NO to oil drilling in Virunga and Upemba, YES to green investment in DRC

NO to oil drilling in Virunga and Upemba, YES to green investment in DRC

In the past weeks, we have seen many headlines about the Democratic Republic of Congo government’s decision to auction 27 oil and 3 gas blocks in some of the most biodiverse areas of this vast country. National and international civil society organisations are warning about the environmental damage this could cause to peatlands, to National…

Cameroon: Wouri coastline mangroves are becoming empty as fish population slumps due to corruption and lawlessness

Cameroon: Wouri coastline mangroves are becoming empty as fish population slumps due to corruption and lawlessness

Ngo Manyama Déborah, a fresh fish trader, is still at the popular Youpwe fish market in Douala, Cameroon, at 3 p.m. on Friday, May 27. She complaints she’s been waiting for buyers who haven’t shown up. Buyers are being scared away by the high prices of fish, fuelled by a scarcity of fish. “I need…

Climate change could wipe out southern yellow-billed hornbills in the Kalahari Desert by 2027

Climate change could wipe out southern yellow-billed hornbills in the Kalahari Desert by 2027

A University of Cape Town (UCT) study set out to investigate the effect of climate change on the breeding success of southern yellow-billed hornbills in the Kalahari Desert found that they could be wiped out by 2027. The study found that the breeding success of the hornbills collapsed over a decade-long monitoring period (2008 –…

Chimpanzees combine pant-hoots and calls to form vocal sequences

Chimpanzees combine pant-hoots and calls to form vocal sequences

A major challenge in evolutionary science has been the reconstruction of the evolution of language in the world. Given that language does not fossilise, a key line of research has been focusing on comparing the communication systems of animals with that of humans. Unique to human language is the capacity to flexibly recombine a limited…

Akashinga, the Brave Ones, an all female anti-poaching ranger unit in Zimbabwe

Akashinga, the Brave Ones, an all female anti-poaching ranger unit in Zimbabwe

Akashinga or The Brave Ones, is a conservation anti-poaching unit founded on the principles of women’s empowerment as the main driver for social, economic and environmental change. Despite their worldly anti-poaching popularity, what makes Akashinga tilt the scale of Zimbabwe’s perceived gender roles, to bravely defeat poachers and bravely face their own cultural values? The…

Elephant ivory: DNA analysis offers clearest insight yet into illegal trafficking networks

Elephant ivory: DNA analysis offers clearest insight yet into illegal trafficking networks

Poaching rare wildlife for teeth, tusks, fur, horns and other body parts is a crime which threatens many species with extinction, but the evidence which could incriminate traffickers is often difficult to access, hard to interpret, or piecemeal. To discover more about the criminal networks sustaining this trade, researchers in the US, Kenya and Singapore…

Private Pandas NFT and African Conservation Foundation to Help Endangered Animals

Private Pandas NFT and African Conservation Foundation to Help Endangered Animals

Conservation involves awareness, solutions and resources. The decentralised teams of Private Panda and the African Conservation Foundation are developing a new approach to community-led conservation, connecting the metaverse with environmental impact through non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Goal is to enable a more direct global participation in wildlife conservation, with a mix of funding and direct involvement….

Community Camera Trapping programme demonstrates potential for wildlife conservation in areas of armed conflict

Community Camera Trapping programme demonstrates potential for wildlife conservation in areas of armed conflict

In one of the first studies of its kind, our innovative Community Camera Trapping Programme demonstrates how local communities monitor their own wildlife populations through camera traps. Our team is using camera trap distance sampling to develop conservation strategies for critically endangered species. Humans impact the physical environment in many ways: logging, poaching, overexploitation and…

The African Conservation Foundation becomes Actor for the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration

The African Conservation Foundation becomes Actor for the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration

The African Conservation Foundation (ACF) has officially become an Actor for the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. The partnership recognises ACF’s critical role to build capacity for conservation and ecosystem restoration in Africa – engaging local NGOs and communities – for people, nature, and our climate. Led by the UN’s Environment Programme (UNEP)and Food and…

Prince William announces 15 Finalists for inaugural year of the £50 million Earthshot Prize

Prince William announces 15 Finalists for inaugural year of the £50 million Earthshot Prize

Created by Prince William and The Royal Foundation, The Earthshot Prize has led an unprecedented global search for the most inspiring and innovative solutions to the greatest environmental challenges facing the 750 nominations received across every continent from diverse coalition of over 200 nominators; rigorous selection process lasting 10 months, 15 inaugural Finalists – from…