West africa News

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Collage, Jahëna Louisin, Mongabay reporter, and a Vodun ritual

Vodun’s sacred role in saving West Africa’s mangroves

Jahëna Louisin 9 May 2026
The Nimba mountain range as seen from southern Guinea. Image by Maarten van der Bent via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0).

In the Nimba Mountains, a film examines the paradox of mining-funded conservation

Ashoka Mukpo 8 May 2026
Green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) feeding on seagrass. Image courtesy of Liam McGuire via Ocean Image Bank.

With its first marine reserve, Ghana protects its ocean to secure its future (commentary)

Emelia Arthur 4 May 2026
An African leopard in South Africa.

International Leopard Day: A spotty outlook for the spotted cat

Mongabay.com 2 May 2026
A sign marking the boundary of the Atlantic Lithium mine entering Ewoyaa village. Image by Maxine Betteridge-Moes for Mongabay.

As Ghana eyes lithium future, affected communities face uncertainty

Maxine Betteridge-Moes 29 Apr 2026
Iroro Tanshi and her team members are seen during morphometric data collection in Etankpini village in Odukpani, Cross River State on the 18th of February, 2024

Nigerian bat specialist wins Goldman Prize for community conservation work

Ini Ekott 20 Apr 2026
A yellow-fronted canary from South Africa. The songbird tops the list of wild birds exported from Africa to Asia.

Nearly a million birds shipped from Africa to Asia in 15 years; canaries top the list

Spoorthy Raman 15 Apr 2026
In 2023, women working at the Salala plantation told Mongabay their managers often tried to pressure them into sex. Ashoka Mukpo/Mongabay.

Second progress report shows little action on World Bank redress plan at Liberian plantation

Victoria Schneider 9 Apr 2026
Sei whale (Balaenoptera borealis) mother and calf as seen from the air. Image by Christin Khan NOAA/NEFSC via Wikimedia. (CC BY-SA 4.0).

With high seas treaty in place, West African countries plan for protected area

Victoria Schneider 31 Mar 2026
Hooded vultures are small, scruffy-faced vultures native to sub-Saharan Africa.

‘Staggering’ trade for belief-based use drives hooded vultures to near-extinction in Benin

Spoorthy Raman 25 Mar 2026
A vulture nesting colony on Ngethelewan, an inselberg located on the Boma plateau, in South Sudan.

Satellite images identify vulture breeding colonies by their droppings

Ryan Truscott 5 Mar 2026
Banner image: Fish meal factory ships Hua Xin 17 and Tian Yi He 6 anchored on the Geba River near the capital of Bissau. Image by Josef Skrdlik for Mongabay.

Guinea-Bissau’s transitional government bans fish meal production

Josef Skrdlik 2 Mar 2026
A captive sand cat in Nushi, Pakistan. Illegal trade is occurring amid a paucity of information about population sizes of small cat populations, says Sheikh. “It's going under the radar to a big extent, and hardly anything is being done to actively stop it or to mitigate this threat.”

Big cats get the press, but small wildcats are being poached and trafficked in silence

Sean Mowbray 25 Feb 2026
A woman standing in a street carries a basin filled with a colourful variety of plastic bottles while in the background there are busy stalls and shoppers in the street. Image by Elliot Ovadje via Flickr.

Recycling startups test limits of private solutions to deluge of waste in Lagos

Abdulwaheed Sofiullahi 20 Feb 2026
A photo of Zeytin posted by the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry on Facebook in December 2024. No further updates have been provided since the country's announcement to not send Zeytin to Africa.

Baby gorilla seized from traffickers languishes in Turkish zoo

Spoorthy Raman 13 Feb 2026
Tanoh Jallah, a resident of one of the towns in the IFC complaint, said all the good farmland was taken by Salala.

Community complaints in limbo as Socfin cuts ties with Earthworm Foundation

Ashoka Mukpo, Victoria Schneider 10 Feb 2026
Destroyed trees inside the Apamprama reserve. Image by Awudu Salami Sulemana Yoda.

Successful campaign proves Ghana’s forests are worth more than gold (commentary)

Daryl Bosu 5 Feb 2026
Camps Bay, Cape Town, South Africa.

A ‘new baseline’: Study captures accelerating sea-level rise in Africa

Edward Carver 30 Jan 2026
A woman uses a new cookstove in the village of Bang in the North region of Cameroon.

Cameroon cookstove project looks to slow forest loss

Leocadia Bongben 30 Jan 2026
Francis Hallé. Photo by Thomas Samson / AFP

Francis Hallé, the botanist who took a raft into the rainforest canopy

Rhett Ayers Butler 22 Jan 2026
A Bangka slow loris (Nycticebus bancanus).

For two of the world’s most at-risk primates, threats abound and the future looks grim

Mino Rakotovao 20 Jan 2026
Loading a barge with iron ore from Simandou. Image by Paul Kagame via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Hopes and fears as Guinea exports iron ore from Simandou mines

Ashoka Mukpo 16 Jan 2026
Foothills of the Atewa forest range, one of several ecologically sensitive areas where mining permits have been issued. Image by Ahtziri Gonzalez/CIFOR via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Ghana repeals legislation that opened forest reserves to mining

Awudu Salami Sulemana Yoda 8 Jan 2026
Myotis nimbaensis, shown here, is a new species of bat named for the mountain range in which it is found, the Nimba Mountains in West Africa. Photo © Kendra Snyder / Bat Conservation International.

Rare bats at risk as iron ore mine advances in Guinea’s Nimba Mountains

Victoria Schneider 30 Dec 2025
Clark Lungren. Courtesy of the Lungren family.

Clark Lungren and the case for compromise in conservation

Rhett Ayers Butler 28 Dec 2025
Community members plant red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle) propagules in Hanging Site as part of a restoration effort.

Huge ‘blue carbon’ offsetting project takes root in the mangroves of Sierra Leone

Edward Carver, Mohamed Fofanah 23 Dec 2025

West and Central Africa tackle coastal erosion

Adrienne Engono, Carolle Ahodekon, Charles Kolou, Christophe Assogba, Roland Klohi, Rosie Pioth 16 Dec 2025
Artisanal fishers pull in a fishing net.

Artisanal fishers in Liberia question benefits of new tracking devices from government

Edward Blamo 15 Dec 2025
Women and children return from their farmlands after the day's work in northcentral Nigeria.

Banned for years, dangerous pesticides persist in Nigerian farming

Samuel Ogunsona 12 Dec 2025
Mangroves within the Douala-Edéa Wildlife Reserve.

As fish catches fall and seas rise, Douala’s residents join efforts to restore mangroves

Ngala Chimtom 11 Dec 2025
Forest elephants

Wildlife and communities bear the cost as Simandou rail corridor advances across Guinea

Younoussa Naby Sylla 11 Dec 2025
A child at work collecting e-waste in the Agbogbloshie dump in Ghana.

Can two Amazons survive? Invisible e-waste is poisoning the world

Gerry McGovern, Sue Branford 3 Dec 2025

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