<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" >

	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
		<atom:link href="https://news.mongabay.com/feed/?post_type=post&#038;location=uganda" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/uganda/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Thu, 15 Oct 2026 03:25:28 +0000</lastBuildDate>
		<language>en-US</language>
		<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
		<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
		<generator>https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1.3</generator>

<image>
	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>Uganda environmental news</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/uganda/</link>
	<width>32</width>
	<height>32</height>
</image> 
				<item>
					<title>Uganda and NGO to co-manage sector of national park home to tree-climbing lions</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/uganda-and-ngo-to-co-manage-sector-of-national-park-home-to-tree-climbing-lions/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/uganda-and-ngo-to-co-manage-sector-of-national-park-home-to-tree-climbing-lions/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Oct 2026 12:49:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ashoka Mukpo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/01/10105224/QENP23-71-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=331522</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Big Cats, Biodiversity, Cats, Conflict, Conservation, Governance, Human Rights, Human-wildlife Conflict, Law, Lions, Mammals, Protected Areas, Resource Conflict, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) have signed a 10-year agreement to co-manage a portion of Queen Elizabeth National Park, famous for its tree-climbing lions. WCS will take over some day-to-day roles for the Ishasha Sector in the south of the park, including those covering biodiversity management, community engagement and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) have signed a 10-year agreement to co-manage a portion of Queen Elizabeth National Park, famous for its tree-climbing lions. WCS will take over some day-to-day roles for the Ishasha Sector in the south of the park, including those covering biodiversity management, community engagement and the development of tourist enterprises, according to WCS Uganda country director Simon Nampindo. UWA will retain responsibility for law enforcement and wildlife protection in Ishasha, he added. The agreement follows a wider trend of “public-private” partnerships between African governments and conservation organizations to manage parks. “Across all pillars, WCS and UWA will work closely in the co-development and implementation of all activity workplans and budgets,” Nampindo told Mongabay by email. Queen Elizabeth’s Ishasha Sector covers around 500 square kilometers (193 square miles) of the park’s 1,978 km2 (764 mi2) area. Historically, Ishasha’s lions have been a magnet for tourists, but the animals are becoming rare. According to UWA’s figures, the overall lion population in Queen Elizabeth declined by more than 90% between the late 1970s and 2022, falling from 400 to 39 individuals. Nampindo said there are now fewer than five lions in Ishasha. Unless that population is supplemented — likely through translocation from elsewhere — it will not be able to recover naturally. Queen Elizabeth’s lions have faced several overlapping threats, including conflict between the predators and local herders, habitat loss and snares set by poachers in the park. Nampindo said these causes of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/uganda-and-ngo-to-co-manage-sector-of-national-park-home-to-tree-climbing-lions/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/uganda-and-ngo-to-co-manage-sector-of-national-park-home-to-tree-climbing-lions/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331522</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Uganda pastoralists turn to wild plants as food shortages bite, study finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/uganda-pastoralists-turn-to-wild-plants-as-food-shortages-bite-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/uganda-pastoralists-turn-to-wild-plants-as-food-shortages-bite-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Sep 2026 19:11:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Kingsley Charles]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/29073341/The_Karamojong_or_Karimojong_an_ethnic_group_of_agro-pastoral_herders_living_mainly_in_the_north-east_of_-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=331118</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Environment, Fellows, Food, food security, Global Environmental Crisis, Natural Resources, Nutrition, Plants, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For decades, the global outlook for food and agriculture has brought heightened concerns  as climate patterns create a mix of droughts and floods across the world. Consequently, fears of diminishing crop yields and livestock shortages have dominated the headlines. Amid the ensuing food security crisis, scientists are wondering if communities can turn toward local plant [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For decades, the global outlook for food and agriculture has brought heightened concerns  as climate patterns create a mix of droughts and floods across the world. Consequently, fears of diminishing crop yields and livestock shortages have dominated the headlines. Amid the ensuing food security crisis, scientists are wondering if communities can turn toward local plant diversity as insurance against subsequent food shocks. A recent study published in People and Nature examines how pastoralist communities in a Ugandan subregion contend with food shortages by adopting previously unused wild edible plants. The study comes on the heels of 2024 research on wild edible plants by local NGOs in Karamoja, a semiarid region in northern Uganda. That earlier study found “that people had developed uses for plants they had not used before,” Emiel De Meyer, a postdoctoral researcher at the State Natural History Museum in Germany, explained by email. Spurred by this discovery, De Meyer led a team of researchers across five agro-pastorialist communities in Karamoja, interviewing members of the local communities on their knowledge of edible wild plants. Through a mix of qualitative and statistical methods, the researchers also probed the reasons behind the adoption of particular plants and how this knowledge was transmitted. In the five villages covered in the study, the authors recorded 27 plant species previously unused as food and now eaten as leafy vegetables. Of these, 20 were reported to be indigenous to Uganda. Although all these plants were mostly harvested during the wet season, at least three&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/uganda-pastoralists-turn-to-wild-plants-as-food-shortages-bite-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/uganda-pastoralists-turn-to-wild-plants-as-food-shortages-bite-study-finds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331118</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Ugandans plant trees near national park to keep people out of gorillas’ habitat</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/ugandans-plant-trees-near-national-park-to-keep-people-out-of-gorillas-habitat/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/ugandans-plant-trees-near-national-park-to-keep-people-out-of-gorillas-habitat/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Sep 2026 17:44:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Associated Press]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/10/27124836/gorilla-uganda-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=330755</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Food, food security, Food Vs Forests Debate, Gorillas, Great Apes, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Human-wildlife Conflict, Mammals, Parks, Primates, Protected Areas, Resource Conflict, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BWINDI, Uganda (AP) — In the tangled greenery of a Ugandan national park, mountain gorillas sit among the leaves, calmly carrying on as tourists trek into their forest home. Many gorilla families are used to people, but while their population grows, the forest available to them does not. Communities have planted trees for medicine, firewood [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BWINDI, Uganda (AP) — In the tangled greenery of a Ugandan national park, mountain gorillas sit among the leaves, calmly carrying on as tourists trek into their forest home. Many gorilla families are used to people, but while their population grows, the forest available to them does not. Communities have planted trees for medicine, firewood and crafts along the edge of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in a bid to reduce pressure on gorilla habitats. The idea is simple: If residents can find the trees they need outside the park, they will have less reason to cut them inside the forest. Bwindi’s forest is home to about 450 mountain gorillas, close to half the world’s remaining population. A 2018 survey put the global population above 1,000, a significant recovery for a subspecies that once faced possible extinction. “Being a neighbor to the park, I understand that the number of gorillas is increasing, but the forest habitat is not increasing,” said Christina Katushabe, founder of Change a Life Bwindi. Her organization supplies useful trees, restores degraded land while improving biodiversity. Katushabe said members of the Batwa, an Indigenous community that has helped guide the project, select species used for medicine, timber and firewood. The Uganda Wildlife Authority distributes seedlings, including medicinal trees that people might otherwise seek inside the park. Joseph Muhindo, an assistant tourism and hospitality officer with the authority, said residents can harvest what they need in their communities “without tampering with the habitat for the gorillas.” The International Union&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/ugandans-plant-trees-near-national-park-to-keep-people-out-of-gorillas-habitat/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/09/ugandans-plant-trees-near-national-park-to-keep-people-out-of-gorillas-habitat/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330755</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Ugandan farmers sue TotalEnergies&#8217; oil pipeline project in UK court</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/ugandan-farmers-sue-totalenergies-oil-pipeline-project-in-uk-court/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/ugandan-farmers-sue-totalenergies-oil-pipeline-project-in-uk-court/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Jul 2026 13:19:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elodie Toto]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/08131748/1920px-Rothschild_giraffe_in_Murchison_Falls_National_Park-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=322877</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conflict, Conservation, Elephants, Energy, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Governance, Human Rights, Law, Mammals, Oil, Protected Areas, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Four Ugandan farmers have filed a lawsuit before the High Court in London, U.K., against a contentious oil pipeline under construction in Uganda and Tanzania, human rights group Avaaz announced at a press conference on July 7. The 1,443-kilometer (897-mile) East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) will stretch from the Tilenga and Kingfisher oil fields [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Four Ugandan farmers have filed a lawsuit before the High Court in London, U.K., against a contentious oil pipeline under construction in Uganda and Tanzania, human rights group Avaaz announced at a press conference on July 7. The 1,443-kilometer (897-mile) East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) will stretch from the Tilenga and Kingfisher oil fields in landlocked Uganda to the Tanzanian port of Tanga for export. The pipeline is being built by French energy giant TotalEnergies. &#8220;We are incredibly excited to bring this claim,” said Matthew Renshaw, a partner at law firm Leigh Day, which is representing the claimants. “It is against EACOP Limited, which is a U.K.-registered company that has the potential to cause devastation in Uganda and in the wider world.&#8221; Joanna Setzer, an associate professor at the London School of Economics’ Grantham Research Institute, said at the press conference that U.K. courts are looking at similar cases of U.K.-registered companies allegedly causing harm in other countries. “But the timing is critical in this case because it&#8217;s before the damage, before the harm occurs,” she said. The Tilenga and Kingfisher fields lie near Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda&#8217;s largest protected area and home to endangered Rothschild&#8217;s giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi) and African bush elephants (Loxodonta africana). The pipeline will also cross 16 protected areas and the Lake Victoria Basin that’s vital for more than 40 million people. Environmental groups have warned that the ecosystem could suffer severe damage in the event of an oil spill. “Tomorrow, after their&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/ugandan-farmers-sue-totalenergies-oil-pipeline-project-in-uk-court/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/07/ugandan-farmers-sue-totalenergies-oil-pipeline-project-in-uk-court/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322877</doi>				</item>
						<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>White rhinos are back in Uganda</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/white-rhinos-are-back-in-uganda/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/white-rhinos-are-back-in-uganda/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 May 2026 15:16:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Juan Maza]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sam Lee]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/26151530/042A1864-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=320139</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Northern White Rhino, Reintroductions, Rhinos, White Rhino, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Uganda was home to around 300 Northern white rhinos, but after years of intense poaching, the population disappeared, with the last wild rhino killed in 1983. But now, they are back. In 2005, a breeding program for rhinos was established at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, and authorities are now reintroducing them to Kidepo Valley National Park [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Uganda was home to around 300 Northern white rhinos, but after years of intense poaching, the population disappeared, with the last wild rhino killed in 1983. But now, they are back. In 2005, a breeding program for rhinos was established at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, and authorities are now reintroducing them to Kidepo Valley National Park in the north of the country. Conservationists believe that this will not only create a stronghold for rhinos, but their presence will also support the local economy through tourism and conservation-related activities.This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/white-rhinos-are-back-in-uganda/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/white-rhinos-are-back-in-uganda/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320139</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Ebola outbreak reaches major cities in DR Congo, Uganda amid fears of regional spread</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/ebola-outbreak-reaches-major-cities-in-dr-congo-uganda-amid-fears-of-regional-spread/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/ebola-outbreak-reaches-major-cities-in-dr-congo-uganda-amid-fears-of-regional-spread/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 May 2026 20:51:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elodie Toto]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/21204700/AP26141607178356-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=319953</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Democratic Republic Of Congo and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Diseases, Ebola, Planetary Health, Wildlife, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Ebola hemorrhagic fever virus outbreak that began in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was officially confirmed by the World Health Organization (WHO) on May 15. Less than a week later, the death toll is rising with at least 600 suspected cases and 139 suspected deaths linked to the disease, as well as 51 [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Ebola hemorrhagic fever virus outbreak that began in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was officially confirmed by the World Health Organization (WHO) on May 15. Less than a week later, the death toll is rising with at least 600 suspected cases and 139 suspected deaths linked to the disease, as well as 51 laboratory-confirmed cases, WHO has reported. The confirmed figures differ from the suspected cases because samples must be analyzed in Kinshasa, around 1,700 kilometers (1,050 miles) by plane from the outbreak area in Ituri province, before cases can be officially confirmed. In addition, the initial symptoms of the virus are very similar to those of malaria, a disease that is widespread in the region. “We expect those numbers to keep increasing given the amount of time the virus was circulating before the outbreak was detected,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva. “I have decided that urgent action is needed to prevent further deaths and to mobilize an effective international response.” He also noted the scale of the outbreak could in fact be “much larger” than current estimates, as the epidemic likely began “a couple of months ago.” Faced with the growing number of cases and its international spread, the WHO declared a public health emergency of international concern on May 17, 2026. The disease, which emerged in rural Ituri province in eastern DRC, now appears to have spread to major cities including Kinshasa and Kampala, the capital of Uganda, as well as Goma,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/ebola-outbreak-reaches-major-cities-in-dr-congo-uganda-amid-fears-of-regional-spread/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/ebola-outbreak-reaches-major-cities-in-dr-congo-uganda-amid-fears-of-regional-spread/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-319953</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>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/decades-after-poaching-drove-them-extinct-rhinos-are-back-in-the-wild-in-uganda/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<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>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/five-more-community-led-african-groups-join-global-landscape-restoration-network/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<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>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/risk-taking-comes-earlier-in-chimpanzees-than-in-humans-study-finds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<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>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Forest Restoration Solutions]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<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>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/chimpanzees-and-gorillas-among-most-traded-african-primates-report-finds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<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>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/small-cat-conservationists-hail-ugandas-new-echuya-forest-national-park/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-311098</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>East African court dismisses controversial oil pipeline case in setback to communities</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/12/east-african-court-dismisses-controversial-oil-pipeline-case-in-setback-to-communities/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/12/east-african-court-dismisses-controversial-oil-pipeline-case-in-setback-to-communities/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Dec 2025 03:39:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elodie Toto]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/08033002/WhatsApp-Image-2025-12-05-at-15.05.25-768x471.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=310699</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conflict, Conservation, Energy, Environment, Environmental Law, Fossil Fuels, Governance, Green, Impact Of Climate Change, Indigenous Peoples, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Oil, Oil Drilling, Politics, Pollution, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On Nov. 26, the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) dismissed an appeal filed by four African NGOs, marking the end of a landmark case against the construction of a contentious oil pipeline. The case against the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), expected to become the longest heated crude oil pipeline in the world, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On Nov. 26, the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) dismissed an appeal filed by four African NGOs, marking the end of a landmark case against the construction of a contentious oil pipeline. The case against the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), expected to become the longest heated crude oil pipeline in the world, was first filed in 2020. “It was a very huge disappointment, especially as we ran to court and thought that at least we would find justice in the courts of law,” Balach Bakundane, an affected community representative for the Uganda-based EACOP Host Communities organization, told Mongabay by phone. The 1,443-kilometer (897-mile) EACOP runs from oil fields in Uganda to the Port of Tanga in Tanzania. The pipeline is being constructed by the French oil giant TotalEnergies and involves state-owned companies from China, Uganda and Tanzania. Its route runs through more than 40 protected areas and areas near Lake Albert and Lake Victoria, which are some of Africa’s most important freshwater sources. The project’s carbon footprint is estimated at about 34 million tons of CO₂ per year, considerably more than what Uganda and Tanzania emit annually. The NGOs in their case argued that the construction of EACOP had started without adequate environmental and social impact assessments or public participation, harming both local communities and ecosystems. After the first set of hearings, the EACJ in November 2023, dismissed the case based on a technicality, agreeing with the governments of Tanzania and Uganda that the NGOs hadn’t filed&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/12/east-african-court-dismisses-controversial-oil-pipeline-case-in-setback-to-communities/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/12/east-african-court-dismisses-controversial-oil-pipeline-case-in-setback-to-communities/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310699</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>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/in-west-africa-hooded-vultures-vanish-as-abattoirs-modernize-2/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<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>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/has-uganda-done-enough-to-prevent-pollution-of-lake-albert-by-oil-drilling-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-307898</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Satellite images reveal oil project surge in Ugandan park and wetland</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/custom-story/2025/09/satellite-images-reveal-oil-project-surge-in-ugandan-park-and-wetland/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/custom-story/2025/09/satellite-images-reveal-oil-project-surge-in-ugandan-park-and-wetland/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Sep 2025 09:04:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elodie Toto]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/26084208/Capture-decran-2025-09-16-a-13.15.25-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=custom-story&#038;p=306622</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Deforestation, Energy, Environment, Forests, Governance, Green, Oil, Oil Drilling, Wetlands, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[New satellite&#160;analysis shows that wells and roads for a project in Uganda feeding Africa’s longest heated oil pipeline have progressed significantly within a protected area and near a critical wetland. The Tilenga oil field marks the starting point of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project, currently under construction by the French multinational&#160;TotalEnergies. The [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[New satellite&nbsp;analysis shows that wells and roads for a project in Uganda feeding Africa’s longest heated oil pipeline have progressed significantly within a protected area and near a critical wetland. The Tilenga oil field marks the starting point of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project, currently under construction by the French multinational&nbsp;TotalEnergies. The pipeline will run 1,443 kilometers (897 miles) from the Tilenga and Kingfisher fields in landlocked Uganda to the Indian Ocean port of Tanga in Tanzania for export. Tilenga, also operated by TotalEnergies, sits near the border of Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda’s largest protected area and home to endangered Rothschild giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi), African bush elephants (Loxodonta africana) and Ugandan kob antelopes (Kobus kob thomasi). U.S.-based environmental watchdog Earth Insight analyzed satellite images that showed 39% of the EACOP pipeline was near completion as of June 2025, although some officials recently&nbsp;claimed&nbsp;62% of it is complete. Oil Expansion within Murchison Falls National Park and Ramsar Wetland. Map by Earth Insight. The analysis also showed that 22% of a feeder pipeline from Tilenga has been built, with about 630 square kilometers (243 square miles) of vegetation cleared near the park for the pipeline’s development. Furthermore, the analysis identified 38 kilometers (nearly 24 miles) of roads and nine areas cleared for drilling sites inside Murchison Falls National Park. One of the drilling sites cleared in 2025 is located on the border of the Murchison Falls–Albert Delta Wetland System, near the Victoria Nile River. Classified as a Ramsar&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/custom-story/2025/09/satellite-images-reveal-oil-project-surge-in-ugandan-park-and-wetland/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/custom-story/2025/09/satellite-images-reveal-oil-project-surge-in-ugandan-park-and-wetland/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-306622</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>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/a-forest-garden-project-attempts-to-expand-into-the-sahel/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-303161</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Balancing wildlife and human needs at Uganda’s Queen Elizabeth park</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/06/balancing-wildlife-and-human-needs-at-ugandas-queen-elizabeth-park/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/06/balancing-wildlife-and-human-needs-at-ugandas-queen-elizabeth-park/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Jun 2025 15:36:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Kristine Sabillo]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/04/10133932/QE3-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=301479</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Green, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Rights, Mammals, National Parks, Politics, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[To the outside world, Uganda’s Queen Elizabeth National Park is a model of successful conservation of wildlife amid declining populations in other parts of Africa. But while elephant, giraffe and buffalo populations have grown as much as sixfold, the people inside the park live with a colonial legacy that restricts both their livelihoods and their access [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[To the outside world, Uganda’s Queen Elizabeth National Park is a model of successful conservation of wildlife amid declining populations in other parts of Africa. But while elephant, giraffe and buffalo populations have grown as much as sixfold, the people inside the park live with a colonial legacy that restricts both their livelihoods and their access to sacred sites, Mongabay’s Ashoka Mukpo reported in April. The national park is a 1,978-square-kilometer (764-square-mile) protected area and among more than 700 UNESCO Biosphere Reserves meant to foster harmony between people and their environments. It’s home to elephants, hippos, big cats and almost 600 bird species, as well as residents of 11 “enclave” towns who are the descendants of the Indigenous Basangora and Bantu people, the region’s precolonial inhabitants, Mukpo wrote. Katwe, one of the enclave towns, used to be a highly contested area because of its proximity to a volcanic lake and its large salt deposits. It became part of the British protectorate of Uganda after the British East Africa Company captured the town, killing thousands of Basangora. The locals were forced to give up pastoralism and settle in fishing villages as the British demarcated the savanna into game reserves. “They created the park without the consent of the people,” Katwe-based tour guide Nicholas Kakongo told Mukpo, “and they cut us off from interacting with the animals.” While the park has become a valuable asset for Uganda, which is aiming for higher tourism earnings, residents of the enclave towns have suffered under the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/06/balancing-wildlife-and-human-needs-at-ugandas-queen-elizabeth-park/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/06/balancing-wildlife-and-human-needs-at-ugandas-queen-elizabeth-park/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-301479</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>Derek Pomeroy, a leading figure in Ugandan ornithology died on May 29th, aged 90</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/05/derek-pomeroy-a-leading-figure-in-ugandan-ornithology-died-on-may-30th-aged-90/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/05/derek-pomeroy-a-leading-figure-in-ugandan-ornithology-died-on-may-30th-aged-90/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 May 2025 19:00:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/01134554/Derek-Pomeroy-header-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=300026</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Environment, Green, and Obituary]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[If Derek Pomeroy said to meet him at 7am, you were expected to be there by exactly 7am—not a minute later. Punctuality was not just a preference; it was a principle. Whether in a zoology lab, a birdwatching field station, or over tea at Makerere University, order and discipline mattered. Behind that exacting standard, however, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[If Derek Pomeroy said to meet him at 7am, you were expected to be there by exactly 7am—not a minute later. Punctuality was not just a preference; it was a principle. Whether in a zoology lab, a birdwatching field station, or over tea at Makerere University, order and discipline mattered. Behind that exacting standard, however, was a deeper devotion: to science, to Uganda’s biodiversity, and above all, to the generations of African conservationists he helped train and shape. Pomeroy arrived in Uganda in 1969 to study marabou storks. He stayed for most of his life. What began as ornithological curiosity became a lifelong project of institution-building, mentoring, and record-keeping. His field notes on birds, gathered across decades, became the backbone of the Bird Atlas of Uganda and the National Biodiversity Data Bank. He played a pivotal role in founding the Makerere University Institute of Environment and Natural Resources (MUIENR), a center that now shapes the country’s environmental policy and research. Through civil unrest, political transitions, and global shifts in conservation priorities, Pomeroy remained a constant. He trained hundreds of students—many of whom now lead major conservation efforts in Uganda and beyond. His greatest legacy may not lie in peer-reviewed journals or global assessments, but in the lives he shaped. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, one of Uganda’s leading wildlife veterinarians, remembered him as a mentor who encouraged her earliest efforts and celebrated her success. Edward Okot Omoya, now a professor, put it simply: “He was more than a supervisor. He was a father&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/05/derek-pomeroy-a-leading-figure-in-ugandan-ornithology-died-on-may-30th-aged-90/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/05/derek-pomeroy-a-leading-figure-in-ugandan-ornithology-died-on-may-30th-aged-90/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-300026</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>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/to-collect-native-seeds-ugandan-botanists-are-climbing-forest-giants/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-299532</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Satellites for Biodiversity’ upgrades with new projects and launches insight hub</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/05/satellites-for-biodiversity-upgrades-with-new-projects-and-launches-insight-hub/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/05/satellites-for-biodiversity-upgrades-with-new-projects-and-launches-insight-hub/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 May 2025 13:06:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Kristine Sabillo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/26130016/Madikwe-Pleiades-Neo-C-Airbus-DS-2022-e1748264917480-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=299666</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, California, Global, Guinea, India, New Zealand, North America, Thailand, Uganda, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Artificial Intelligence, Beetles, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Birds, Chimpanzees, Climate Change, Conservation, Conservation Technology, data, Deforestation, Dugong, Earth Science, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Forestry, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Green, Mammals, Marine Conservation, National Parks, Oceans, Poaching, Politics, Primates, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Remote Sensing, Research, Satellite Imagery, Science, Seabirds, Technology, Threats To Rainforests, Trees, Tropical Forests, Wetlands, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Airbus Foundation and the Connected Conservation Foundation (CCF) recently announced the winners of their “Satellites for Biodiversity” grant, which now uses higher-resolution satellite imagery to aid conservation efforts. They also launched an Ecosystem Insight Hub, which comprehensively documents the processes and findings of their grantees. The latest batch of six “Satellites for Biodiversity” awardees [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Airbus Foundation and the Connected Conservation Foundation (CCF) recently announced the winners of their “Satellites for Biodiversity” grant, which now uses higher-resolution satellite imagery to aid conservation efforts. They also launched an Ecosystem Insight Hub, which comprehensively documents the processes and findings of their grantees. The latest batch of six “Satellites for Biodiversity” awardees are granted access to Airbus’s Pléiades Neo and Pléiades satellite imagery at very high resolutions of 15, 30 and 50 centimeters (6, 12 and 20 inches). This time around, Airbus has developed AI and machine learning algorithms that can help enhance images taken with the base 30-cm resolution to be “sharper, more detailed,” Sophie Maxwell, CCF executive director, told Mongabay by email. Maxwell called the upgrade “an exciting development … effectively increasing the pixel count and improving image clarity.” She added this would allow “field teams to extract finer insights than ever before.” Similar to previous awardees, the projects will be integrating the satellite imagery with AI, machine-learning models and community-led conservation. Previously, only species-level monitoring proposals were accepted, but the new round of awardees were also allowed to explore “ecosystem-scale conservation.” “This shift recognises the interconnected nature of biodiversity, people and climate. By expanding the use of cutting-edge tools to assess entire ecosystems, we can better understand complex ecological dynamics and support more holistic, effective conservation strategies that benefit all inhabitants,” Maxwell said. This year’s six winning projects are: Mapping seagrass meadows in the Andaman coast in Thailand to monitor the habitats of dugongs (Dugong&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/05/satellites-for-biodiversity-upgrades-with-new-projects-and-launches-insight-hub/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/05/satellites-for-biodiversity-upgrades-with-new-projects-and-launches-insight-hub/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-299666</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rwanda’s Olivier Nsengimana inspires protection for gray crowned cranes in East Africa</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/rwandas-olivier-nsengimana-inspires-protection-for-gray-crowned-cranes-in-east-africa/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/rwandas-olivier-nsengimana-inspires-protection-for-gray-crowned-cranes-in-east-africa/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Apr 2025 19:52:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Musinguzi Blanshe]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/04/29184334/Olivier_Nsengimana_Fieldwork_Headshot_Olivier_with_Researcher_during_Rugezi_Biodiversity_Survey_Credit_James_Rooney_NGS-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=298353</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, Rwanda, Tropics, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Degraded Lands, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Policy, Governance, Water, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Just 10 years ago, spotting a gray crowned crane in Rwanda’s wetlands had become a rarity. These elegant birds — tall and statuesque, with golden plumes fanning from their heads — once flourished across East Africa. But by the middle of the last decade, their numbers in Rwanda had collapsed drastically. “It shocked me,” says [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Just 10 years ago, spotting a gray crowned crane in Rwanda’s wetlands had become a rarity. These elegant birds — tall and statuesque, with golden plumes fanning from their heads — once flourished across East Africa. But by the middle of the last decade, their numbers in Rwanda had collapsed drastically. “It shocked me,” says Olivier Nsengimana, a Rwandan veterinarian and conservationist who founded the Rwanda Wildlife Conservation Association (RWCA). He says a 2017 census counted fewer than 500 of the birds across the country. “We had more cranes in people’s homes than we had in the wild.” Faced with habitat loss, capture for illegal trade as pets, and other threats, the gray crowned crane (Balearica regulorum) was quietly slipping toward local extirpation in Rwanda. A similar story was unfolding in neighboring countries, including Burundi and Uganda, and elsewhere in the cranes’ range, which extends across East and Southern Africa. In 2012, the cranes were assessed as endangered by the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority. Gray crowned cranes: Olivier Nsengimana says nearly 80% of Rwanda’s crane population over the past 50 years. Image courtesy of RWCA. To protect cranes, protect wetlands The survival of these birds rests on the preservation of wetlands. Across Africa, vast areas of wetlands are being lost, frequently drained and converted into farmland or to make way for peri-urban expansion. Nearly 50% of these ecologically vital landscapes were lost over the past 50 years. “[Cranes] find food and breed in wetlands,” Nsengimana says. “In five&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/rwandas-olivier-nsengimana-inspires-protection-for-gray-crowned-cranes-in-east-africa/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/rwandas-olivier-nsengimana-inspires-protection-for-gray-crowned-cranes-in-east-africa/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-298353</doi>				</item>
			</channel>
</rss>