project in school premises in 2019, aiming to instill knowledge and value for conservation in local communities by involving students planting and managing trees. The initiative has just become part of the Global Landscapes Forum. Its coordinator, Ngobi Joel, said [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Amid rapid deforestation in Uganda’s Kalangala district, the School Food Forest Initiative launched a tree-planting project in school premises in 2019, aiming to instill knowledge and value for conservation in local communities by involving students planting and managing trees. The initiative has just become part of the Global Landscapes Forum. Its coordinator, Ngobi Joel, said becoming a GLFx chapter will help strengthen the group’s work against deforestation in Uganda. The School Food Forest Initiative has established nurseries where schoolchildren and others in the community grow seedlings for a range of indigenous tree species, other fruit trees and medicinal plants. The NGO has also set up agroforestry and vegetable plots on school grounds that serve both to provide food for students and as demonstration sites for how to make use of the land in ways that conserve the environment, Joel told Mongabay by email from Kalangala town. The project has so far established eight school forests, Joel said. Becoming a chapter of the GLF will enhance this work, he said. “Getting advice on agroforestry design, keeping an eye on biodiversity, and checking climate impact will ensure our projects are sustainable and help school communities as much as possible.” The School Food Forest Initiative is one of 12 new GLFx chapters announced in February, expanding a movement that mobilizes and connects grassroots efforts on restoration of degraded landscapes around the world. Fairness and sustainability: Acting to restore African landscapes By involving school children in planting trees and growing vegetables, the School Food&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/five-more-community-led-african-groups-join-global-landscape-restoration-network/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-316292</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Ugandans affected by pipeline discontented over rehabilitation efforts: Report</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/ugandans-affected-by-pipeline-discontented-over-rehabilitation-efforts-report/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/ugandans-affected-by-pipeline-discontented-over-rehabilitation-efforts-report/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Mar 2026 07:20:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Musinguzi Blanshe]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/06153056/IMG_5484-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315351</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Law, and Politics]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[People whose land was acquired by the Ugandan government for the construction of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) say livelihood restoration programs offered by project developers have not changed their lives for the better, a new report says. The 1,443-kilometer (897-mile) crude oil pipeline — the longest heated crude oil pipeline in the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[People whose land was acquired by the Ugandan government for the construction of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) say livelihood restoration programs offered by project developers have not changed their lives for the better, a new report says. The 1,443-kilometer (897-mile) crude oil pipeline — the longest heated crude oil pipeline in the world — will transport oil from Hoima in midwestern Uganda to the coastal port of Tanga in neighboring Tanzania for export. Ugandan officials say the pipeline is almost 80% complete, and the country expects oil exports to begin before the end of 2026. Almost a third of the 246 people surveyed in a report commissioned by the Uganda-based nonprofit Africa Institute for Energy Governance (AFIEGO) expressed dissatisfaction with how the project was being handled. Residents affected by the project said agricultural inputs were delivered late and that some of the seeds and seedlings were of poor quality with low germination rates. These included inputs like bean and maize seeds, coffee seedlings, banana shoots and fertilizers. For the report, AFIEGO interviewed affected people from 10 districts in Uganda, through which the pipeline traverses. According to official estimates, the pipeline project has affected 3,648 people in Uganda. Of these, 203 individuals were physically displaced and 177 chose to receive alternative housing. Participants take part in focus group discussions during data collection for the AFIEGO report in Uganda’s Lwengo district in October 2025. Image courtesy of AFIEGO. EACOP Ltd., the company constructing the pipeline, leads the process for&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/ugandans-affected-by-pipeline-discontented-over-rehabilitation-efforts-report/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/ugandans-affected-by-pipeline-discontented-over-rehabilitation-efforts-report/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315351</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A hundred-year vision: Gary Tabor on the rise of large landscape conservation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/a-hundred-year-vision-gary-tabor-on-the-rise-of-large-landscape-conservation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/a-hundred-year-vision-gary-tabor-on-the-rise-of-large-landscape-conservation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Feb 2026 14:04:57 +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/20/2026/02/16003533/gary-tabor-rainbow_1425-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314276</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Nature conservation Influencers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Australia, Canada, East Africa, Global, North America, Uganda, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecology, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Fragmentation, Interviews, Interviews with conservation players, Landscape Restoration, Mammals, Mountains, Restoration, Temperate Forests, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Many view conservation as a ledger of discrete gains—acres saved or species rebounded—but for Gary Tabor, the more vital metric is architecture. He focuses on systems that hold when pressure builds. Few careers illustrate that preoccupation better than that of Tabor, an ecologist and wildlife veterinarian whose work prioritizes the relationship between places as much [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Many view conservation as a ledger of discrete gains—acres saved or species rebounded—but for Gary Tabor, the more vital metric is architecture. He focuses on systems that hold when pressure builds. Few careers illustrate that preoccupation better than that of Tabor, an ecologist and wildlife veterinarian whose work prioritizes the relationship between places as much as the protection of the places themselves. Tabor’s conservation instincts were shaped early. As a child, he spent nine summers at a rustic camp in the Adirondack Park, climbing all 46 peaks above 4,000 feet and learning to navigate the portages and open lakes of the New York wilderness. The landscape endured by design, protected by New York’s “Forever Wild” clause and by a civic idea that wilderness and people might coexist. He has returned to those same mountains for decades, seeing the same relatively unchanged woods that inspired the founders of the Wilderness Society. The lesson stuck. (left) Tabor doing a tropical forest wildlife survey. (right) Tabor doing Cock of the Rock research in Suriname. Courtesy of Tabor That early exposure provided Tabor with a sense of scale that would eventually outsize the mountains themselves. Tabor trained as a scientist, but his education accelerated in East Africa, where he lived and worked for nearly a decade. In places like Lake Nakuru, he saw the limits of the &#8220;island&#8221; model; the park was iconic, but it was also entirely fenced in and cut off from the broader landscape. While wildlife crossed boundaries by instinct, governance&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/a-hundred-year-vision-gary-tabor-on-the-rise-of-large-landscape-conservation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/a-hundred-year-vision-gary-tabor-on-the-rise-of-large-landscape-conservation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314276</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Risk-taking comes earlier in chimpanzees than in humans, study finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/risk-taking-comes-earlier-in-chimpanzees-than-in-humans-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/risk-taking-comes-earlier-in-chimpanzees-than-in-humans-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Feb 2026 09:07:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/05165444/32723637508_7c81338653_6k-resize-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=313806</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animal Intelligence, Animals, Apes, Chimpanzees, Conservation, Environment, Great Apes, Green, Psychology, Research, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Chimpanzees appear to be the biggest daredevils when they&#8217;re infants. Humans tend to take more chances and put themselves in the most danger in adolescence, so the expectation has been that chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), among our closest evolutionary cousins, follow a similar pattern. But undergraduate researcher Bryce Murray&#8217;s observations of young chimps — and especially [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Chimpanzees appear to be the biggest daredevils when they&#8217;re infants. Humans tend to take more chances and put themselves in the most danger in adolescence, so the expectation has been that chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), among our closest evolutionary cousins, follow a similar pattern. But undergraduate researcher Bryce Murray&#8217;s observations of young chimps — and especially infants — from video shot at the Ngogo Chimpanzee Project in Uganda didn&#8217;t quite jibe with that assumption, according to research published Jan. 16 in the journal iScience. &#8220;I kept seeing these behaviors that seemed very risky,&#8221; Murray, the study&#8217;s lead author and a recent graduate from the University of Michigan in the U.S., told Mongabay. Young chimps, he noticed, frequently leaped through tree branches or dropped from them, flying freely through the air without holding onto anything. An adult female chimpanzee leaping in the forest at Ngogo Chimpanzee Project. Image by Murray et al., 2026 (CC-BY-NC-ND). Chimpanzees are well-adapted to life in the trees, picking up the ability to climb and swing through them as early as 2 years old. That’s an important skill, as high branches offer safety and provide the fruit that makes up the bulk of their diet. Still, it’s hard not to ascribe a bit of ebullience to their looping swings through the canopy. But moving around 10 meters (33 feet) or more above the ground can also be dangerous, particularly in the &#8220;free flight&#8221; incidents that caught Murray’s attention. One study found that around a third of chimp skeletons&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/risk-taking-comes-earlier-in-chimpanzees-than-in-humans-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
					<enclosure url="https://www.cell.com/cms/10.1016/j.isci.2025.114452/attachment/b4c3179f-a430-4aac-a6f1-d182eea6fa0a/mmc1.mp4" length="7424" type="video/mp4" />
					<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-313806</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Measuring biodiversity in a world of tree-planting pledges</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/one-year-on-tgbs-benchmark-shows-how-to-restore-forests-for-biodiversity/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/one-year-on-tgbs-benchmark-shows-how-to-restore-forests-for-biodiversity/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Jan 2026 16:54:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ruth Kamnitzer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/01/12121050/Chimps_Photo-credit_Jane-Goodall-Institute-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312848</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, Madagascar, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, carbon, Carbon Credits, Carbon Sequestration, Certification, Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Policy, Forests, Invasive Species, Reforestation, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, Trees, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[There are around 60,000 known tree species in the world, and they can do amazing things: store carbon, provide people with food and firewood, shelter creatures big and small, and so much more. In the past two decades, numerous high-profile initiatives have announced ambitious restoration targets for forests. Restoring forests can bring all kinds of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[There are around 60,000 known tree species in the world, and they can do amazing things: store carbon, provide people with food and firewood, shelter creatures big and small, and so much more. In the past two decades, numerous high-profile initiatives have announced ambitious restoration targets for forests. Restoring forests can bring all kinds of benefits and is widely seen as an effective nature-based solution to climate change and biodiversity loss. But planting the wrong trees, or planting them in the wrong places, is, at best, a missed opportunity — and at worst, can even harm biodiversity. In fact, a 2019 Nature commentary found that almost half the area pledged under the Bonn Challenge, a high-profile initiative to restore 350 million hectares (865 million acres) of degraded forest by 2030, was for plantation-style monocultures, and thus a poor strategy for both carbon sequestration and biodiversity. Meanwhile, half of the land pledged for reforestation under the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative was actually on savanna, a landscape not suitable for tree planting, according to a 2024 Science study. “It started to occur to us that there was potentially a problem here, particularly given the size of the pledges that were being made,” says Paul Smith, secretary-general at U.K.-based charity Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI). What was needed, Smith and colleagues thought, was some way to promote best practices and recognize projects that got things right. When they looked at existing certification standards, they found that none focused primarily on biodiversity. What’s&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/one-year-on-tgbs-benchmark-shows-how-to-restore-forests-for-biodiversity/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/one-year-on-tgbs-benchmark-shows-how-to-restore-forests-for-biodiversity/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312848</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Chimpanzees and gorillas among most traded African primates, report finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/chimpanzees-and-gorillas-among-most-traded-african-primates-report-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/chimpanzees-and-gorillas-among-most-traded-african-primates-report-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Jan 2026 19:39:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/01/07193401/EasternChimpanzee_Uganda_NikborrowiNaturalistBYNC4.0-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312696</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, Gabon, Germany, Southern Africa, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Chimpanzees, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Gorillas, Governance, Great Apes, Primates, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Between 2000 and 2023, more than 6,000 African primates were traded internationally in 50 countries, according to a newly published report. Endangered chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and critically endangered western gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) were among the 10 most-traded species, according to data from CITES, the global wildlife trade agreement. African primates are traded as trophies, for [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Between 2000 and 2023, more than 6,000 African primates were traded internationally in 50 countries, according to a newly published report. Endangered chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and critically endangered western gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) were among the 10 most-traded species, according to data from CITES, the global wildlife trade agreement. African primates are traded as trophies, for scientific research, and to be kept in zoos. Hunting monkeys and apes for food and body parts used in charms and rituals is widespread in many parts of Africa. Infants and juveniles are also captured live for the exotic pet trade. The report by U.S.-based nonprofit Pan African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA) is the first to try to capture the scale of the trade, the geographic hotspots, and the species targeted. It draws on data from the CITES trade database, seizure records from the wildlife trade monitoring NGO TRAFFIC, media reports, and other published research to present a picture of the global legal and illegal trade in African primates. “The intention is for this report to serve as both a diagnostic tool and a call to action,” lead author and wildlife crime specialist Monique Sosnowski told Mongabay by email. A chacma baboon in South Africa. The report found that these monkeys are the most traded species legally, mostly as hunting trophies. Image by Martie Swart via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0). Although the report captures international trade in primates from Africa, it doesn’t account for domestic trade, which is driven by food and other traditional uses.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/chimpanzees-and-gorillas-among-most-traded-african-primates-report-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-312696</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Small cat conservationists hail Uganda’s new Echuya Forest National Park</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/small-cat-conservationists-hail-ugandas-new-echuya-forest-national-park/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/small-cat-conservationists-hail-ugandas-new-echuya-forest-national-park/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Dec 2025 14:56:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/11132905/Image_1-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=311098</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Almost Famous Animals]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bushmeat, Cats, Climate Change, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Environment, forest degradation, Forests, Habitat Loss, Human-wildlife Conflict, Hunting, Indigenous Peoples, Mammals, National Parks, Small Cats, Snares, Tourism, Traditional People, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In what’s being called immensely good news for the African golden cat, often described as the continent’s most elusive and threatened wildcat species, Uganda’s Echuya Forest will become a national park. “Having Echuya elevated to that level of protection is massive,” says Badru Mugerwa, founder and director of Embaka, an NGO, and of the African [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In what’s being called immensely good news for the African golden cat, often described as the continent’s most elusive and threatened wildcat species, Uganda’s Echuya Forest will become a national park. “Having Echuya elevated to that level of protection is massive,” says Badru Mugerwa, founder and director of Embaka, an NGO, and of the African Golden Cat Conservation Alliance (AGCCA). “The African golden cat is one of those species that are being pushed to extinction in the forest.” Besides the African golden cat (Caracal aurata), it’s also a win for a multitude of other species, he adds, as Echuya is home to more than 100 bird species, many of them endemic to the region, as well as to baboons (Papio anubis), blue monkeys (Cercopithecus mitis) and other mammal species. Echuya Forest hosts a wide array of biodiversity, including more than 100 bird species. Among them is the regal sunbird (Cinnyris regius). Image by Giles Bassière via Flickr (CC BY 2.0). Echuya Forest covers around 3,400 hectares (8,400 acres) in Uganda’s extreme southwest near the Rwandan border, and is split between the districts of Kisoro and Rubanda. It’s currently a protected reserve. The declaration elevating it to a national park is part of a wider announcement by Uganda&#8217;s government as it creates six new national parks, bringing the country’s total to 16. The news of this added level of protection is welcome, says Emmanuel Akampurira, deputy director of the Embaka Echuya Project, who notes that numerous threats have persisted in Echuya&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/small-cat-conservationists-hail-ugandas-new-echuya-forest-national-park/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-311098</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Colony of world’s highest-flying bird under threat in Uganda</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/in-west-africa-hooded-vultures-vanish-as-abattoirs-modernize-2/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/in-west-africa-hooded-vultures-vanish-as-abattoirs-modernize-2/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Oct 2025 11:51:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Musinguzi BlansheRyan 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/20/2025/10/28122547/Masai_Mara_National_Reserve_03_-_Ruppells_vulture_Gyps_rueppelli-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=308411</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Birds, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Poaching, Poisoning, Predators, Raptors, Scavengers, Vultures, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[LUKU CENTRAL FOREST RESERVE, Uganda — Ornithologist Ivan Oruka stops suddenly near the foot of a cliff that’s streaked with the telltale whitewash of bird droppings. He quickly presses his binoculars to his eyes. Against the clear blue sky, on a bright September morning, at least 29 large birds circle effortlessly above on broad, dark [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[LUKU CENTRAL FOREST RESERVE, Uganda — Ornithologist Ivan Oruka stops suddenly near the foot of a cliff that’s streaked with the telltale whitewash of bird droppings. He quickly presses his binoculars to his eyes. Against the clear blue sky, on a bright September morning, at least 29 large birds circle effortlessly above on broad, dark wings. “Can you see them?” Oruka says. “Observe clearly, see how they move? Can you see that bird is carrying nest construction materials?” The birds are Rüppell’s vultures (Gyps rueppelli), a critically endangered species, and the cliff is their nesting colony. Across their former strongholds in West, Central and East Africa, Rüppell’s vulture numbers have declined by more than 90% over the past 40 years or so. Once common across Uganda’s national parks, the birds, whose dark feathers edged with silver give them a handsome scaled appearance, and which also have the reputation for being the world’s highest fliers, are now rarely seen. Luku Central Forest Reserve, covering just over 4,000 hectares (nearly 10,000 acres) in Uganda’s West Nile region, is an exception. It’s the only place in Uganda where the vultures are known to breed. But for how much longer is uncertain. Luku is under threat, in part due to its location. Vultures, Luku forest reserve, Uganda. Image by Musinguzi Blanshe for Mongabay. A cliff in the Luku reserve hosts the only known nesting colony of critically-endangered Rüppell’s vultures in Uganda. Image courtesy of Ivan Oruka. A threatened refuge Arua district shares its western&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/in-west-africa-hooded-vultures-vanish-as-abattoirs-modernize-2/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-308411</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Has Uganda done enough to prevent pollution of Lake Albert by oil drilling? (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/has-uganda-done-enough-to-prevent-pollution-of-lake-albert-by-oil-drilling-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/has-uganda-done-enough-to-prevent-pollution-of-lake-albert-by-oil-drilling-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Oct 2025 12:16:45 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Robert Agenonga]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/08/24135343/shoebill-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307898</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, Democratic Republic Of Congo, East Africa, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Commentary, Conservation, Corporate Social Responsibility, Ecosystems, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Freshwater, Mining, Oil, Oil Drilling, Pollution, Water Pollution, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Fears of underinvestment in mitigation against oil spills, poor waste disposal and water overuse remain a major concern for environmentalists, even as Uganda insists adequate measures are in place to protect Lake Albert and the surrounding ecosystem from the adverse effects of petroleum exploration and development. A report commissioned by my organization, Environmental Defenders — [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Fears of underinvestment in mitigation against oil spills, poor waste disposal and water overuse remain a major concern for environmentalists, even as Uganda insists adequate measures are in place to protect Lake Albert and the surrounding ecosystem from the adverse effects of petroleum exploration and development. A report commissioned by my organization, Environmental Defenders — a conservation and human rights organization dedicated to protecting biodiversity and Indigenous communities’ rights — finds that destruction of biodiversity, spills and pollution of underground waters are phenomena increasingly present in the Albertine region. The report particularly decries the installation of oil facilities on the shores of Lake Albert without adequate investment in mitigation measures for the Tilenga and Kingfisher areas. According to the report, they pose major threats to the environment, water and health of communities around the lake. Drilling rig at the Kingfisher project. Image courtesy of Mathieu Ajar. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), about 100,000 households rely on Lake Albert to meet their water needs, and more than 20,000 people take fish from the lake. Consequently, there are fears that a major oil spill would threaten the very existence of these communities, yet mitigation against such an occurrence has not been adequate. E-Tech International has previously established that the technology being used in the Albertine region is aimed at maximizing profit and not protecting the environment. The focus on using cheap technology to maximize profits is, according to the report, a danger, given that 10 well pads, 181 kilometers (112&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/has-uganda-done-enough-to-prevent-pollution-of-lake-albert-by-oil-drilling-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-307898</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>From counting trees to enhancing climate resiliency, Kampala focuses on its forests</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/from-counting-trees-to-enhancing-climate-resiliency-kampala-focuses-on-its-forests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/from-counting-trees-to-enhancing-climate-resiliency-kampala-focuses-on-its-forests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Aug 2025 17:45:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Victoria Schneider]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/15153510/Kampala7-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=304345</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Biodiversity, Cities, Climate Change, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Environment, Extreme Weather, Forestry, Impact Of Climate Change, Nature-based climate solutions, Plants, Solutions, Trees, and urban ecology]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KAMPALA — Ten years ago, Uganda’s capital Kampala was facing a strange problem: trees were falling over on the city’s streets, injuring people and damaging cars and property. The municipality investigated, and found that the problem was mainly caused by aging and unhealthy trees. What followed was an initiative by the Kampala Capital City Authority [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KAMPALA — Ten years ago, Uganda’s capital Kampala was facing a strange problem: trees were falling over on the city’s streets, injuring people and damaging cars and property. The municipality investigated, and found that the problem was mainly caused by aging and unhealthy trees. What followed was an initiative by the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) that not only solved the immediate problem of falling trees, but also led to long-term improvements in the city’s green infrastructure and its climate resilience. In 2016, the KCCA launched a two-year citywide tree audit, in which 10 foresters and two statisticians counted and assessed every tree in four of the city’s central districts: Kololo, Nakasero, Mulago and Makerere. “There was no baseline data — we didn’t know what we have and where we are coming from,” said urban forester Padde Daniel from the KCCA when he spoke to Mongabay during the Urban Forest Forum in Johannesburg, South Africa, earlier this year. Fairway Junction overlooking Kitante Golf course, Kampala. Image by Padde Daniel. Daniel was one of the young urban forestry graduates called in by the KCCA to lead the effort. He and his colleagues manually counted trees across public and private land, including parks and institutions. Documenting 23 parameters, including size, location, species classification and health condition, the team assessed some 53,000 trees comprising more than 300 species in 2016 alone. Of these, 80% were exotic species; only 20% were native to the region. At the time, urban greening had little visibility in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/from-counting-trees-to-enhancing-climate-resiliency-kampala-focuses-on-its-forests/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/from-counting-trees-to-enhancing-climate-resiliency-kampala-focuses-on-its-forests/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-304345</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>Pandemic-era slump in ivory and pangolin scale trafficking persists, report finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/pandemic-era-slump-in-ivory-and-pangolin-scale-trafficking-persists-report-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/pandemic-era-slump-in-ivory-and-pangolin-scale-trafficking-persists-report-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jun 2025 08:31:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/06/17082738/White-belliedPangolin_Gabon_BureaubenjaminINaturalistBYNC4.0-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=300838</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Angola, Asia, Cameroon, Central Africa, China, Democratic Republic Of Congo, East Asia, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Uganda, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Bushmeat, Conservation, Crime, Critically Endangered Species, Ecology, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Hunting, Ivory, Law Enforcement, Mammals, Over-hunting, Pangolins, Poaching, Rainforests, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A recent report surveying seizures of pangolin scales and elephant ivory over the past decade has found a sharp decline following the COVID-19 pandemic. Using data from media reports, public documents, and criminal intelligence and investigations, analysts at the Wildlife Justice Commission (WJC) found authorities seized more than 370 metric tons of pangolin scales and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A recent report surveying seizures of pangolin scales and elephant ivory over the past decade has found a sharp decline following the COVID-19 pandemic. Using data from media reports, public documents, and criminal intelligence and investigations, analysts at the Wildlife Justice Commission (WJC) found authorities seized more than 370 metric tons of pangolin scales and 193 metric tons of elephant ivory between 2015 and 2024. Seizures began to ramp up in 2015, peaked in 2019, and then declined sharply in 2020. The report found that the pandemic disruption to trade and travel, coinciding with increased enforcement based on intelligence, prompted these declines. Post-pandemic, the decline in trade has continued to hold as countries intensify law enforcement and intelligence gathering. “The report was motivated by a need to present up-to-date findings and offer a current assessment of the evolving criminal dynamics surrounding ivory and pangolin scale trafficking,” Olivia Swaak-Goldman, WJC’s executive director, told Mongabay by email. “From our investigations, we knew there had been some major changes since our last reports … so it was timely to publish updated analysis and highlight these shifts.” Pangolin scales act as armor to protect their body. The WJC report estimates that the 370 tons of pangolin scales seized over the past decade would have come from anywhere between 100,000 and a million pangolins. Image by flowcomm via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0). Pangolin scales, used in traditional medicine, are in high demand in East Asia. Over the past decade, as Asian pangolin numbers plummeted,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/pandemic-era-slump-in-ivory-and-pangolin-scale-trafficking-persists-report-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/pandemic-era-slump-in-ivory-and-pangolin-scale-trafficking-persists-report-finds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-300838</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>To collect native seeds, Ugandan botanists are climbing forest giants</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/to-collect-native-seeds-ugandan-botanists-are-climbing-forest-giants/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/to-collect-native-seeds-ugandan-botanists-are-climbing-forest-giants/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 May 2025 15:10:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ruth Kamnitzer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/23072257/2_ivory-coast-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=299532</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Botany, Conservation, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Forestry, Forests, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Reforestation, Restoration, Seed Dispersal, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The mvule (Milicia excelsa) is a giant of a tree, up to 50 meters (165 feet) tall, with a trunk 6 m (20 ft) around. To collect seeds from such a large tree, climbers work in a team of three, explains Sebastain Walaita, curator at the Tooro Botanical Gardens in Uganda. Spacing themselves out evenly [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The mvule (Milicia excelsa) is a giant of a tree, up to 50 meters (165 feet) tall, with a trunk 6 m (20 ft) around. To collect seeds from such a large tree, climbers work in a team of three, explains Sebastain Walaita, curator at the Tooro Botanical Gardens in Uganda. Spacing themselves out evenly around the trunk they climb in tandem upwards using a system of ropes, harnesses and spurs. Once in the crown, the climbers separate, moving along the branches and stashing the mature seeds into their collection bags before descending back to the ground. Walaita first learned high tree climbing for seed collection more than 25 years ago at a course organized by the Danish nonprofit DANIDA Forest Seed Center and has been honing his skills ever since. Over the years, he has trained a cadre of Ugandan botanists at Tooro, who can now safely collect seeds from even the most difficult trees, he says, improving their ability to propagate native species. “It’s a passion,” Walaita says. Collecting native tree seeds for restoration Under the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative, or AFR100, governments across the continent have committed to restoring 100 million hectares (247 million acres) of land by 2030. There’s a growing awareness amongst conservationists that it’s best to replant areas with native species for biodiversity. In addition, an alarming number of tree species are now threatened with extinction, including in Africa; globally, more than one in three tree species is at risk of extinction, according&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/to-collect-native-seeds-ugandan-botanists-are-climbing-forest-giants/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-299532</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rwanda’s Olivier Nsengimana inspires protection for gray crowned cranes in East Africa</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/rwandas-olivier-nsengimana-inspires-protection-for-gray-crowned-cranes-in-east-africa/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/rwandas-olivier-nsengimana-inspires-protection-for-gray-crowned-cranes-in-east-africa/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Apr 2025 19:52:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Musinguzi Blanshe]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/04/29184334/Olivier_Nsengimana_Fieldwork_Headshot_Olivier_with_Researcher_during_Rugezi_Biodiversity_Survey_Credit_James_Rooney_NGS-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=298353</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, Rwanda, Tropics, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Degraded Lands, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Policy, Governance, Water, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Just 10 years ago, spotting a gray crowned crane in Rwanda’s wetlands had become a rarity. These elegant birds — tall and statuesque, with golden plumes fanning from their heads — once flourished across East Africa. But by the middle of the last decade, their numbers in Rwanda had collapsed drastically. “It shocked me,” says [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Just 10 years ago, spotting a gray crowned crane in Rwanda’s wetlands had become a rarity. These elegant birds — tall and statuesque, with golden plumes fanning from their heads — once flourished across East Africa. But by the middle of the last decade, their numbers in Rwanda had collapsed drastically. “It shocked me,” says Olivier Nsengimana, a Rwandan veterinarian and conservationist who founded the Rwanda Wildlife Conservation Association (RWCA). He says a 2017 census counted fewer than 500 of the birds across the country. “We had more cranes in people’s homes than we had in the wild.” Faced with habitat loss, capture for illegal trade as pets, and other threats, the gray crowned crane (Balearica regulorum) was quietly slipping toward local extirpation in Rwanda. A similar story was unfolding in neighboring countries, including Burundi and Uganda, and elsewhere in the cranes’ range, which extends across East and Southern Africa. In 2012, the cranes were assessed as endangered by the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority. Gray crowned cranes: Olivier Nsengimana says nearly 80% of Rwanda’s crane population over the past 50 years. Image courtesy of RWCA. To protect cranes, protect wetlands The survival of these birds rests on the preservation of wetlands. Across Africa, vast areas of wetlands are being lost, frequently drained and converted into farmland or to make way for peri-urban expansion. Nearly 50% of these ecologically vital landscapes were lost over the past 50 years. “[Cranes] find food and breed in wetlands,” Nsengimana says. “In five&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/rwandas-olivier-nsengimana-inspires-protection-for-gray-crowned-cranes-in-east-africa/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-298353</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The colonial ghosts of Uganda’s ‘Queen Elizabeth’ park</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/the-colonial-ghosts-of-ugandas-queen-elizabeth-park/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/the-colonial-ghosts-of-ugandas-queen-elizabeth-park/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Apr 2025 08:59:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ashoka Mukpo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/04/10133658/QE3-7-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=297412</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond the Safari]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Forests, National Parks, Protected Areas, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KATWE, Uganda — In 1889, the British journalist Henry Morton Stanley stumbled out of the forests of Central Africa into the town of Katwe, a settlement on the shore of a sulfurous volcanic lake. The lake’s vast deposits of salt were famed across the region, drawing traders and making Katwe a desired prize. The Basangora, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This is the fourth story in the Mongabay Series – Beyond the Safari. Read the others here. KATWE, Uganda — In 1889, the British journalist Henry Morton Stanley stumbled out of the forests of Central Africa into the town of Katwe, a settlement on the shore of a sulfurous volcanic lake. The lake’s vast deposits of salt were famed across the region, drawing traders and making Katwe a desired prize. The Basangora, local pastoralists known for their cattle-rearing prowess, had waged fierce battles over control of the salt mine, one of the largest in Africa, against rival Bantu kingdoms. “The possession of Katwe town, which commands the lakes, is a cause of great jealousy,” Stanley later wrote. He’d arrived in Katwe just as the “scramble for Africa” was heating up, in the wake of King Leopold II’s Berlin Conference where the rules of European colonialism had been set. Not long after Stanley’s departure, Frederick Lugard captured the town. Along with the plains and hills to its east, Katwe would go on to become part of the British protectorate of Uganda, where it remained until independence in 1962. The salt mine at Lake Katwe. Image by Ashoka Mukpo for Mongabay. Stanley, Lugard and their royal European patrons are long gone now. But their ghosts still haunt the landscape, if only in name. The highest peak of the Rwenzori mountains that rise above Katwe is named Mount Stanley, below which lie lakes Albert, George and Edward. There are still pockets of Basangora&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/the-colonial-ghosts-of-ugandas-queen-elizabeth-park/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-297412</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Africa’s last tropical glaciers are melting away along with local livelihoods</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/africas-last-tropical-glaciers-are-melting-away-along-with-local-livelihoods/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/africas-last-tropical-glaciers-are-melting-away-along-with-local-livelihoods/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Mar 2025 10:18:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/21095157/Image_1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296236</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Carbon Dioxide, Climate, Climate Change, Climate Science, Conservation, Disasters, Earth Science, Environment, Extreme Weather, Flooding, Global Environmental Crisis, Global Warming, Impact Of Climate Change, Planetary Boundaries, Research, and Rivers]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Africa’s remaining tropical glaciers are rapidly disappearing as greenhouse gas emissions drive global warming. In the Rwenzori Mountains, a UNESCO World Heritage Site on the border between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, the retreat of glaciers is endangering local communities’ water security, livelihoods, and culture warns the NGO Project Pressure on the inaugural [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Africa’s remaining tropical glaciers are rapidly disappearing as greenhouse gas emissions drive global warming. In the Rwenzori Mountains, a UNESCO World Heritage Site on the border between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, the retreat of glaciers is endangering local communities’ water security, livelihoods, and culture warns the NGO Project Pressure on the inaugural World Day for Glaciers. The Stanley Plateau glacier in the Rwenzori Mountains pictured in 2022 and 2024. Since 2020, the glacier lost nearly 30% of its mass. Image courtesy of Project Pressure. Since 2012, Klaus Thymann, director of Project Pressure, has led expeditions to the Rwenzori Mountains to track the demise of their glaciers. The pace of decline is “staggering,” he says. Mount Baker and Mount Speke have both lost their glaciers already, and the remaining glaciers on Mount Stanley are increasingly fragmented. Surveys found that the Stanley Plateau glacier lost nearly 30% of its surface area between 2020 and 2024. Klaus Thymann has led multiple expeditions to the Rwenzoris since 2012, witnessing a “staggering” rate of glacier retreat in that short time. Image courtesy of Project Pressure. “The pure basics of glaciers is that it has to be cold,” says Thymann. “As the melting point rises, they simply vanish and that’s what’s happening in the Rwenzori Mountains.” In recent years, as more and more greenhouse gas emissions have entered the atmosphere, the melting point — the elevation at which temperatures are too warm to form and preserve glacial ice — has crept ever upward.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/africas-last-tropical-glaciers-are-melting-away-along-with-local-livelihoods/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-296236</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Ugandan researcher wins ‘Emerging Conservationist’ award for work on golden cats</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/ugandan-researcher-wins-emerging-conservationist-award-for-work-on-golden-cats/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/ugandan-researcher-wins-emerging-conservationist-award-for-work-on-golden-cats/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Mar 2025 11:47:14 +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/20/2023/05/04170704/2-African-golden-cat-caught-in-a-snare-540x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=295373</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Cats, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation leadership, Conservation Technology, Environment, Poaching, Research, Small Cats, Technology, Wildlife, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Indianapolis Prize, a prestigious award that recognizes leaders in wildlife conservation, has awarded its second Emerging Conservationist Award to Mwezi Badru Mugerwa. A Ugandan researcher and conservationist who combines community work with technology, Mugerwa has been working to stop the poaching of the little-known African golden cat (Caracal aurata) and bolster efforts to ramp [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Indianapolis Prize, a prestigious award that recognizes leaders in wildlife conservation, has awarded its second Emerging Conservationist Award to Mwezi Badru Mugerwa. A Ugandan researcher and conservationist who combines community work with technology, Mugerwa has been working to stop the poaching of the little-known African golden cat (Caracal aurata) and bolster efforts to ramp up conservation of the species. In an email interview with Mongabay, Mugerwa called the recognition “surreal.” The Indianapolis Prize, awarded by Indianapolis Zoo, has long recognized individuals who have spearheaded successful conservation efforts around the world. The Emerging Conservationist Award, a new category which comes with prize money of $50,000, was established only in 2022 to recognize people under the age of 40 who have worked for the conservation of a species or a group of species. The main Indianapolis Prize will be announced in May, and both winners will be honored at a gala in Indianapolis in September. “Mwezi’s passion for involving the local community in conservation efforts is what makes him so worthy of receiving this award,” Rob Shumaker, president and CEO of the Indianapolis Zoological Society, said in a press statement. Over the past 15 years, Mugerwa has worked with local communities to stop the poaching of the African golden cat. Image courtesy of Embaka. Mugerwa, whom  Mongabay profiled last year, founded the community-driven conservation organization Embaka to monitor and protect the African golden cat, which is endemic to West and Central Africa. Over the past 15 years, Mugerwa and his team&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/ugandan-researcher-wins-emerging-conservationist-award-for-work-on-golden-cats/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-295373</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Uganda community group restores shea groves and livelihoods</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/uganda-community-group-restores-shea-groves-and-livelihoods/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/uganda-community-group-restores-shea-groves-and-livelihoods/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Feb 2025 11:00:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Pat LarubiSam Schramski]]>
						</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/20/2025/02/10101428/Photo-5-Sorting-from-the-pan-fried-sheanut-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=294176</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroecology, Agroforestry, Culture, Development, Gender, Poverty Alleviation, Sustainable Development, Traditional Knowledge, Tropical Forests, and Women In Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PADER DISTRICT, Uganda —  As the early morning mist lifts over the plains of northern Uganda, women gather at the Pader Shea Nut and Agro-processing Society&#8217;s nursery. Grown from seeds collected across the parkland landscape that dominates this district, hundreds of shea seedlings stand in neat, carefully tended rows under thatched shelters to protect them [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PADER DISTRICT, Uganda —  As the early morning mist lifts over the plains of northern Uganda, women gather at the Pader Shea Nut and Agro-processing Society&#8217;s nursery. Grown from seeds collected across the parkland landscape that dominates this district, hundreds of shea seedlings stand in neat, carefully tended rows under thatched shelters to protect them from the harsh sun that will soon burn through the morning&#8217;s mist. The women are here to collect seedlings to transplant into their fields. As part of a larger effort to restore Uganda&#8217;s shea parklands, the cooperative has successfully rehabilitated more than 500 hectares (1,240 acres) of degraded land, integrating shea trees (Vitellaria paradoxa) and other native species with maize and sunflower crops. The shea nut cooperative&#8217;s story began in 2004, during one of the darkest periods of Uganda&#8217;s modern history. &#8220;The group started with six members,&#8221; says Sarah Norah, one of the cooperative&#8217;s leaders. &#8220;By then we were in the [internally displaced people&#8217;s] camp. So life was not easy. We were being given food by the United Nations besides cooking oil and corn flour. And sometimes we could run out of those things.&#8221; A shea sapling: members of the Pader Shea Nut and Agro-processing Society are protecting and nurturing young trees like these to ensure their survival. Image by Pat Larubi for Mongabay. Shea parklands The fruit of the shea tree has long formed a key part of food systems in northern Uganda. A mature tree produces 15-20 kilograms (33-44 pounds) of green, egg-shaped&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/uganda-community-group-restores-shea-groves-and-livelihoods/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-294176</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Shea&#8217;s silent guardians restore Uganda&#8217;s traditional parklands</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/sheas-silent-guardians-restore-ugandas-traditional-parklands/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/sheas-silent-guardians-restore-ugandas-traditional-parklands/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Feb 2025 17:33:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Pat LarubiSam Schramski]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/07090926/Photo-X-Maureen-Otika-Kanya-Akanya-Shea-Growers-Group-in-Latanya-sub-county-Pader-district-Uganda-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=294071</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroecology, Agroforestry, Culture, Development, Gender, Poverty Alleviation, Sustainable Development, Traditional Knowledge, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PADER DISTRICT, Uganda — In northern Uganda&#8217;s Pader district, farmers are working to preserve agricultural landscapes that have fed their communities for generations. These shea parklands, where carefully maintained trees grow among food crops, represent centuries of agricultural knowledge at risk of being lost. Unlike natural forests, these parklands are agricultural landscapes shaped by generations [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PADER DISTRICT, Uganda — In northern Uganda&#8217;s Pader district, farmers are working to preserve agricultural landscapes that have fed their communities for generations. These shea parklands, where carefully maintained trees grow among food crops, represent centuries of agricultural knowledge at risk of being lost. Unlike natural forests, these parklands are agricultural landscapes shaped by generations of farmers. According to research submitted to the Global Shea Alliance, communities historically created landscapes that balanced crop production with ecological diversity by selecting which trees to preserve during field clearing, and encouraging their natural regeneration on fallow land. The shea tree (Vitellaria paradoxa) is central to this system. &#8220;The shea nut tree and its products have been very significant in our traditional culture from time immemorial,&#8221; says Gillian Josephine P&#8217;Ochen in Lapaya village. &#8220;In our parklands, we have more than 50 other tree species that are also very significant in the ecosystem. I prefer to call this a paradise in the woods and a pharmaceutical arena. Because when you look at all the tree species, they are medicinal in one way or the other.&#8221; She points to a mature African cherry (Prunus africana) growing alongside shea trees. &#8220;This tree&#8217;s bark has been used to treat fevers for generations,&#8221; she says. &#8220;Its thick leaves fall and decompose slowly, enriching the soil for our crops. This is how our ancestors designed these parklands — every species has multiple purposes.&#8221; Passion fruit and jackfruit trees add to the landscape&#8217;s diversity, providing additional food crops. The integration of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/sheas-silent-guardians-restore-ugandas-traditional-parklands/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-294071</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Uganda’s tree-climbing lions grow scarce amid nationwide decline of the big cat</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/ugandas-tree-climbing-lions-grow-scarce-amid-nationwide-decline-of-the-big-cat/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/ugandas-tree-climbing-lions-grow-scarce-amid-nationwide-decline-of-the-big-cat/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Jan 2025 17:32:44 +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/20/2025/01/29133241/QENP23-71-1-e1738158322956-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=293574</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, Kenya, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Big Cats, Carnivores, Cats, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Environment, Human-wildlife Conflict, Lions, Research, and Top Predators]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[NAIROBI ― Poisoning, poaching and loss of habitat have significantly reduced populations of lion prides in Uganda, signaling the need for long-term commitments to conservation action, researchers write in a recent study. In the first study of its kind conducted in nearly two decades, the researchers surveyed lions (Panthera leo), leopards (Panthera pardus) and spotted [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[NAIROBI ― Poisoning, poaching and loss of habitat have significantly reduced populations of lion prides in Uganda, signaling the need for long-term commitments to conservation action, researchers write in a recent study. In the first study of its kind conducted in nearly two decades, the researchers surveyed lions (Panthera leo), leopards (Panthera pardus) and spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) in six protected areas across Uganda. They found a nearly 50% decline in some of Uganda’s most iconic lion populations over the past decade, including the famous tree-climbing lions of Queen Elizabeth National Park. That population, and one in Kidepo Valley National Park, have hit critical lows, according to the study. Queen Elizabeth National Park now has about 40 lions, while Kidepo has about 22. Murchison Falls National Park remains Uganda’s lion center, with about 240 of the big cats, according to the study. It also has one of the highest densities of leopards in Africa, at about 14 individuals per 100 square kilometers. Study lead author Alex Braczkowski, a research fellow at Griffith University in Australia, said Uganda has emerged as a prominent tourism destination for lion viewing, with Queen Elizabeth National Park a key draw because of the tree-climbing cats. “This is a sighting that one will never forget as long as they live. Eight lions wedged in a euphorbia tree is simply incredible! Apart from the conservation ramifications, lions are a key part of the tourism economy,” he said. Lion inside Queen Elizabeth National Park. Image by Ashoka Mukpo&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/ugandas-tree-climbing-lions-grow-scarce-amid-nationwide-decline-of-the-big-cat/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-293574</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Uganda, a women-led reforestation initiative fights flooding, erosion</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/in-uganda-a-women-led-reforestation-initiative-fights-flooding-erosion/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/in-uganda-a-women-led-reforestation-initiative-fights-flooding-erosion/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Jan 2025 20:35:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Innocent Kiiza]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/01/23202249/JanetNyakiruAbwoli_KaseseDistrictUganda_InnocentKiiza-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=293338</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroforestry, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Community Development, Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Degraded Lands, Ecosystems, food security, Forests, Landscape Restoration, Reforestation, Restoration, Solutions, and Women In Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KASESE DISTRICT, Uganda — In western Uganda’s Kasese district, where the Rwenzori Mountains meet the sprawling plains of Queen Elizabeth National Park, Janet Nyakairu Abwoli is on a mission to rejuvenate her land and empower her community. Farmers here long enjoyed fertile soil and predictable weather, but over the past 20 years, rainfall has become [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KASESE DISTRICT, Uganda — In western Uganda’s Kasese district, where the Rwenzori Mountains meet the sprawling plains of Queen Elizabeth National Park, Janet Nyakairu Abwoli is on a mission to rejuvenate her land and empower her community. Farmers here long enjoyed fertile soil and predictable weather, but over the past 20 years, rainfall has become increasingly erratic. Frequent flooding has caused the district’s principal river to flood, uprooting homes and washing away fields. Abwoli’s answer to this is to plant trees. Standing in the dappled shade of a grove of young Ficus, she smiles and gestures towards the hillside. “We don’t just plant trees,” she says. “We plant hope.” A mature Ficus tree towers over Janet Nyakiru Abwoli&#8217;s home in Kasese District, Uganda. Evelyn Mugume, the environment officer for Kasese municipality, says that rainfall patterns in the district have changed. “We used to expect rains by August 15, but now they start in mid-September. Floods have become a common phenomenon, even in areas without rivers, washing away crops, homes, and livelihoods,” she tells Mongabay. “The temperatures, seasons, and patterns of rainfall and drought have all shifted noticeably. In the past 10 to 20 years, we have seen prolonged droughts and intense, shorter rainfalls that are insufficient for crop yield and production.” In response to this new situation, the Ugandan government and civil society organizations have promoted planting trees as a solution. They are encouraging people in Kasese district to plant native species, which are more resistant to pests and diseases&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/in-uganda-a-women-led-reforestation-initiative-fights-flooding-erosion/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/in-uganda-a-women-led-reforestation-initiative-fights-flooding-erosion/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-293338</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>For Ugandan farmers, good fences make good neighbors — of elephants</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/for-ugandan-farmers-good-fences-make-good-neighbors-of-elephants/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/for-ugandan-farmers-good-fences-make-good-neighbors-of-elephants/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Jan 2025 11:03:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ashoka Mukpo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/01/10105243/QENP23-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=292819</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond the Safari]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Protected Areas, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KIKORONGO, Uganda — What do you do if you’re neighbors with an elephant? In western Uganda, the answer is: You build a fence. And not just any fence. One that can deliver a big, powerful zap. At least, if you want your crops to make it to harvest. A fence like that is just what [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This is the third story in the Mongabay Series – Beyond the Safari. Read the others here. KIKORONGO, Uganda — What do you do if you’re neighbors with an elephant? In western Uganda, the answer is: You build a fence. And not just any fence. One that can deliver a big, powerful zap. At least, if you want your crops to make it to harvest. A fence like that is just what they have here on the road leading from Kikorongo to Kasese, a small trading city at the foot of the Rwenzori Mountains. It runs alongside a two-lane highway leading south from Kasese toward the Democratic Republic of Congo, about an hour’s drive from here. On one side of the fence, there are small houses and farms with garden plots of yams, beans, potatoes and other crops. On the other, Queen Elizabeth National Park, a 1,978-square-kilometer (768-square-mile) wilderness packed with herds of African elephants, lions, hippos, buffalo and other species. These are big animals, and they don’t always get along smoothly with their human neighbors. This fence, which delivers a punishing electric shock to anything that touches it, is one of the ways park authorities here are trying to deal with that problem. “Once an elephant has tested its power, it will never come back,” said Selvest Masereka, an assistant warden with the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), standing proudly next to a stretch of fencing near Kikorongo. Crop-raiding, primarily by elephants, has become a major issue around Queen Elizabeth&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/for-ugandan-farmers-good-fences-make-good-neighbors-of-elephants/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/for-ugandan-farmers-good-fences-make-good-neighbors-of-elephants/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-292819</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Killed while poaching’: When wildlife enforcement blurs into violence</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/killed-while-poaching-when-wildlife-enforcement-blurs-into-violence/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/killed-while-poaching-when-wildlife-enforcement-blurs-into-violence/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Dec 2024 15:41:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ashoka Mukpo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/12/19134252/PAOPEN-2-blurr-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=291891</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond the Safari]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Human Rights, Human-wildlife Conflict, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Rights, Mammals, Politics, Protected Areas, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KITABU, Uganda — It’s mid-afternoon in Kitabu, a small town nestled in the hills of western Uganda at the foot of the Rwenzori mountains. Neatly manicured plots of beans and cassava line the road that leads toward it. Women and young children carry bundles of firewood on their heads under the hot October sun. Far [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This is the second story in the Mongabay Series &#8211; Beyond the Safari. Read the others here. KITABU, Uganda — It’s mid-afternoon in Kitabu, a small town nestled in the hills of western Uganda at the foot of the Rwenzori mountains. Neatly manicured plots of beans and cassava line the road that leads toward it. Women and young children carry bundles of firewood on their heads under the hot October sun. Far below, a vast green-and-brown savanna unfolds into the horizon, dotted with glittering lakes and rivers. This is Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda’s “most popular tourist destination,” and one of the most important ecosystems in East Africa. Its forests, swamps and grasslands span nearly 2,000 square kilometers (about 765 square miles). There are savanna elephants here, along with lions that nap on tree branches, buffalo, leopards, antelopes, chimpanzees, hippos, and more than 600 different bird species. “Queen,” as the park administrators call it, is a UNESCO “man and biosphere reserve” — one of the few protected wildlife habitats of its scale left on the continent. The school here in Kitabu isn’t a typical one. It was set up in 2018 by a group of former wildlife poachers, and is one of a few around Queen Elizabeth that get support from donors abroad or, occasionally, from the agency responsible for managing the park, the Uganda Wildlife Authority. Its purpose is to educate orphans whose families can’t afford school fees. Of the students in attendance here, 63 don’t have a father. According&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/killed-while-poaching-when-wildlife-enforcement-blurs-into-violence/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/killed-while-poaching-when-wildlife-enforcement-blurs-into-violence/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-291891</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Like you, I fear the demise of the elephants’</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/like-you-i-fear-the-demise-of-the-elephants/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/like-you-i-fear-the-demise-of-the-elephants/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Dec 2024 15:55:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ashoka Mukpo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/12/17153346/QENP23-3-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=291766</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond the Safari]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Forests, Human Rights, Human-wildlife Conflict, Indigenous Peoples, Ivory, Mammals, Mongabay Data Studio, National Parks, Protected Areas, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On June 13, 1959, the Waata hunter Galogalo Kafonde surrendered himself to colonial Kenya’s “Field Force,” Africa’s first militarized antipoaching unit. For centuries, the ethnic Waata had hunted elephants. Killing one was a rite of passage; unlike their neighbors, who raised and kept cows, the Waata lived off game meat and wore elephant skins. Ivory [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This is the first story in the Mongabay Series – Beyond the Safari. Read the others here. On June 13, 1959, the Waata hunter Galogalo Kafonde surrendered himself to colonial Kenya’s “Field Force,” Africa’s first militarized antipoaching unit. For centuries, the ethnic Waata had hunted elephants. Killing one was a rite of passage; unlike their neighbors, who raised and kept cows, the Waata lived off game meat and wore elephant skins. Ivory wasn’t of much use to them, but it could be bartered for other goods with Arab traders in nearby Mombasa. As the ivory trade picked up steam in the 17th century, fueled by the growth of European consumer markets, the Waata’s reputation grew. They were among the best elephant trackers in East Africa, known as the “people of the long bow” for their skilled use of poisoned arrows. But European hunters came to view the Waata and other Indigenous people as competition. In 1897, as Britain set its sights on a permanent Kenyan colony, it banned unauthorized &#8220;native&#8221; hunting. At the stroke of a pen, the core of the Waata’s way of life became illegal. Traders weighing ivory in 1935. Image by Ewing Galloway via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0). In 1948, the British created Tsavo National Park, one of the first in Kenya. But its eastern flank was a Waata hunting ground. Richard Sheldrick, one of the 20th century’s most prominent conservation icons, was tasked with stamping it out. Kafonde, the Waata’s most famed hunter, was his prime&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/like-you-i-fear-the-demise-of-the-elephants/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-291766</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Africa’s little-known golden cat gets a conservation boost, with community help</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/africas-little-known-golden-cat-gets-a-conservation-boost-with-community-help/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/africas-little-known-golden-cat-gets-a-conservation-boost-with-community-help/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Oct 2024 14:26:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/10/18105732/Untitled-design-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=288621</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Poaching, Rainforests, Small Cats, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[It was mid-2008. Mwezi “Badru” Mugerwa was almost done with his bachelor&#8217;s degree in forestry, an academic field that had trained him to view forests as a resource for extraction. However, as he inched closer to graduation, the idea of cutting down trees didn’t sit well with him, and he was looking for ways to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[It was mid-2008. Mwezi “Badru” Mugerwa was almost done with his bachelor&#8217;s degree in forestry, an academic field that had trained him to view forests as a resource for extraction. However, as he inched closer to graduation, the idea of cutting down trees didn’t sit well with him, and he was looking for ways to put his academic training to better use. In June, an internship opportunity in the remote forests of Bwindi came calling, and Mugerwa jumped at it. He didn’t know it then: but he had a date with Africa’s least-known feline. For someone born and raised in Kampala, Uganda’s bustling capital city, life deep in the rainforest without electricity or piped water wasn’t on the cards. But the chance to protect forests instead of cutting them down was too good to be turned down. Two days after finishing his exams, Mugerwa packed his bags and set off on the day-long journey to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, about 500 kilometers (310 miles) away from home, on Uganda’s southwestern border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. Mugerwa reached the Institute of Tropical Forest Conservation’s field station in the dead of the night. “The only sound you could hear were insects, and the only light we had was from the stars,” he says. It was a total contrast to the noise- and light-drenched Kampala. The tranquility of Bwindi mesmerized him. “I was like, this is beautiful!” Bwindi Impenetrable National Park got its name for a reason: it has no roads&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/africas-little-known-golden-cat-gets-a-conservation-boost-with-community-help/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-288621</doi>				</item>
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