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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/comoros/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
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	<title>Comoros environmental news</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/comoros/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Encouraging signs from a no-fishing zone in Comoros could inspire others</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/encouraging-signs-from-a-no-fishing-zone-in-comoros-could-inspire-others/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/encouraging-signs-from-a-no-fishing-zone-in-comoros-could-inspire-others/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Aug 2025 16:47:36 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawahare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
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					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=303814</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Comoros, East Africa, and Indian Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Conservation, Coral Reefs, Ecology, Ecosystems, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Food, Hunger, Islands, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Poverty, and Saltwater Fish]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The phrase malezi mema in Comorian loosely translates to “parenting well.” A fishers’ group of the same name on the island of Anjouan in Comoros is trying to provide a nurturing environment. In their case, for marine life, by creating a small sanctuary in the sea that’s closed to fishing. Ansoya Ahmed, Malezi Mema’s president, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The phrase malezi mema in Comorian loosely translates to “parenting well.” A fishers’ group of the same name on the island of Anjouan in Comoros is trying to provide a nurturing environment. In their case, for marine life, by creating a small sanctuary in the sea that’s closed to fishing. Ansoya Ahmed, Malezi Mema’s president, told Mongabay during a call that he was inspired by no-take zones implemented in neighboring Mayotte, a French overseas department that’s also claimed by Comoros, and Madagascar. Comoros, an archipelagic nation off the eastern coast of Africa, lies at the mouth of the Mozambique Channel. All of its three main island groups are of volcanic origin and fringed by coral reefs. Scientists consider the reefs in this region some of the richest and most imperiled marine habitats in the world. Branched coral growing over other corals off of Le Galawa Beach in Comoros. Image by Derek Keats via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). About 80% of Anjouan’s coastline is ringed by reefs. In 2021, Malezi Mema set up the no-take zone (NTZ) on the reef flat in the island’s southwest corner with the support of nearly 60 fishers from three nearby villages and the nonprofit Dahari. The NTZ is a speck of ocean just 10 hectares (25 acres) in size, situated inside Shisiwani National Park off Sima Peninsula in western Anjouan. The park, established in 2022, is one of four marine protected areas (MPAs) in Comoros today. All of these MPAs allow some human activities, given&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/encouraging-signs-from-a-no-fishing-zone-in-comoros-could-inspire-others/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-303814</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>For 20 years, Comoros had only 1 national park. It’s now creating 5 more</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/for-20-years-comoros-had-only-1-national-park-its-now-creating-5-more/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/for-20-years-comoros-had-only-1-national-park-its-now-creating-5-more/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 May 2022 13:31:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawahare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
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					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=256512</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Comoros, and East Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Community Development, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Impact Of Climate Change, Islands, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, NGOs, Protected Areas, Turtles, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Before the inhabitants of Itsamia in Comoros decided to intervene, turtles arriving to nest on its beaches drew villagers from neighboring hamlets. Anywhere from 10 to 30 green sea turtles were captured every day for their meat. That was in 1991. Today, the village is famous for its annual turtle festival that attracts visitors from [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Before the inhabitants of Itsamia in Comoros decided to intervene, turtles arriving to nest on its beaches drew villagers from neighboring hamlets. Anywhere from 10 to 30 green sea turtles were captured every day for their meat. That was in 1991. Today, the village is famous for its annual turtle festival that attracts visitors from near and far. No turtles get eaten. Instead, one of the big draws is thousands of hatchlings scrambling to be redeemed by the sea. This community-led effort to protect turtles in the southeastern corner of Mohéli, one of the islands that make up the Indian Ocean nation of Comoros, became a stepping stone in establishing the country’s first protected area, Mohéli marine park, in 2001. Now, the island nation is dramatically expanding its protected area (PA) network, installing PAs on Ngazidja (or Grande Comore), Ndzuani (or Anjouan) and Mohéli. The idea is to replicate what a U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) report called Mohéli’s “successful co-management approach.” However, the Mohéli experiment is far from a shining success story. It didn’t provide a clear blueprint for supporting communities whose traditional rights are curtailed by protected areas, or for sustainably funding such a network, according to U.N. reports and sources interviewed by Mongabay. The Comoros archipelago lies off the eastern coast of Africa, at the mouth of the Mozambique Channel, and before independence from colonial power France included the island of Mayotte. Today, Mayotte is administered as an overseas French department, though Comoros still lays claim to it.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/for-20-years-comoros-had-only-1-national-park-its-now-creating-5-more/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-256512</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Women in small-island states exposed to high levels of mercury: study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/women-in-small-island-states-exposed-to-high-levels-of-mercury-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/women-in-small-island-states-exposed-to-high-levels-of-mercury-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Nov 2018 11:03:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/08/31112250/MANUEL-SALDARRIAGA.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=212644</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Barbados, Caribbean, Comoros, Cook Islands, Dominican Republic, Fiji, Grenada, Marshall Islands, Pacific Islands, and Sweden]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Animals, Coal, Environment, Environmental Policy, Fish, Global Environmental Crisis, Gold Mining, Health, Marine, Marine Animals, Mercury, Oceans, Pollution, Public Health, Renewable Energy, Saltwater Fish, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[CBO2017]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Women of childbearing age from small-island states and countries have been found to have toxic levels of mercury, a potent neurotoxin that can harm unborn children, a new report shows. The study took hair samples from 757 women between the ages of 18 and 44 years from across the Pacific, the Caribbean and the Indian [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Women of childbearing age from small-island states and countries have been found to have toxic levels of mercury, a potent neurotoxin that can harm unborn children, a new report shows. The study took hair samples from 757 women between the ages of 18 and 44 years from across the Pacific, the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean. Nearly 60 percent of them were found to have mercury levels of more than one part per million, or 1 ppm — the threshold above which brain damage, IQ loss, and kidney and cardiovascular damage can occur, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The mercury level associated with the onset of fetal neurological damage is lower, at 0.58 ppm, and the number of women whose hair samples exceeded that level for mercury was 75 percent, the study found. The researchers used hair samples from women ages 18 to 44 to analyze the mercury levels in their bodies. Image courtesy of IPEN. The study, published Nov. 19, was carried out by scientists from the nonprofit Biodiversity Research Institute (BRI) and IPEN, a global coalition of health and environmental groups. They took hair samples from women in 21 countries and territories — including Fiji, Barbados, Comoros, Sri Lanka, and the U.S. islands of Molokai in Hawaii and Saint Lawrence in Alaska — where industrialization remains low and the population relies on local fisheries as a major source of dietary protein. “The highest level found in the sampling that can be confirmed was over 20&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/women-in-small-island-states-exposed-to-high-levels-of-mercury-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-212644</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>World’s most endangered fruit bat could soon be extinct due to rapid forest loss</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/01/worlds-most-endangered-bat-could-soon-be-extinct-due-to-rapid-forest-loss/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/01/worlds-most-endangered-bat-could-soon-be-extinct-due-to-rapid-forest-loss/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jan 2017 16:36:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
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					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=192288</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Comoros]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bats, Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Mammals, and Payments For Ecosystem Services]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Widespread deforestation is causing severe population decline in the little-known Livingstone’s fruit bat (Pteropus livingstonii), a new study has found. The rare bat is found only on two small islands of Anjouan and Mohéli in the Comoros archipelago, off the southeast coast of Africa, where its population is down to about 1,200 individuals, researchers report [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Widespread deforestation is causing severe population decline in the little-known Livingstone’s fruit bat (Pteropus livingstonii), a new study has found. The rare bat is found only on two small islands of Anjouan and Mohéli in the Comoros archipelago, off the southeast coast of Africa, where its population is down to about 1,200 individuals, researchers report in the study published in Oryx. These few individuals are distributed across 21 roost sites on the islands, most of which are threatened by habitat loss. The species is currently listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List. The findings were alarming, co-author Richard P. Young, Head of Conservation Science at Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, U.K., told Mongabay. “All but two of the 21 long-term sites the bat habitually used for daytime roosts have been affected either by tree cutting, agricultural encroachment or soil erosion caused by upslope deforestation,” Young said. “This represents an alarming upturn in the threats to this species.” Livingstone’s Fruit Bats in the wild. Photo credit: Bronwen Daniel. The Livingstone’s fruit bat, also called the Comoro flying fox, needs native and endemic trees in relatively undisturbed old-growth forests to survive. However, forests on the Comoro Islands have suffered one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world, researchers say. This rampant deforestation, fueled by cutting of old-growth trees for construction wood, agricultural expansion and poor farming techniques, has reduced old-growth forests on the islands to patches of about 60 square kilometers that are now restricted on higher elevations and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/01/worlds-most-endangered-bat-could-soon-be-extinct-due-to-rapid-forest-loss/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-192288</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New survey finds surprisingly large population of endangered owl</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/12/new-survey-finds-surprisingly-large-population-of-endangered-owl/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/12/new-survey-finds-surprisingly-large-population-of-endangered-owl/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Dec 2014 18:53:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2014/12/new-survey-finds-surprisingly-large-population-of-endangered-owl/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Comoros, and Indian Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agroforestry, Animals, Bats, Birds, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Ecosystem Services, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Green, Habitat Loss, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Islands, Mammals, Owls, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Traditional People, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Despite vast forest loss, the Anjouan scops owl is holding on in the Comoros Islands The Anjouan scops owl. Photo by: Alan Van Norman. The Anjouan scops owl&#8212;an elusive owl found only on its tiny eponymous island&#8212;was once considered among the world&#8217;s most endangered owls, and even the most threatened birds. However, the first in-depth [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Despite vast forest loss, the Anjouan scops owl is holding on in the Comoros Islands The Anjouan scops owl. Photo by: Alan Van Norman. The Anjouan scops owl&#8212;an elusive owl found only on its tiny eponymous island&#8212;was once considered among the world&#8217;s most endangered owls, and even the most threatened birds. However, the first in-depth survey of the owls on the island finds that, in fact, the population is far larger than initially estimated. In a new paper in Bird Conservation International, scientists estimate that 3,500-5,500 owls survive today as opposed to an earlier estimate of just 200-400 birds. &#8220;Our work doesn&#8217;t actually show that the owl is doing better than expected or that its status has improved, just that our knowledge of its status has improved,&#8221; said Hugh Doulton the technical director for the local conservation organization Dahari and co-author of the research. &#8220;This shows the danger of basing conservation assessments on rough and ready surveys, and perhaps a tendency to paint crisis situations for species without enough data to back up these assessments.&#8221; The invisible owl Still, the owl remains incredibly elusive. Although Doulton has lived and worked on Anjouan&#8212;a small island in the Comoros&#8212;for the past seven years, he&#8217;s never actually had had the pleasure of viewing the native owl. &#8220;I go camping at the weekends from time to time and hear the owls whistling to each other, but, sadly, I&#8217;ve never seen one,&#8221; he told monagaby.com. Dahari ecological technician, Ishaka, looking for owls at dusk. Photo&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2014/12/new-survey-finds-surprisingly-large-population-of-endangered-owl/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-24378</doi>				</item>
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