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Nature Conservation

Mongabay •

Niger Delta mangroves in ‘grave danger’ from oil spills, logging and invasive species

Southern Nigeria’s vast Niger Delta boasts Africa’s most extensive mangrove forests — and some of the world’s largest fossil fuel reserves. Efforts to extract oil and gas have resulted in numerous oil spills, which have damaged the region’s biodiversity, as well as the livelihoods of coastal communities. Niger Delta mangroves are also affected by logging, farming and urban expansion, and are being replaced by invasive nipa palm. Research suggests Niger Delta’s mangroves could be gone within 50 years at the current rate of loss.

Read the full story: https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/niger-delta-mangroves-in-grave-danger-from-oil-spills-extraction-invasive-species/

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Mongabay is a nonprofit environmental science and conservation news platform that produces original reporting in English, Indonesian, Spanish, French, Hindi, and Brazilian Portuguese.

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Mongabay Environmental News •

New oil refinery ‘a huge disaster’ for Nigerian forest reserve

IWUOCHANG, Nigeria — It was morning in mid-March and the wooden canoe skimmed silently across the Ibeno River in the southern Nigerian state of Akwa Ibom. A young boy and an elderly man paddled with measured rhythm towards the shore of Iwuochang, where passengers disembarked beside a group of chatting fishers and a pile of chopped logs. Residents told Mongabay these logs are destined to be fuel for cooking ovens, and were harvested in nearby Stubbs Creek Forest Reserve.

Stubbs Creek Forest Rese
Mongabay Environmental News •

Niger Delta mangroves in ‘grave danger’ from oil spills, poverty, invasive species

BODO, Nigeria — Christian Kpandei is a man of many memories. Still, the vital incidents of his life, like the death of his childhood hero, environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, grow blurry and remote as time wears on. One series of events, however, with its decade-old vestiges, has remained as clear as the sunrise at dawn.

Twice, in 2008 and again in 2009, a pipeline owned by Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) ruptured, releasing more than 600,000 barrels of crude oil into Bo
Mongabay Environmental News •

Saving Nigeria’s gorillas was also meant to help communities. It hasn’t (analysis).

Early February 1989. A blue helicopter, partly tinted in green and white, emerged from the clouds of Kanyang, in Nigeria’s Cross River state. Gabriel Osanja, then 22, stood among the crowd peering up. The night before, as he tarried in thoughts at the fireside, a moment like this had seemed remote, even dreamy.

And yet, when he found himself within arm’s length of Prince Philip, the duke of Edinburgh, Osanja’s emotions froze. His peers in school, lining both sides of a walkway, received Philip
Mongabay •

To save Nigeria's forests, residents call for more effective livelihood programs

Cocoa farmers are being trained to slow down the clearing of forest for farmland in and around Nigeria’s Cross River National Park, established in 1991 to protect Cross River gorillas and other threatened species.

For many people in the area, conservation has been experienced as a loss of autonomy and livelihood. With few alternatives and a growing population, people describe becoming ever more dependent on forests and wildlife to survive.

Since cocoa farming is an important source of income, conservationists are providing cocoa seedlings and special training for farmers to revive their existing farmland rather than clearing new forest areas.

Read the full story: https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/saving-nigerias-gorillas-was-also-meant-to-help-communities-it-hasnt-analysis/

Mongabay is a nonprofit environmental science and conservation news platform that produces original reporting in English, Indonesian, Spanish, French, Hindi, and Brazilian Portuguese.

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Watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/MongabayTV

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Mongabay •

Patrols cooperate to protect endangered apes on the Cameroon-Nigeria border

The rugged, isolated forests along the Nigeria-Cameroon border support a vast array of wildlife, including Cross River gorillas, Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzees, and forest elephants.

Historically, limited law enforcement in the border zone has left the ecosystem vulnerable to hunting and logging.

Since the early 1990s, though, NGOs have been working alongside both governments to enhance transboundary conservation efforts, including joint patrols by rangers from both countries.

This cross-border collaboration faces many obstacles today, including bureaucratic delays, treacherous terrain, armed poachers, and violent conflict in Cameroon, but participants remain optimistic about the potential for cooperation.

Read the full story here: https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/on-nigeria-cameroon-border-joint-patrols-throw-a-lifeline-to-threatened-apes/

#mongabay #gorillas #chimpanzees #elephants #wildlife

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Mongabay is a nonprofit environmental science and conservation news platform that produces original reporting in English, Indonesian, Spanish, French, Hindi, and Brazilian Portuguese.

Check out https://www.mongabay.com/

Watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/MongabayTV

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Mongabay Environmental News •

Endangered chimps ‘on the brink’ as Nigerian reserve is razed for agriculture, timber

ORE, Nigeria — More than two decades ago, fate took Tajudeen Babalola to his lifelong ambition. The 52-year-old longed for a more serene life that offered hope for survival away from the fake fancies of Lagos, Africa’s second-largest city and Nigeria’s commercial nerve center.

One evening, after an exhausting shift of commercial driving, he received an invitation to join an old friend, a hunter-turned-farmer, at Oluwa Forest Reserve about 70 kilometers (113 miles) east of Lagos in the state of
Mongabay •

Protecting the last Cross-River gorillas | Chasing Deforestation

Chasing Deforestation is a series that explores Earth's most threatened forests through satellite data and reporters on the ground. In the first episode, your host, Romi Castagnino, takes you to the forests of Cross River State in Nigeria. We do a deep dive into the history and social dynamics that shaped the state over the last century.

Our guest, reporter Orji Sunday, talks about the drivers of deforestation inside protected areas and the challenges rural communities face to introduce conservation into their daily lives.

What does it take to protect the last Cross-River gorillas?

Read the full story here: https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/deforestation-soars-in-nigerias-gorilla-habitat-we-are-running-out-of-time/

#mongabay #deforestation #biodiversity #environment #Africa

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Mongabay is a nonprofit environmental science and conservation news platform that produces original reporting in English, Indonesian, Spanish, French, Hindi, and Brazilian Portuguese.

Check out https://www.mongabay.com/

Watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/MongabayTV

Subscribe to Mongabay’s newsletter: https://mongabay.us14.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=80161fe385606408293ae0e51&id=940652e1f4

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Mongabay •

Great apes' films raise awareness in rural Nigeria

Since 2006, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has worked with local groups to screen documentaries about apes in dozens of communities adjoining protected areas where Cross River gorillas are still found.

The films aim to build knowledge about apes and support for conservation; conservationists say film screenings, which are still a novelty in rural areas, attract a broader audience than radio shows, town hall meetings or other outreach methods.

Though they live close to ape habitats, for many people in these rural communities, films are as close as they will come to encountering the rare and cryptic animals that live nearby.

#mongabay #gorillas #biodiversity #environment

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Mongabay is a nonprofit environmental science and conservation news platform that produces original reporting in English, Indonesian, Spanish, French, Hindi, and Brazilian Portuguese.
Check out https://www.mongabay.com/.

Watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/MongabayTV

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Mongabay Environmental News •

Deforestation soars in Nigeria’s gorilla habitat: ‘We are running out of time’

IKOM, Nigeria — When 57-year-old Linus Otu was a child, each dawn arrived with the chatter of monkeys and occasional belches of gorillas from the mountain that overlooks his small bungalow home in the village of Kanyang II in southeastern Nigeria’s Cross River state. He recalled peering up at the foggy, forested mountains, uncertain what to make of his noisy animal neighbors.

One morning, while exploring the banks of the Afi River, Otu came upon a mother chimpanzee bathing its infant. “It acted
VICE News •

Inside the Global Underground Wildlife Trafficking Market

In this first episode of 'Bad Goods', VICE News dives deep into illegal pangolin trafficking in Nigeria and China.

'Bad Goods' is a documentary series for Vice News looking at the worldwide illicit trade market, from wildlife trafficking, counterfeit item selling and sand mining. It will follow key people, from enforcement to traffickers, at the heart of the trade and explore what is behind the demand for illicit products.

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#VICENews #News
Mongabay Environmental News •

Takeover of Nigerian reserve highlights uphill battle to save forests

IJARE, Nigeria — The silver blade slides through the log laid over a metal bed beneath the sawmill machine. When the careful routine ends, one of the two operators pulls off a flat board, guided by instructions from a colleague. “Pull the plank out quickly!” he yells, his voice floating over the rattle of old machinery. “And then fix the logs back to match the teeth of the blade and move back.”

Sawmill chief Dare Ayesoro stands nearby on a wooden deck behind a heap of sawdust and a power genera
Mongabay Environmental News •

A tale of two Nigerian reserves underscores importance of community

IKPAKO, Nigeria — Dark stumps of half-charred trees, dry cassava stems and dead tree trunks cover a large swath of land on the way to Ikpako, a small farming enclave outside the Gele-Gele and Ekenwan forest reserves in Nigeria’s southern state of Edo. Ikpako is 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the trip’s starting point in Evorokho, but the muddy road riddled with potholes opaque with brown water makes the trip long and arduous. Still, the road is busy. Trucks loaded with logs and vans packed with b
Mongabay Environmental News •

Inside the fight to save the Niger Delta red colobus

APOI, Nigeria — It’s sunset in the small Niger Delta village of Apoi. The town crier’s bell rings out over tilted electricity poles and small bungalows. “The epiene people are here again to meet with you and talk about our plans for the animal!” he calls.

The next morning, villagers exchange pleasantries as they settle into a hall prepared for the occasion. Two giant banners bearing the image of an epiene — the Niger Delta red colobus, Piliocolobus epieni — flank a projector screen at the front
Mongabay •

Nigeria's Illegal ape body part trade threatens survival of rare chimps and gorillas

Beliefs regarding the spiritual powers of apes drive a thriving trade in ape body parts in Nigeria and beyond. In many cultures within Nigeria, chimpanzee and gorilla parts are believed to provide protection from evil spirits and curses, or allow communication with ancestors.

Due to a lack of data, the trade in ape body parts is sometimes viewed as simply a by-product of the much larger trade in bushmeat. Mongabay’s reporting suggests that the body part trade is, in its own right, a complex, well-organized and far more lucrative business

Read more: https://news.mongabay.com/2019/05/what-is-magic-without-ape-parts-inside-the-illicit-trade-devastating-nigerias-apes/
Mongabay Environmental News •

Nigeria finds itself at the heart of the illegal pangolin trade

EPE, LAGOS – A babel of voices hangs in the misty air over the Oluwo bushmeat market in Epe, in Nigeria’s southwestern Lagos state. Smoke curls toward women selling live fish from faded plastic basins, and flies buzz over cuts of bloodied meat. Traders are haggling over prices for porcupine, antelope, crocodile — and pangolins.

Bushmeat traders here tell Mongabay that when it comes to pangolins, their biggest clients are Chinese expatriates living in Nigeria.

“Most of our customers are the Chi
Mongabay Environmental News •

Cocoa and gunshots: The struggle to save a threatened forest in Nigeria

LAGOS, Nigeria — Emmanuel Olabode stands over the fire at the Eri camp in Omo Forest Reserve, in southwest Nigeria’s Ogun state. The tongues of flames flicker to the wave of the wind, casting shadows on his khakis and the branches of nearby shrubs.

The songs of night birds rise as the cover of darkness grows thick, mingling with the voices of rangers sharing their encounters with farmers and hunters. Olabode sits quietly on a log bench on the deck framed of wood and rusted zinc, listening, noti
Mongabay Environmental News •

What is magic without ape parts? Inside the illicit trade devastating Nigeria’s apes

OHOFIA, Nigeria — The fading sunlight, half-coned and yellow, turns the evening murky. The crowing of roosters mingles with the rattling of motorbikes as farmers make their way home from the field, halting to exchange pleasantries with neighbors.

Sunday Akpa, gun slung across his shoulder, is readying for the night’s hunting. He closely inspects the silvery edge of his machete before gliding it into its sheath, which, like his rounds of ammunition, is strapped about his waist.

“To stay the nig

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