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		<title>Conservation news</title>
		<atom:link href="https://news.mongabay.com/feed/?topic=ebola&#038;type=post" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/ebola/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Wed, 12 Aug 2026 08:29:29 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>News on Ebola</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/ebola/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Ebola responders persevere in the DRC as Uganda nears end of outbreak</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/ebola-responders-persevere-in-the-drc-as-uganda-nears-end-of-outbreak/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/ebola-responders-persevere-in-the-drc-as-uganda-nears-end-of-outbreak/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Aug 2026 18:19:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elodie Toto]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/03103124/image1_Un-travailleur-se-desinfecte-au-Centre-medical-evangelique-de-Bunia_BIS-1536x1024-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=325162</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, and Democratic Republic Of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Diseases, Ebola, Economics, Ecosystems, Environment, Governance, Health, One Health, Planetary Health, Public Health, Research, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Several members of the Ebola response gathered on July 15, 2026, outside the Ebola Treatment Center (ETC) in Bunia, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), to protest their working conditions. Demonstrators said they had not received their risk allowances for several weeks, payments that are supposed to be made by the Congolese government. &#8220;It&#8217;s outrageous [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Several members of the Ebola response gathered on July 15, 2026, outside the Ebola Treatment Center (ETC) in Bunia, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), to protest their working conditions. Demonstrators said they had not received their risk allowances for several weeks, payments that are supposed to be made by the Congolese government. &#8220;It&#8217;s outrageous for such a high-risk job,&#8221; Robert Uyergiu Mambo, a community leader and French teacher in Bunia, Ituri province, told Mongabay by phone. Although he is not officially part of the Ebola response, his position within the Alur community, an ethnic group living in northwestern Uganda and northeastern DRC, has made him an important local ally. Uyergiu Mambo, a volunteer host on the community radio station Radio Terra FM, which states it has an audience of five million listeners, said he was frustrated with the situation, but not surprised. &#8220;It&#8217;s common for government employees to go unpaid for long periods. Recently, the minister [Samuel Roger Kamba, minister of Public Health, Hygiene and Social Welfare] came here and managed to calm tensions, but there has been a lot of frustration among Ebola response workers lately and protests have continued one after another,” he said. “If nothing changes, the protests will continue. The problem is that it is paralyzing the response.” It is not unusual for Congolese civil servants to work for months without receiving their salaries, a situation that has long fueled corruption across the country. It was a part of life even under Mobutu Sese Seko,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/ebola-responders-persevere-in-the-drc-as-uganda-nears-end-of-outbreak/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/ebola-responders-persevere-in-the-drc-as-uganda-nears-end-of-outbreak/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-325162</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Clinical trials begin in DRC epicenter of Bundibugyo strain of Ebola</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/clinical-trials-begin-in-drc-epicenter-of-bundibugyo-strain-of-ebola/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/clinical-trials-begin-in-drc-epicenter-of-bundibugyo-strain-of-ebola/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Jul 2026 09:59:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Prosper Heri Ngorora]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/08093240/image1_Un-travailleur-se-desinfecte-au-Centre-medical-evangelique-de-Bunia_BIS-1536x1024-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=322836</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, and Democratic Republic Of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Diseases, Ebola, Governance, Health, One Health, Planetary Health, Public Health, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Clinical trials for treatments targeting the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus disease began on July 2 in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The goal is to develop a standard treatment for the strain, whose current outbreak has already resulted in nearly 1,500 confirmed cases and more than 450 deaths. According to DRC health authorities, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Clinical trials for treatments targeting the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus disease began on July 2 in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The goal is to develop a standard treatment for the strain, whose current outbreak has already resulted in nearly 1,500 confirmed cases and more than 450 deaths. According to DRC health authorities, clinical trials targeting this rare strain of Ebola, which is affecting the eastern part of the DRC, were officially launched on July 2 at the Evangelical Medical Center in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province. &#8220;During this epidemic, we also needed to conduct research to find specific drugs to treat this Ebola virus disease and to identify an effective molecule we can use to treat patients suffering from Ebola,&#8221; Dieudonné Mwamba Kazadi, director of the National Institute of Public Health and coordinator of the response to what is now the DRC&#8217;s 17th Ebola epidemic, told Mongabay. According to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), three molecules will be studied in these clinical trials: Remdesivir and MBP134 for patients confirmed to be carrying the Bundibugyo virus, and Obeldsivir — a post-exposure prophylactic treatment to be administered to individuals exposed to the virus, including frontline response personnel. Djodjo Mbusa, a resident of Bunia, welcomed news of the trials, saying they would contribute to the region&#8217;s health security. &#8220;These trials are important for us, ordinary residents affected by this disease. Since they say it is for a potential treatment, I consider it good news,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/clinical-trials-begin-in-drc-epicenter-of-bundibugyo-strain-of-ebola/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/clinical-trials-begin-in-drc-epicenter-of-bundibugyo-strain-of-ebola/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322836</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Four years to earn their trust: Habituating bonobos in DRC&#8217;s Salonga National Park</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/four-years-to-earn-their-trust-habituating-bonobos-in-drcs-salonga-national-park/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/four-years-to-earn-their-trust-habituating-bonobos-in-drcs-salonga-national-park/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Jun 2026 10:56:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David Akana]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/11103622/Image-1-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320981</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, and Democratic Republic Of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Bonobos, Conservation, Diseases, Ebola, Ecotourism, Endangered Species, Environment, Great Apes, National Parks, Parks, Primates, Science, Tourism, Wildlife, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SALONGA NATIONAL PARK, Democratic Republic of Congo — Just before sunrise, while much of the rainforest remains cloaked in darkness, a team of researchers and trackers leaves the Inkomu research camp. Their destination is the previous night&#8217;s nesting site of a group of bonobos deep within the Salonga forest, located in the center of the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SALONGA NATIONAL PARK, Democratic Republic of Congo — Just before sunrise, while much of the rainforest remains cloaked in darkness, a team of researchers and trackers leaves the Inkomu research camp. Their destination is the previous night&#8217;s nesting site of a group of bonobos deep within the Salonga forest, located in the center of the DRC. Their mission is to persuade the bonobos (Pan paniscus) to accept human presence as a natural part of their environment. By earning the animals&#8217; trust, researchers hope to create opportunities to better understand their behavior, ecology and health. This painstaking process, bonobo habituation, involves spending time near the apes day after day until they gradually become accustomed to people. It is a slow and demanding undertaking that can take years, requiring patience, consistency and thousands of hours in the forest. Long before dawn, often around 3 a.m., trackers — some of them former poachers whose knowledge of the forest has become an asset for conservation — begin making their way toward the previous night&#8217;s nesting site. They must arrive before the bonobos wake. Then begins an all-day pursuit through one of the most remote rainforests on Earth, following the apes from dawn until they build fresh nests for the night. &#8220;The whole idea of habituation is that you meet the group every day in a very friendly, non-interactive way so they accept you as part of the forest,&#8221; says Felix Bofeko, an assistant researcher working with a bonobo habituation program in Salonga National Park.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/four-years-to-earn-their-trust-habituating-bonobos-in-drcs-salonga-national-park/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/four-years-to-earn-their-trust-habituating-bonobos-in-drcs-salonga-national-park/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320981</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Evidence linking bats to Ebola inconclusive, scientist says. &#8216;Solution is not fear&#8217;</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/evidence-linking-bats-to-ebola-inconclusive-scientist-says-solution-is-not-fear/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/evidence-linking-bats-to-ebola-inconclusive-scientist-says-solution-is-not-fear/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jun 2026 11:43:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David Akana]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/10113226/image1_Rousettus-aegyptiacus-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320904</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bats, Conservation, Diseases, Ebola, Governance, Health, Pandemics, Planetary Health, Public Health, Rainforests, Science, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As the Democratic Republic of Congo grapples with another Ebola outbreak, bats have once again come under scrutiny as a possible reservoir for the virus. But according to bat ecologist Paul Webala, there is no conclusive scientific evidence linking bats to Ebola and the natural reservoir remains unknown. The current Ebola outbreak is caused by [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As the Democratic Republic of Congo grapples with another Ebola outbreak, bats have once again come under scrutiny as a possible reservoir for the virus. But according to bat ecologist Paul Webala, there is no conclusive scientific evidence linking bats to Ebola and the natural reservoir remains unknown. The current Ebola outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo strain, a variant for which there are currently no approved vaccines or treatments, according to the World Health Organization. In this interview with Mongabay, Webala discusses why bats are often misunderstood, details the important ecological services they provide, and explains why habitat destruction may pose a greater risk for zoonotic diseases that spill over between animals and humans than bats themselves. Webala is a wildlife biologist at Maasai Mara University in Kenya who has studied bats for more than two decades. Rousettus aegyptiacus, commonly known as the Egyptian fruit bat, a widespread species found across much of Africa. Photo courtesy of Paul Webala. Mongabay: Many people immediately think of bats whenever there is an Ebola outbreak. Are bats unfairly stigmatized? Paul Webala: Bats are the second-largest group of mammals after rodents. Roughly 25% of all mammal species are bats. They play extremely important roles in ecosystems and are an integral part of biodiversity. Remove them, and entire ecological systems could begin to collapse. Unfortunately, bats are associated with many myths and misconceptions. Some communities associate them with death, evil spirits or bad omens. Because of these long-standing beliefs, bats have often been persecuted.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/evidence-linking-bats-to-ebola-inconclusive-scientist-says-solution-is-not-fear/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/evidence-linking-bats-to-ebola-inconclusive-scientist-says-solution-is-not-fear/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320904</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Confinement and disinfected bedding: An ape sanctuary in DRC responds to Ebola</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/confinement-and-disinfected-bedding-an-ape-sanctuary-in-drc-responds-to-ebola/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/confinement-and-disinfected-bedding-an-ape-sanctuary-in-drc-responds-to-ebola/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Jun 2026 09:47:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimable TwahirwaYannick Kenné]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/03100422/81AB7CA9-AAE1-41A1-A40B-3096240DE38B-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320525</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, and Democratic Republic Of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Chimpanzees, Ebola, Economics, Environment, Gorillas, Governance, Health, Planetary Health, Primates, Public Health, and Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Since May 23, more than 200 primates housed at the Lwiro Primates Rehabilitation Center (LPRC) in South Kivu province in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been placed under confinement due to the Ebola outbreak. This measure follows the death of a man who tested positive for the virus on May 21. This [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Since May 23, more than 200 primates housed at the Lwiro Primates Rehabilitation Center (LPRC) in South Kivu province in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been placed under confinement due to the Ebola outbreak. This measure follows the death of a man who tested positive for the virus on May 21. This individual, a resident of Kahungu, located just 2 km (1.2 miles) from the town of Lwiro, where the center is situated, had traveled in early May to neighboring Ituri province. Ituri is the epicenter of the outbreak, which, as of May 27, is linked to more than 200 suspected deaths. A threat for humans and apes The LPRC houses at least 129 chimpanzees and 108 monkeys of various species, including olive baboons (Papio anubis), yellow baboons (Papio cynocephalus), L&#8217;Hoest&#8217;s monkeys (Cercopithecus l&#8217;hoesti), blue monkeys (Cercopithecus mitis), agile mangabeys (Cercocebus agilis) and others. Parrots, turtles and porcupines can also be found there. These primates, rescued from poaching and the illegal wildlife trade, are being kept in confinement even though &#8220;for the moment, no cases of Ebola virus transmission from a human to a great ape have been reported,&#8221; primatologist Liz Williamson explained in an email to Mongabay. According to the World Health Organization, the Ebola virus is transmitted to humans through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals. A chimpanzee at the Lwiro Primates Rehabilitation Center, located in South Kivu province in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Image&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/confinement-and-disinfected-bedding-an-ape-sanctuary-in-drc-responds-to-ebola/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/confinement-and-disinfected-bedding-an-ape-sanctuary-in-drc-responds-to-ebola/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320525</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>‘People kept dying’: Interview with Dr. Macky Mbavugha on DRC’s latest Ebola outbreak</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/people-kept-dying-interview-with-dr-macky-mbavugha-on-drcs-latest-ebola-outbreak/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/people-kept-dying-interview-with-dr-macky-mbavugha-on-drcs-latest-ebola-outbreak/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 May 2026 19:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elodie Toto]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/29142534/AP26135299264877-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320317</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, Democratic Republic Of Congo, and East Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Diseases, Ebola, Economics, Environment, Gold Mining, Governance, Health, Planetary Health, Public Health, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On May 28, 2026, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization, sent an open letter to the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo before traveling to the country for a field visit: “I am writing because I want to be with you in these moments. And I want you to know [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On May 28, 2026, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization, sent an open letter to the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo before traveling to the country for a field visit: “I am writing because I want to be with you in these moments. And I want you to know that you are not alone,” he wrote, before recalling his involvement during the deadly Ebola outbreak that struck the northeastern DRC between 2018 and 2020. Since May 15, the country has been facing a new outbreak, this time caused by the Bundibugyo variant, a strain of the disease for which there is currently neither treatment nor vaccine. Since the outbreak was declared, the death toll has continued to rise. According to the latest figures, DRC authorities recorded 121 confirmed cases with 17 confirmed deaths, as well as more than 1,077 suspected cases and 238 suspected deaths. The hemorrhagic fever first emerged in Ituri province, on the border with Uganda, before spreading to North Kivu province and to Uganda. That prompted Uganda to close its border with the DRC. While Ituri remains the worst-hit province, the risk of regional spread is high. On May 23, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) identified 10 other African countries at risk from this Ebola outbreak: Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Zambia. As a result, the international response is intensifying. Dr. Macky Mbavugha is&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/people-kept-dying-interview-with-dr-macky-mbavugha-on-drcs-latest-ebola-outbreak/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/people-kept-dying-interview-with-dr-macky-mbavugha-on-drcs-latest-ebola-outbreak/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320317</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>Do virus-detecting ants hold the key to preventing zoonotic diseases?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/do-virus-detecting-ants-hold-the-key-to-preventing-zoonotic-diseases/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/do-virus-detecting-ants-hold-the-key-to-preventing-zoonotic-diseases/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Aug 2023 21:20:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elodie Toto]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/08/23210707/Ants-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=272520</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, Gabon, and Republic of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, COVID-19, Deforestation, Ebola, Forests, Rainforests, Research, Wildlife, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[An international team of researchers is analysing army ants collected in forests in northeastern Gabon, to better understand zoonotic diseases. According to the World Health Organization, Africa experienced a 63% increase in outbreaks of zoonotic diseases like Ebola, monkeypox, and Marburg virus between 2012 and 2022, compared to the previous decade. According to researcher Sophie [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[An international team of researchers is analysing army ants collected in forests in northeastern Gabon, to better understand zoonotic diseases. According to the World Health Organization, Africa experienced a 63% increase in outbreaks of zoonotic diseases like Ebola, monkeypox, and Marburg virus between 2012 and 2022, compared to the previous decade. According to researcher Sophie Muset, this is due to deforestation leading to increased human contact with wildlife. Muset is technical coordinator of a research project called Ebo-Sursy, set up in 2017 to better understand, predict and prevent future epidemics. It’s a partnership between the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH), the Research Institute for Development (IRD), the Pasteur Institute and the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD). Ebo-Sursy researchers collected ants from 29 colonies in the forest in Gabon. Image by Gregoire Dubois via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0). Eric Leroy is a virologist specialising in zoonoses at the IRD. His work for Ebo-Sursy involves looking for new viruses likely to pass from the animal world to humans, both in the laboratory and in the field, across the 47 million hectares of forest in Gabon and the Republic of Congo. Conducting scientific research in these forests is a logistical challenge. “Working in the Congo Basin is complicated because vegetation is very important in this ecosystem. The forests are difficult to access, especially during the rainy season. Most of these territories are totally unexplored, and only a limited number of animals can be captured, sampled, and analysed.” Further complicating&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/do-virus-detecting-ants-hold-the-key-to-preventing-zoonotic-diseases/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/do-virus-detecting-ants-hold-the-key-to-preventing-zoonotic-diseases/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-272520</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Loss, resilience and community amid an outbreak: Q&#038;A with gorilla researcher Magdalena Bermejo</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/loss-resilience-and-community-amid-an-outbreak-qa-with-gorilla-researcher-magdalena-bermejo/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/loss-resilience-and-community-amid-an-outbreak-qa-with-gorilla-researcher-magdalena-bermejo/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Jun 2020 09:58:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Heather Richardson]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/06/04093546/Odzala-Discovery-Camps-Ngaga-Camp-Gorilla-Tracking-8-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=230975</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Great Apes]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, Congo Basin, and Republic of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Conservation, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Ebola, Ecotourism, Endangered Species, Environment, Gorillas, Great Apes, Interviews, Mammals, Wildlife, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Between 2002 and 2005, a series of Ebola outbreaks spread through the forests of northwest Republic of Congo. Dozens of people died. For the region’s western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) population, the virus was even more deadly: an estimated 5,000 died from the disease, a blow so devastating their conservation status was uplisted from [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Between 2002 and 2005, a series of Ebola outbreaks spread through the forests of northwest Republic of Congo. Dozens of people died. For the region’s western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) population, the virus was even more deadly: an estimated 5,000 died from the disease, a blow so devastating their conservation status was uplisted from endangered to critically endangered. Magdalena Bermejo began studying the western lowland gorillas in and around Odzala-Kokoua National Park in 1994 and is now widely regarded as the foremost expert on the species. Spanish scientist Magdalena Bermejo has spent more than 25 years studying non-human primates in Western Equatorial Africa. Image courtesy of Magdalena Bermejo. In 2001, the Lossi Reserve was created as a community-run sanctuary and research base. Bermejo and her team were instrumental in working to habituate gorillas to humans, allowing for both research and tourism. The reserve, which is about 15 kilometers (9 miles) outside Odzala-Kokoua National Park, remained in the hands of its traditional owners and offered a new model for conservation and ecotourism. But the project was cut short. Between 2002 and 2003, 95% of Lossi’s gorillas died from Ebola, including two family groups Bermejo was studying. But Bermejo and her research team didn’t leave; they stayed, studying the transmission of the Ebola virus between humans and apes for six years, working in different sites around the reserve. Since then, their work with the gorilla population of northwest Congo, around Odzala, has been heavily focused on community-based conservation and how research and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/loss-resilience-and-community-amid-an-outbreak-qa-with-gorilla-researcher-magdalena-bermejo/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/loss-resilience-and-community-amid-an-outbreak-qa-with-gorilla-researcher-magdalena-bermejo/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-230975</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>National parks in Africa shutter over COVID-19 threat to great apes</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/03/national-parks-in-africa-shutter-over-covid-19-threat-to-great-apes/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/03/national-parks-in-africa-shutter-over-covid-19-threat-to-great-apes/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Mar 2020 11:20:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawahare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/03/26105821/IMG_1522-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=228319</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Conservation in Madagascar and Great Apes]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Atlantic Forest, Central Africa, Congo Basin, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Indonesia, Madagascar, Rwanda, Uganda, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Apes, Charismatic Animals, COVID-19, Critically Endangered Species, Diseases, Ebola, Gorillas, Great Apes, Lemurs, Mammals, National Parks, Orangutans, Primates, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo shut its doors to tourists this week in an attempt to protect its great apes from possibly being infected by the novel coronavirus. The park, which hosts one of the last remaining populations of the mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei), will remain closed until June 1. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo shut its doors to tourists this week in an attempt to protect its great apes from possibly being infected by the novel coronavirus. The park, which hosts one of the last remaining populations of the mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei), will remain closed until June 1. The specter of COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus, looms large over Africa, with the number of confirmed infections among people crossing 2,000 as of March 25. Humans and great apes — gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos and orangutans — share more than 95% of the same DNA, and are susceptible to many of the same infectious diseases. And while no COVID-19 infections have been recorded among great apes, experts warn the risk is very real. “It is not yet known if great apes are susceptible to SARS CoV-2,” the IUCN said in a recent statement referring to the coronavirus by its formal name. “However, there is abundant scientific evidence that great apes are susceptible to infection with human respiratory pathogens. At this point, it is safest to assume that great apes are susceptible to SARS CoV-2 infection.” The IUCN has called for precautions on the part of site managers, researchers and tourism operators to ensure that the threatened populations of these species are not wiped out by an epidemic that has already claimed more than 22,000 human lives as of March 26. “Luckily we don&#8217;t have any reports on the virus in chimps, gorilla&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/03/national-parks-in-africa-shutter-over-covid-19-threat-to-great-apes/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/03/national-parks-in-africa-shutter-over-covid-19-threat-to-great-apes/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-228319</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Western lowland gorillas may be territorial, a new study finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/03/western-lowland-gorillas-may-be-territorial-a-new-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/03/western-lowland-gorillas-may-be-territorial-a-new-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Mar 2020 13:00:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/03/12121132/Camera-trap-photo4-please-credit-Germa%CC%81n-Illera-of-SPAC-Scientific-Field-Station-Network-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=227862</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Great Apes]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Forest and Republic of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Chimpanzees, Conservation, Deforestation, Ebola, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Gorillas, Great Apes, Mammals, Parks, Protected Areas, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) may be avoiding their neighbors, according to a new study that presents evidence of territoriality among gorilla groups in the Republic of Congo. Using large-scale camera trapping, researchers observed eight groups of gorillas across a 60-square-kilometer (23-square-mile) area in their dense forest habitat. The images revealed that groups avoided [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) may be avoiding their neighbors, according to a new study that presents evidence of territoriality among gorilla groups in the Republic of Congo. Using large-scale camera trapping, researchers observed eight groups of gorillas across a 60-square-kilometer (23-square-mile) area in their dense forest habitat. The images revealed that groups avoided one another. Groups also stayed away from the central area of each other’s home ranges — evidence that western lowland gorillas may be more territorial than previously thought. A Western lowland gorilla image captured via a camera trap in the Republic of Congo. Image courtesy of Germán Illera of SPAC Scientific Field Station Network. Territoriality is common among apes, including chimpanzees and gibbons, and there is some evidence of territoriality in the mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei), so the authors of the new paper in the journal Scientific Reports were not entirely surprised by these findings. However, gathering enough data on gorilla group interactions to support this idea has proved challenging. “Western gorillas are particularly difficult to study in the wild because they live in dense forest and will usually run away from and/or be extremely aggressive towards humans if they are not habituated,” study author Robin Morrison, a researcher with the Diane Fossey Gorilla Fund, told Mongabay. “We know little about how multiple groups share space.” Habituating a group of gorillas to human contact can take up to five years, and only a few wild groups are habituated. So the team used another method,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/03/western-lowland-gorillas-may-be-territorial-a-new-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/03/western-lowland-gorillas-may-be-territorial-a-new-study-finds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-227862</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Bats and viruses: Beating back a bad reputation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/08/bats-and-viruses-beating-back-a-bad-reputation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/08/bats-and-viruses-beating-back-a-bad-reputation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Aug 2017 00:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/08/24055437/113-1303PZ30-3-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=198519</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Borneo, Global, Guinea, Malaysia, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Agriculture, Animal Behavior, Animals, Apes, Bats, Biodiversity, Birds, Charismatic Animals, Conservation, Deforestation, Ebola, Ecological Beauty, Ecology, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Hunting, Mammals, Research, Roads, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, Wildlife, Wildlife consumption, Wind Power, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A burned-out stump was all that remained by the time a team of virologists arrived in Méliandou in 2014. They had been hunting for the source of the deadly outbreak of the disease caused by Ebola virus that had begun late the previous year. A patchwork of clues had led the researchers to the tree’s [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A burned-out stump was all that remained by the time a team of virologists arrived in Méliandou in 2014. They had been hunting for the source of the deadly outbreak of the disease caused by Ebola virus that had begun late the previous year. A patchwork of clues had led the researchers to the tree’s charred remnants in this small Guinean village of not more than a few dozen families. The tree had once been home to bats that locals would nab on occasion for a meal. It was also a spot where Emile Ouamouno might have been before he got sick. Emile, a toddler from Méliandou, is thought to be the first person to contract the illness in this outbreak. With little else to go on, scientists postulated that the origin of the virus that infected Emile might be the tree and its bats. The virologists told a reporter for Science that they couldn’t confirm if people from Méliandou had burned the tree to get rid of the bats that they feared might be carrying Ebola virus. But ecologist Merlin Tuttle has little doubt that was the case. To him, this type of persecution is part of the pattern set in motion when there’s a whisper that bats might be involved in a disease outbreak. A Wahlberg&#8217;s epauletted fruit bat (Epomophorus wahlbergi), about to pollinate a baobab tree in Kenya. Countless thousands of epauletted bats live in African villages without record of harm to humans, Merlin Tuttle said. Photo and caption&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/08/bats-and-viruses-beating-back-a-bad-reputation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/08/bats-and-viruses-beating-back-a-bad-reputation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-198519</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Illegal bushmeat trade threatens human health and great apes</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/04/illegal-bushmeat-trade-threatens-human-health-and-great-apes/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/04/illegal-bushmeat-trade-threatens-human-health-and-great-apes/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Apr 2017 12:22:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Claire Asher]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/04/30123304/FEATURED-great-ape-disease-514x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=194647</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Great Apes]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Atlantic Forest, Central Africa, Congo Basin, and Democratic Republic Of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Bushmeat, Chimpanzees, Conservation, Corruption, Crime, Diseases, Ebola, Ecology, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Gorillas, Great Apes, Hunting, Indigenous Peoples, Law, Law Enforcement, Mammals, Over-hunting, Primates, Rainforests, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, Wildlife Trafficking, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Great apes should be humanity’s best bet for conservation — charismatic, intelligent, strikingly familiar, with big emoting eyes. It’s hard to think of creatures with whom the public empathizes more easily, or that are perceived as more worth saving, than our closest cousins. And yet, we are failing them. Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) are the most [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Chimpanzees in Uganda. The bushmeat trade is not only a threat to great apes, but because bushmeat can spread disease, the trade — extending across Africa into Europe and beyond — also poses a serious risk to humans. Public Domain Great apes should be humanity’s best bet for conservation — charismatic, intelligent, strikingly familiar, with big emoting eyes. It’s hard to think of creatures with whom the public empathizes more easily, or that are perceived as more worth saving, than our closest cousins. And yet, we are failing them. Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) are the most numerous of the African great apes, found across western and Central Africa, but their populations are suffering severe declines due to habitat loss and hunting. Eastern gorillas (Gorilla beringei) number fewer than 5,000 individuals in the wild and already have an extremely restricted range. And although Western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) are more widely distributed, only 22 percent currently live within protected areas. Bonobos (Pan paniscus) are limited to small pockets of remaining habitat that have been wracked by civil war, lawlessness and violence. Together with orangutans, these great apes represent our closest living relatives on Earth. All of them are Critically Endangered, except for bonobos, which are Endangered, according to the IUCN. And they all face a daunting onslaught of threats — ranging from habitat loss and trafficking, to climate change and war. One of the most severe threats today is the thriving bushmeat trade. Bushmeat from the illegal hunting of wildlife — elephants,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/04/illegal-bushmeat-trade-threatens-human-health-and-great-apes/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-194647</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Palm oil company denies capitalizing on Ebola to advance Liberia operations</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/07/palm-oil-company-denies-capitalizing-on-ebola-to-advance-liberia-operations/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/07/palm-oil-company-denies-capitalizing-on-ebola-to-advance-liberia-operations/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Jul 2015 18:09:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Greg Norman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Liberia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Ebola, Environment, Forests, Land Grabbing, Palm Oil, Plantations, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, and Threats To Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Community members in Liberia were threatened with violence and urged to sign unfavorable land deals with palm oil company Golden Veroleum Liberia (GVL) at the height of last year’s Ebola epidemic, according to findings in a new report by Global Witness released yesterday. The New Snake Oil: Violence, Threats and False Promises at the Heart [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Community members in Liberia were threatened with violence and urged to sign unfavorable land deals with palm oil company Golden Veroleum Liberia (GVL) at the height of last year’s Ebola epidemic, according to findings in a new report by Global Witness released yesterday. The New Snake Oil: Violence, Threats and False Promises at the Heart of Liberia&#8217;s Palm Oil Expansion claims that GVL, a majority of which is controlled by palm oil giant Golden Agri-Resources (GAR), escalated its operations during the outbreak of the deadly virus last year that crippled the country and left more than 4,800 people dead. “Liberia is rolling out the red carpet to a company that has swindled communities, forcibly grabbed land and chain-sawed its way through rainforests in Asia,” Global Witness’ campaign leader Jonathan Gant said in a statement, referring to the past behavior of GAR in Indonesia. “With the company’s first foray into Africa, at the peak of the continent’s deadliest Ebola epidemic, it is has manipulated villagers into signing away the lands they depend on. This will affect at least five generations of families who will likely never see their land returned to them.” Global Witness claims that GVL nearly doubled the size of its plantation during the Ebola outbreak and that while community support groups were staying at home to avoid contracting the virus the company encouraged illiterate citizens to sign away their land rights. A graphic from Global Witness&#8217; report juxtaposes the rate at which GVL expanded its operations with the chronology&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2015/07/palm-oil-company-denies-capitalizing-on-ebola-to-advance-liberia-operations/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-63748</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Meager post-Ebola harvests worsen food insecurity in West Africa</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/06/meager-post-ebola-harvests-worsen-food-insecurity-in-west-africa/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/06/meager-post-ebola-harvests-worsen-food-insecurity-in-west-africa/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Jun 2015 14:46:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Lois Parshley]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2015/06/meager-post-ebola-harvests-worsen-food-insecurity-in-west-africa</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Ebola, Environment, Food, Global Environmental Crisis, and Green]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Villagers harvest rice in Sierra Leone. Harvesting is often a communal affair in West African nations, but the Ebola crisis interfered with group activities and disrupted many other aspects of agricultural production in the region. Photo credit: ©FAO/Peter DiCampo. Pedelers Salee Craig used to grow vegetables. Near his home in Monrovia, Liberia, he planted peppers [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[Villagers harvest rice in Sierra Leone. Harvesting is often a communal affair in West African nations, but the Ebola crisis interfered with group activities and disrupted many other aspects of agricultural production in the region. Photo credit: ©FAO/Peter DiCampo. Pedelers Salee Craig used to grow vegetables. Near his home in Monrovia, Liberia, he planted peppers and bitter balls, potatoes and okra. A sturdy 39 year-old man with cheeks etched from former smiles, Craig is passionate and generally optimistic. But he&#8217;s not smiling when he talks about the situation in Liberia now. Typically, farmers work to gather crops communally, harvesting together until the season is over. But in 2014, the Ebola crisis restricted travel. &#8220;Everyone was afraid of each other,&#8221; Craig said. Mandatory government quarantines trapped people within their homes. As the disease spread, fields went unharvested and soon lay fallow. Now, more than a year after the Ebola crisis began, Craig still can&#8217;t plant crops. &#8220;We have consumed almost all of what we kept to plant for the next season,&#8221; he said. &#8220;If we don&#8217;t have seeds, I can&#8217;t do anything for next farm season. And because we did not plant, we cannot sell. So the problems have multiplied.&#8221; Liberian agriculture had been on the road to recovery after intermittent civil war from 1989 to 2003. Craig worked as an organizer during the years of conflict, and in 2000, helped start the Lofa Education and Agriculture Foundation (LEAF) to increase food access in camps for the displaced. &#8220;We entered into&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2015/06/meager-post-ebola-harvests-worsen-food-insecurity-in-west-africa/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-62824</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Did palm oil expansion play a role in the Ebola crisis?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/01/did-palm-oil-expansion-play-a-role-in-the-ebola-crisis/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/01/did-palm-oil-expansion-play-a-role-in-the-ebola-crisis/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Jan 2015 16:55:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Emmanuel K. Urey]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2015/01/did-palm-oil-expansion-play-a-role-in-the-ebola-crisis/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Guinea, Liberia, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroforestry, Animals, Bats, Controversial, Deforestation, Developing Countries, Development, Diseases, Ebola, Economics, Environment, Governance, Green, Mammals, Monocultures, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, Traditional People, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Straw-colored fruit bat (Eidolon helvum) at the Zoological Garden Berlin, Germany. This species, along with other fruit bats, is present in the Ebola impacted area and may have been a carrier. Photo by: Fritz Geller-Grimm/Creative Commons 2.5. The Ebola outbreak in West Africa may have been the result of complex economic and agricultural policies developed [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Straw-colored fruit bat (Eidolon helvum) at the Zoological Garden Berlin, Germany. This species, along with other fruit bats, is present in the Ebola impacted area and may have been a carrier. Photo by: Fritz Geller-Grimm/Creative Commons 2.5. The Ebola outbreak in West Africa may have been the result of complex economic and agricultural policies developed by authorities in Guinea and Liberia, according to a new commentary in Environment and Planning A. Looking at the economic activities around villages where Ebola first emerged, the investigators analyzed a shift in land-use activities in Guinea&#8217;s forested region, particularly an increase in oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) cultivation. The researchers write that this shift could be linked to governmental policy promoting &#8220;neoliberal structural adjustment&#8221; that opens domestic production to global markets. Using what they called &#8220;a palm oil hypothesis,&#8221; they conclude that Ebola may have crossed from the environment into humans through a rise in palm oil plantations. Agriculture in the region had been characterized by coffee, cocoa, the kola nut, and by slash-and-burn farming. Such farming involves planting maize and rice initially, followed by cassava and peanuts during the second year. But these agroforestry practices changed recently with the introduction of improved palm oil production. Beginning in 2007, the Guinean government began to export palm oil and planned to ramp up production to export 84,000 tons in 2015, more than half of which would come from forested Guinean plantations. Land use pattern near Gueckedou, Guinea. Landscape is a mosaic of villages surrounded by dense&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2015/01/did-palm-oil-expansion-play-a-role-in-the-ebola-crisis/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-24224</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How did Ebola Zaïre Get to Guinea?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/08/how-did-ebola-zaire-get-to-guinea/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/08/how-did-ebola-zaire-get-to-guinea/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Aug 2014 14:41:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Analysis Daniel Stiles]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Tiffany Roufs]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2014/08/how-did-ebola-zaire-get-to-guinea/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Democratic Republic Of Congo, and Guinea]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Apes, Bonobos, Bushmeat, Chimpanzees, Diseases, Ebola, Environment, Gorillas, Great Apes, Green, and Mongabay.org]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Is the great ape trade responsible for the current outbreak of Ebola? The vicious Ebola virus outbreak that has already killed more than 800 people this year, in addition to sowing panic, fear and confusion throughout West Africa, was not a strain endemic to the region as initially believed. Instead the University of Edinburgh found [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[Is the great ape trade responsible for the current outbreak of Ebola? The vicious Ebola virus outbreak that has already killed more than 800 people this year, in addition to sowing panic, fear and confusion throughout West Africa, was not a strain endemic to the region as initially believed. Instead the University of Edinburgh found that the strain is the same as the Ebola Zaïre found in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), formerly Zaïre. The Robert-Koch Institute in Germany confirmed the finding. In fact, this is the first outbreak of Ebola Zaïre seen anywhere in West Africa, and it is already the most severe in recorded history, both in number of cases and fatalities. The fatality rate varies from 50 to 90 percent of those infected, and there is no cure or vaccine&#8212;it is one of the most deadly diseases on the planet. Victims bleed to death and organs fail as they hemorrhage internally and from every orifice. No wonder Kamono Moriba, a volunteer with the Red Cross Society of Guinea who lives in Guéckédou, where the first cases of this epidemic were reported, said &#8220;I was so scared to die.&#8221; This tiny, worm-like Ebola virus can be lethal. Photo in the public domain, provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. &#8220;People tell us that the humanitarian workers have brought the disease…They also say that for several decades they have consumed bushmeat without contracting any disease, and question why it is surfacing now,&#8221; relates Moriba. The original&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2014/08/how-did-ebola-zaire-get-to-guinea/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-24848</doi>				</item>
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