This story was produced with the support of Internews’ Earth Journalism Network

A version of this story was originally published in Daily Trust.

At the start of each farming season, Ademigokun Sunday grabs a sack of hoes and a cutlass and treks for 40 minutes to the wooded valleys of the Idanre Hills, the massive 3,000-foot-high rocky outcrops overlooking Idanre, a town in Ondo State, southwestern Nigeria. Like tens of other farmers climbing into the hills that week, Sunday comes to ‘slash and burn’ a patch of land so he can cultivate cocoa, plantain, cassava and walnut.

“If there is no farm burning, you cannot plant anything,” he says. “All this bush with big trees here — if I don’t burn it, it won’t allow my crops to germinate or grow.” But as the flames crackle through leaf litter and smoke rises, one of the world’s rarest creatures, invisible to Sunday, can be caught up in the fire.

The animal in question — the Perret’s toad — lives nowhere else on Earth. Classified as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, its population is estimated at no more than 250 mature individuals. Scientists warn it could be extinct in the next ten years if not effectively protected. Threatened by habitat loss, climate change and harvesting for traditional medicine, its fate likely depends on conservationists, government agencies and communities developing solutions together.

Lost and found

The Perret’s toad was described for science in 1963 by Danish scientist Arne Schiøtz, who named it after Swiss herpetologist Jean-Luc Perret. But the toad was soon declared ‘lost’, not being observed since 1970. For four decades, researchers feared it may be extinct. Then, in 2013, Nigerian zoologist Abiodun Onadeko of the University of Lagos and colleagues found it again in Idanre Hills. The rediscovery of a viable population brought excitement and alarm.

“The human population is increasing in that area, and people depend on fuelwood,” says Onadeko. “They cut wood to ensure their survival, destroying the conducive habitat for the Perret’s toad…the pristine primary forest is being converted into farmland for crops like cocoa and corn.”

“These trees provide habitat for birds, reptiles and mammals, and their roots stabilize the water, creating a conducive environment for the toads. When the trees are cut down, the habitat becomes unsuitable, leading to a reduced population and local extinction in some areas,” Onadeko explains. He says the area must be conserved and decries a lack of attention to protecting the species shown by all tiers of the Nigerian government.

A multitude of threats

Following the toad’s rediscovery, researchers began piecing together its ecology and the threats it faces. Slash-and-burn agriculture, pesticide use and logging have degraded and fragmented the toad’s habitat, says Lotanna Micah Nneji, assistant professor of biology at Howard University in Washington D.C. “As a result, we are seeing a significant reduction in the population size of this species.”

Climate change brings additional threats. In 2018, with a grant from the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, Nneji and his team used climate models to project changes to the toad’s habitat. They found that the toad’s range — roughly 1,100 square kilometres — could shrink by 60 percent by mid-century as temperatures rise from 23°C to 25–27°C and rainfall patterns change.

“This Perret’s toad and other toads depend on climatic factors like temperature and rainfall for breeding and survival,” says Nneji. “If they do not have adequate rainfall, their population decreases because they cannot breed effectively.”

Research in the forest

More recently, in November 2024, researcher John Onah from the A.P. Leventis Ornithological Research Institute in Jos received support from the Fonseca Species Conservation Fund to study the Perret’s toad’s breeding ecology and raise awareness about the threats it faces. He and his team often trek through the forest at night to find spawning sites, where they take body measurements of adults and tadpoles.

So far, they have gathered valuable information about how and where the toad reproduces, including its habit of depositing eggs alongside those of frogs and other toads in the same spawning sites. The findings will soon be published in a scientific journal. Onah says the project, which will run until February 2026, will enable the development of tailored interventions to protect the species and its habitat.

But conservation work in the Idanre Hills is not straightforward. The toad’s spawning sites may be close to shrines where local people conduct rituals. Onah’s team sometimes must postpone its nocturnal survey work out of respect for traditions and festivals. Security can also be a concern, says Onah. His team now works with forest guards and guides from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism during fieldwork.

Researchers cannot access certain areas that the community considers sacred, says Oladimeji Johnson, a palace chief, known as Sugbon of Idanre (Chief Sugbon), and a popular herbalist. “If a researcher comes, he or she will be assigned someone who knows the terrain and can direct them on which way to go and which way not to,” he says.

Community perspectives

Conservation clashes with culture in other ways too. Frogs and toads feature in local diets and traditional medicines. The farmer Sunday explains that while there are alternatives to eating frogs, local healers have specific requirements. He says that when leaders of his indigenous religion request a toad for medicinal use, he must follow such a directive, even if it is the Perret’s toad.

Cocoa farmer Razak Isiaka Abiodun says he has never used frogs or toads for medicinal purposes but knows several people that do. He does, however, eat the edible ones regularly. Abiodun says he has never heard of the Perret’s toad and its plight, but is open to learning about and helping to conserve it. He says that, with government support, the community could work to preserve the toad’s habitat and penalize anyone who is caught endangering the species.

For researchers like Nneji and Onah, such willingness gives hope. Both have worked to educate the community about the toads and threats to their habitat, including in local schools. “We also want to establish amphibian clubs to help grow young people’s knowledge about biodiversity — amphibians — and their importance in the environment,” says Onah.

Policy gaps and missed opportunities

While conservationists are working out how to engage with communities on the ground, national policy remains slow to respond to biodiversity loss. As a party to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, Nigeria is obligated to produce and implement a National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP). But its first one expired in 2010 and was not updated until 2016. And after that plan expired in 2020, it was not replaced until July of this year when the Federal Ministry of Environment published the revised NBSAP for 2025 to 2030.

Plans such as the NBSAP are essential, says Onadeko, but there need to be provisions for the creation of protected areas and adequate funding for researchers to protect species like the Perret’s toad. But as the latest NBSAP itself acknowledges, its implementation “will require huge financial resources” — the total budget required is US$474 million, a challenging sum to raise from domestic and international sources.

The project leader for the revised NBSAP — Sikeade Egbuwalo from the Ministry of Agriculture’s Department of Forestry — could not be reached to comment on funding and capacity-building issues despite numerous phone calls and emails.

Fungal fears

Consecutive late revisions of Nigeria’s NBSAPs have left critical windows without a coordinated national biodiversity policy, jeopardizing the futures of endangered species in the country. Such gaps have consequences. Without monitoring or funding, species like the Perret’s toad face unchecked threats. Researchers are concerned that the toad may have been exposed to a deadly disease called chytridiomycosis during such periods, increasing its risk of extinction.

Worldwide, the fungal infection is responsible for the decline of around 500 species of amphibians and the extinction of 90 more. The fungus’s resurgence in Africa has been well documented but, according to Nneji, there have been no extensive studies on whether it has contributed to the decline of amphibians in Idanre Hills and the rest of Nigeria.

“Understanding whether this disease, combined with human activities and climate change, is driving the toad toward extinction is crucial. We cannot scientifically say it is present, but we also cannot rule it out. Until we have results from targeted studies, we cannot confirm its presence or absence,” he noted.

Calls for protection

Given its localized distribution, the fate of the Perret’s toad may depend more on actions at the state than the national level. But as Olatubosun Olugbenga Dare, deputy director of environmental assessment at the Ondo State Ministry of Environment, acknowledges, state funding for amphibian research “is limited or non-existent”.

One option for the species, he says, is to designate Idanre Hills as a protected area — specifically an ‘Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measure’, a status that recognizes areas achieving conservation outcomes despite that not being their primary purpose.

Conservationists arguing for greater protection for the Perret’s toad include Tunde Morakinyo, the executive director of the Africa Nature Investors Foundation, a non-profit managing conservation at the Gashaka Gumti National Park in Adamawa and Taraba States, and Okomu National Park in Edo State.

“Ondo State should [make] the Idanre Hills a wildlife sanctuary or the Federal Government should make the Idanre Hills a national park, so that it becomes protected under the law,” he says, adding that community rangers should be recruited to prevent illegal activities affecting the Perret’s toad.

Glimmers of hope

The Perret’s toad’s fate hangs in the balance. The species survived unnoticed for forty years, but today faces new and growing threats. Its story mirrors the broader crisis facing Nigeria’s biodiversity whose extraordinary richness is under relentless pressure.

“Unless genuine and concerted efforts are made by the federal, state, or local government to protect these species, we risk losing them,” says zoologist Onadeko. “[The Perret’s toad] is now critically endangered — the stage before extinction in the wild. We must stress the need for conservation measures and keep championing this cause.”

There are glimmers of hope. Farmers like Abiodun say they are ready to protect the animal if they are involved in the process. Scientists are working to uncover the toad’s secrets. And in classrooms around Idanre, children are learning that their hills harbour something found nowhere else on the planet.

This story was produced with the support of Internews’ Earth Journalism Network

In Mauritius, an Indian Ocean Island off the eastern coast of Africa, stewards and users of the coast are expected to experience environmental and socio-economic insecurity if their traditional relational approaches to mangrove use are not formally integrated into policy and governance, according to a new study published in the Journal of Ethnobiology.

This study was driven by researchers from the University of Montpellier, University of Mauritius, University of Nebraska, and the Indian Ocean Islands Foundation. They utilized a mixed-method approach, including interviewing affected ocean stewards, to show the evolution of human-mangrove couplings across generations of Mauritians, its impacts on socio-ecological resilience, and the urgency of intervention required to save this relationship, which has helped preserve the coastal ecosystem in the country. Findings from the study showed decline in transmission of oyster-harvesting knowledge across matrilineal generations, vivid disparagement and discrimination of women fishers, as well as rising communal and environmental challenges to mangrove and coastal conservation in Mauritius.

Speaking to The Habibat Project for a Q&A, the lead researcher and project manager at the Indian Ocean Islands Foundation, Raphael Merven, elaborated on their findings and emphasized the need for valorization of key indigenous knowledge and events, as well as urgent changes to socio-environmental policies, from community-based barachois management to conservation education, to preserve what is left of this declining indigenous coastal socio-ecological system.

(The interview has been edited for length and clarity).

Coastal ontologies from the respondents, like “the sea is my mother” and another where an oyster was used to cut a child’s umbilical cord, revealed deep human-coastal ties. How can policy frameworks in Mauritius recognize these spiritual connections in addition to the existing biophysical and economic ones?

We have deep-rooted top-down policies, structured by state-led authority and imposed on practitioners and resource users in spaces like the lagoon and the sea. It’s difficult for this rigid structure to capture the essence of identity and connection to the sea. In Mauritius, we tend to view [policymaking] from economic or ecological angles, forming a sea community excluded from policy. When complaints arise, the policymakers claim, “This is legal, as per the policy,” ignoring these needs and perceptions. For policy change, we discussed in the paper the need to create spaces for dialogue with coastline dwellers, especially sea users, to express their needs and feelings when events occur. How does it affect their relationship with the sea and their activities? How can they shape coastal development and major decisions impacting them? We need coastal democracy on environmental and social topics. The second step would be a mainstreaming exercise, as laws and policies are fragmented: one for fisheries, others for mangroves, planning, and pollutant emissions into the sea, yet everything is connected.

The study portrays Mauritians as ecocentric in their approach to barachois and mangrove-systems management, yet the Fisheries Act of 2023 significantly limits the direct use of mangrove plants. Isn’t there a bit of a contrast there?

This is a good question, and I discussed it with my co-authors. The data shows an ecocentric perception, but my [other] hypothesis is that the people [additionally] value mangroves for social and cultural activities. There’s a difference between activity and perception. NGO programs heavily influenced this perception, emphasizing mangroves’ conservation value in boosting marine productivity, protecting coastlines from cyclones, and serving as fish nurseries. Yet, I think the activities from utilizing mangroves hold value too, even if not directly reflected in perception. This blend fosters socio-ecological resilience, valuing the social, spiritual, and cultural aspects of mangroves alongside their ecological benefits. However, the [government] policy banning direct use of mangroves is complicated. Mangroves were once called nuisances in Mauritius; they were burned and cut for blocking seaside views. So, the government intervened to protect the mangroves, which was good but overly strict, neglecting traditional and ancestral uses, like people using mangrove roots to counter diabetes or its branches to create tools to take crabs from the mud. Balance is required.

The study highlights available data from 2019 showing that there were only 35 registered female fishers in Mauritius, reflecting gross inequality in an island of fisherfolks and rendering the majority unregistered fisherwomen ineligible for support. How does this happen?

The main barrier is a structural lack of recognition. It’s tough, even shocking, but the authorities don’t recognize women as professional fishers. This affects not just their registration but is fueled by doubt about women’s abilities in the fishery sector, questioning their capacity to lead activities that provide household income. Other issues stem from longstanding gender inequalities. Women have less access to higher education, financial security, and land ownership, creating barriers to forming cooperatives, navigating legal procedures, or gaining family support. Families may say fishing isn’t a woman’s role. These challenges pile up, feeling insurmountable [for them]. A major registration hurdle is preparing legal dossiers, which is difficult for many women. A dedicated service [for the fisherwomen] to provide answers to their questions, even if done by one person, would help.

Can you elaborate on a specific example of a matrilineal transmission system you observed in the field, perhaps from oyster collectors, that illustrate how intergenerational knowledge transfer contributes to socio-ecological resilience there?

Oyster collection in Mauritius is mainly done by women, mostly in mangroves, due to systemic marginalization in the fishery sector, where men are primary breadwinners. Women’s contributions are seen as additional, so they lack tools like boats with motors to access reefs, fishing nets, and elaborated gear men use to fish far from the coast. Women stay on the coastline, though in the southeast, two villages have strong fisherwomen communities. In [one of] the villages I investigated, women collect oysters and mollusks, called “mangwak,” “palourd,” “moul” in Mauritian Creole. Their marginalization causes them to give value to this activity, but it provides them with autonomy to support households without men, fostering a matrilineal system of knowledge transmission. I spoke with a three-generation family, grandmother, mother, and daughter, collecting oysters. This transmission is also of practice and identity. The mother teaches her daughter these sustainable practices, saying, “this made me who I am, and I want you to maintain it, because it gave me importance and autonomy.” She shows her how to collect oysters without killing the small ones, taking a little from one area and moving to another to preserve the population.

Can you describe the state of the barachois in Mauritius and recommend concrete policy modifications that can make community-based barachois management more successful?

A barachois is a cove with mangroves, historically used to produce fish, oysters, and crabs. It’s not economically attractive for private companies to rehabilitate due to low profit. In Mauritius, the majority of the coastline, up to 80 meters inland from the high-water mark, is public land leased to private entities – hotels and resorts. I suggest a system where a community group can propose a project with guidelines addressing social, economic, and conservation outcomes. One problem in Mauritius is the top-down structure. There’s no mechanism for community-based conservation or management; it’s never existed. There are no recognized indigenous or local communities in Mauritius, as per the law or reports to international conventions for biodiversity, climate change, or human rights. To change the narrative and empower communities to suggest initiatives, we need an institutional framework that allows for bottom-up policies. For Barachois, an abandoned one in Poste de Flacq [a coastal village on the east coast of Mauritius] has potential. A trust fund for community-based conservation could support a 15-year lease for the initiative, which can be renewable if it meets expectations. This needs further exploration.

An employee from Bambous Virieux barachois lodge described a “lifeless” period post-2020 oil spill, when oil got to the bottom of the barachois. What community engagement steps would best capture long-term socio-ecological impacts and recovery narratives from this event?

There have been many communications around the oil spill in Mauritius that happened in 2020, with lasting effects continuing today. A short film was released, campaigns were done, there was a lot of media coverage on the impact for coastal communities, and also continuous monitoring of the oil spill ecological impacts on some ecosystems, including mangroves. The long-term impact [of the spill] requires continuous monitoring at the social, economic and ecological levels. Unfortunately, we are already seeing that this effort is slowly starting to lose consistency and interest, while many households are still indebted due to the impact of the spill, and many families are yet to receive compensation. On our end, with my research team, we have a project in the pipeline to valorize some narratives and testimonies that we collected on the impact of the oil spill and other impactful events on mangrove socio-ecosystems. As a form of valorization of ancestral and traditional narratives, we would love to build podcasts or shortform videos to invite broader discussion around how to build resilience to increasing shocks for coastal communities in the country.

What is your solution to young Mauritians not participating in local traditions, like regattas (traditional sailboat competitions) or barachois management, which may help conserve local ecological knowledge?

For me, the answer is education and valorization; these are the two main pathways. Recently, Our Heritage Foundation in Mauritius, a community-based organization working on cultural, spiritual, and historical heritage, organized a month-long training on building regatta boats for community members, especially children. This addresses what’s lacking in Mauritius: valuing these practices and showing children their importance. Many children don’t know what a regatta, barachois, or casier, an artisanal fishing trap, is. We must reintroduce these Mauritian ways to connect with nature, reflecting who we are. Integrating this into school education, upscaling it, and creating dialogue spaces for coastal communities to express needs would help. Policymakers should listen to feedback, not just impose. Valorizing these practices show that they contribute to our national identity, social fabric, and are valued by many.

Can you elaborate with a specific example (if possible) of how the hybridization of scientific and traditional forms of knowledge could improve general ecosystem management as the study suggests?

The hybridization of knowledge forms we discussed, mainly between science-based and traditional or local ecological knowledge, is an integration and overlay of different types of information to guide management [of the ecosystem]. Taking the example of artisanal fisheries around mangroves, science-based knowledge does not usually recognize socially, culturally or politically-significant areas, like some fishing grounds, that may be more visited because they are associated with signs of ‘good fortune’ or individual stories. What science can tell however, is how the fishing stocks are doing at the lagoon level, the populations that are more or less stable, and the time period that could be regulated to allow for a species to regenerate. Also, the economic value of a fished species is based on what the consumer would prefer, usually tied to social or cultural preferences, that in return impacts fishers’ livelihood. I would thus believe that integrating and hybridizing these multiple forms of knowledge may allow for a more sound and holistic approach to fisheries and coastal management, including marine spatial planning processes.

Share

The Andes is presently facing multiple threats to its biodiversity, with species such as the Andean cat and yellow-tailed woolly monkey now endangered, while others like the Andean Bear remain vulnerable, according to Peru-based biologist, Ruthmery Pillco Huarcaya.

This area is host to diverse ecosystems, including cloud forests, páramo grasslands, montane valleys, and shrublands, supporting a wide range of species. Spanning over three million square kilometers with a peak elevation of nearly 7,000 meters, its mountain range extends across South American countries, including Peru, Chile, Colombia, Argentina, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Bolivia.

The threats to its biodiversity and the Amazon Basin’s hydrological cycle, which is present in this area, could disrupt ecosystems if not addressed. Some of the key threats include gold mining, human-wildlife conflicts, limited resources, insufficient environmental education, and climate change, which forces species to higher elevations across the mountains.

In this interview, Huarcaya, a biologist at Conservación Amazónica (ACCA) and a National Geographic Explorer, speaks to The Habibat Project about the region’s challenges and her team’s efforts at sustainably conserving its resources, alongside local Quecha communities, being one of them herself. Now working in Peru from Costa Rica, her conservation work, protecting species like the Andean bear (spectacled bear) and dwarf deer (Mazama chunyi), has earned her accolades, including the 2025 Future for Nature Award, presented on May 16, 2025.

(This interview has been edited for length and clarity).

Please tell us about yourself and your conservation work in Peru.

I grew up in a small Andean town near Cusco, surrounded by nature, with farmer parents. Curious about creatures, I studied biology despite my parents' preference to pursue medicine. Afterwards, I worked with communities in lowland rainforests, studying insects, plants, and birds, then returned to Peru from Costa Rica in 2021 to research Andean bears in cloud forests. I love the Andes, and it is vital to the Amazon Basin’s water cycle and home to incredible species. I’m a shy person but driven by adrenaline, so I lead expeditions with a diverse communal team. I had mentors, so I aim to mentor the new generation to build ambassadors for conservation.

How would you describe the current state of the tropical Andes, and which species are most threatened?

The tropical Andes in the Southeast of Peru is a biodiversity hotspot, which is crucial for the Amazon Basin’s water cycle; some of the cycle processes involve transpiration from the Atlantic Ocean, wind pushed to and fro the Andes, a mountainous area with trees covered in mosses and epiphytes, and capturing-and-releasing of moisture via sponges. The Andes hosts over 200 orchid species, 250 bird ones, and 200 tree species between 500–3500 meters of mountain elevation. Despite its diversity, it is a threatened area facing deforestation, [illegal] hunting, and climate-change effects in lowlands, and fires, cattle grazing, and agriculture at higher elevations. The temperature increase pushes species upward, squeezing the Andes from top and bottom pressures, like a sandwich, and endemic species like the Andean bears and dwarf deer are vulnerable from these threats.

Can you explain the causes of the vulnerability of the Andean bear further?

Andean bears have vast home ranges, from Peru and Venezuela to Bolivia, including páramo and lowland rainforests, but are vulnerable because of deforestation and habitat loss across their ranges. Human-wildlife conflicts are significant, as the bears destroy corn and avocado farms and kill cattle, prompting retaliatory hunting by farmers. Historically, they were also hunted for medicinal purposes, because of local myths that attributed consumption of their blood and fat to strength equal to the bears’, though this has decreased. Climate change and the loss of their primary cloud forest habitat further threatens their survival.

What are the solutions to these problems?

An ideal solution will be one where humans and the bears can coexist successfully. Large, protected, and connected areas, horizontally and vertically, are crucial for Andean bears, who need 100 to over 300 square kilometers [of range]. In Peru, the protected areas help, but collaboration with locals and governments is highly required. To reduce conflicts, we may promote growing crops like golden berries over corn [around their habitats], which bears avoid, and encourage fencing cows near villages. Raising awareness about bears’ role in seed dispersal in strengthening forest biodiversity, amid the absence of big mammals like monkeys or tapirs in the Highland of the tropical Andes, is important. Crop production by the local communities is additionally affected by the changing climate, because Peru is diverse and we have thousands of potato and corn varieties, which grow at different elevational gradients [of the Andes]. Migration of bears further upwards is also facilitated by climate change. I think human-wildlife conflict is going to increase with climate change, so we need to start thinking about resilience, sustainable alternatives, and the top parts of the elevation, which will become refugia for everything migrating upwards.

What have you discovered so far about the dwarf deer (Mazama Chunyi)?

Not much yet. The dwarf deer are rare, only seen on camera traps and poorly understood; we know little about their diet or habitats, only references from museums. We’re researching the dwarf deer to understand their role [in the ecosystem]. We know they are tiny and feed on ferns and some other plants, known from footage from our camera traps in the valleys. We plan to use GPS collars to study their movement patterns and safe habitats. We need to understand their ecology, their predators like foxes or pumas, and their competition with the white-tailed deer. Getting the resources to conduct research in Peru is difficult, but understanding their ecology is key to building conservation models and strategies to protect this species.

How will the Future-for-Nature funding help your research?

The Future-for-Nature funding will buy us more equipment, allow us to hire researchers, and help me build a scientific community of locals to better understand what goes on here. In Peru, resources are scarce, so this support is critical for researching rare species in remote areas. I am very glad that the Future-for-Nature Award trusts us to do this research.

What other challenges have you faced in your conservation work?

Funding is a big deal. Also, initially, it was challenging working with the locals, who viewed us as ‘enemies,’ fearing land grabbing, but building trust turned them into our allies. Another challenge is the harsh terrain of the Andes mountainous area, which makes fieldwork challenging and finding team members who want to work in such remote areas difficult. Climate change remains a persisting generic challenge too.

How do you manage partnerships with stakeholders like the government, community leaders, and other organizations?

I will say that I am only just building myself in that area. Trust is important. As a native Quechua, I speak and connect easily with the communities, understand the culture, and this makes it easy for me to communicate with them. We engage community leaders, speak to them about our wants, and listen to their needs, fostering two-way communication. The National Park lacks resources and needs allies, so we share, since our goals are aligned on environmental education and protection. Gold mining pressures on the communities are increasing with exaggerated financial promises to the locals, challenging our conservation, so I advocate for better payment policies from the Peruvian government for ecosystem services, like Costa Rica’s, to incentivize land and species protection.

Are there other projects you’re working on that you’d like to talk about?

As a scientist my work focuses on three areas: research, environmental education, and community engagement. So, we have a program called “Conservation Ambassadors” that brings schoolchildren to the Wayqecha Biological Station, our base, to reconnect with nature to counter technology-enhanced disconnect. “Wayqecha” is a Quechua term meaning “friend” or “brother,” symbolizing connection. For our community work, we restore degraded lands and water sources impacted by fires and agriculture. Our program empowers communities to resist threats like mining and deforestation, ensuring that they take the right decisions.

Frog populations worldwide are declining due to a devastating winter panzootic caused by the chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis). The disease, known as chytridiomycosis, has caused the death of amphibians massively, leading to the decline of no less than 500 species and the extinction of 90 more, especially in Australia and the Americas.

As an invasive pathogen more common in temperate areas, the fungus causes frogs to die by preventing their skin from producing essential salts, leading to heart failure. The death of many different frog species ultimately leads to an imbalance in the ecosystem.

Anthony Waddle, an Australian-based conservationist and Schmidt Science Fellow at the Macquarie University in Sydney has been actively working on the impact of chytrid on several species of frogs, particularly the green and golden bell frogs, native to Australia. His efforts have amounted to the development of a treatment module for the frogs and the invention of a “frog sauna,” which he modeled to utilize heat from sunlight to destroy chytrid pathogens.

Waddle is a 2025 recipient of the Future for Nature Award. Speaking to The Habibat Project, he shares the modus operandi behind his widely-acclaimed “frog sauna” invention and the most up-to-date progress on his journey to defeating chytrid.

(This interview has been edited for length and clarity).

Congratulations on receiving the 2025 Future for Nature Award. How do you feel ahead of the ceremony in May?

It seems surreal. I put in the application thinking I’ll do a good job. You don’t know what reviewers value. To have them see my work as worthy of an award — it’s the first time that’s happened. It was shocking I was chosen, but I’m happy they picked me.

Can you tell us how this chytrid fungus is affecting frog populations around the world?

We believe it’s native to the Korean Peninsula in Southeastern Asia. We think that, because all of the genetic diversity that we know around the world is present in samples that have been taken from that area. Globalization brought it through trade routes. In Australia, we think it came through the Port of Brisbane around 1978, and it may have just been one introduction, because the chytrid everywhere in Australia is genetically a clone. Susceptible frog species have no defense, leading to quick extinctions — ninety worldwide, six to seven in Australia. The golden toad in Costa Rica, once common and charismatic, vanished in a year. Chytrid spreads regionally, hitting islands, and [when it does], dozens survive only in captivity with no wild solution; they can’t return or they’ll get sick. It’s the most devastating invasive pathogen. Nothing compares: not feral cats, rats, cane toads, or other diseases. It infects their skin, causing it not to work. They lose really important salt from their body, and it affects the heart, but we can solve it, since their habitats, like pristine national parks, remain intact.

I understand you’ve developed a treatment to expel the disease. Can you talk about that?

It’s complicated with so many species. Treating a frog’s first infection makes some resistant, but others get more susceptible after curing with drugs or heat. There are frogs that are highly susceptible species if they come in contact with the chytrid — 100% mortality for those. I’ve tried a treatment, similar to a vaccine, on three species, using low-virulence chytrid or just treating natural infections; both work. Field tests with leopard frogs in the States, using this approach, reduce infections well. In Australia, I catch wild green and golden bell frogs before winter, because, like flu season, winter is when chytrid spikes. Catching them early, when the temperature is lower, we treat them right before the pathogen starts to kill the frogs, and they survive and gain long-term resistance. It’s species-specific and fussy, but we work on it in the field.

What challenges did you encounter in terms of administering it to them? Was there resistance from certain groups of people?

There was no resistance, only encouragement. I partner with Sydney Olympic Park Authority, managing the park, which is like a neighborhood with the largest and one of the last remaining bell frog populations. They gave me a facility and local expertise to find frogs after I mentioned the treatment. My university’s veterinary and ethics staff certified the facility. A grant from the Australian Academy of Sciences helped. It was easy, because we proved it’s effective. You can’t do conservation blindly; science is key. Our partners share my vision to protect the frogs, not just tick boxes. It’s unique that the government and industry care deeply about conservation here, making it incredibly supportive.

The frog sauna is a very interesting innovation. How does it help the frogs exactly?

Chytrid thrives in cool winters, when frogs’ are pretty low-activity and their immune systems are weaker; the fungus loves to grow in these conditions. In subtropical areas, hotter habitats favor survival; natural refugia work well. But in cool areas, frogs die every winter without natural refugia. So the idea was, can we make a warm habitat in the winter? So, we built frog saunas — black-painted brick piles under small greenhouses, passive via sunlight. Bell frogs love urban garbage habitats like toilets and letterboxes. Research showed they prefer warmth in winter. These raise their body temperatures, preventing sickness. Australia’s scorching sun makes it hot even at 13 degrees. The idea is to expand this preferred, protective habitat [saunas] across the east coast of the country.

Which frog species that you work with are most threatened, and what solutions are you proposing to address their challenges?

I work primarily on green and golden bell frogs, and they are endangered in New South Wales — 10% of populations remain. Getting interventions into the field is tough; it’s fussy, needing yearly effort. We need permanent solutions. Some populations evolve resistance. Southern corroboree frogs, critically endangered, survive with heavy management and lots of captive breeding and releases to ensure some frogs are maintained in the wild. They’re incredibly susceptible, likely captive-bound without genetic fixes. Long-term, genetic resistance is key; vaccines don’t pass immunity generationally.

How then were the Southern corroboree frogs previously surviving in the wild, up until this moment?

They were common before chytrid — old herpetologists said you’d flip a board and see dozens. Now, maybe 50 corroboree frogs remain in the wild. Many innovative people work on them, and I am eager to test my approaches for their conservation. Their genius is chytrid exclosures — barriers blocking eastern froglets, native carriers unaffected by chytrid, from spreading it. These semi-wild populations thrive, a medium-term fix. It keeps natural selection, minus chytrid. Slow maturity is a challenge, but they’re worthwhile; they’re an iconic species in Australia. My contribution builds on this history, targeting chytrid directly to boost wild survival.

Partnerships have been crucial to the success you’ve had so far. How do you manage all these partnerships with the government, community members, and all these other important people?

I have a team of excellent interns and volunteers, but I really am a one-person team. Meetings are key; I ensure partners hear me and projects are feasible, not wasteful. Personnel and resources were challenges; managing a busy schedule is another. Scheduling well accommodates global partners; I’ve cut lab time for this. Australia is a small community of conservation people, especially those that work on frogs and chytrid, and this means managing personalities and disagreements. We start with shared goals; no team’s perfect, but aligning on purpose helps. It’s overwhelming alone, yet organization keeps it going.

Are there any new projects you're working on that you'd like to talk about?

We’re researching why some frogs get resistant to chytrid after weak exposure, while others get more susceptible. I’m interested in that because we can [possibly] design noninfectious vaccines, maybe sprayable ones, by understanding their immune system triggers. Long-term, conservation needs to change; we need to future-proof our efforts. Genetic approaches — providing frogs with heritable resistance to disease may be the way forward. There are risks, but current methods have not sufficed against species-loss from diseases, invasive species, and climate change. I’m no biotechnology zealot; I was the little kid out in nature catching tadpoles with my grandfather, while he took pictures, and that’s still me. I’m cautiously exploring more out-of-the-box ideas for permanent solutions.

Correction: All uses of “epidemic” in the story were changed to “panzootic” on December 1, 2025, to accurately reflect the impact of the disease.

Oceans account for 71% of the world’s surface but are slapped with a myriad of challenges, including microplastic and mercury pollution, climate change, ocean acidification, loss of coral reefs, and overfishing. These issues affect oceans around the world and are actively being tackled by many resilient individuals, initiatives, and organizations, amid global political and socioeconomic troubles.

Among the various solutions that have been developed to protect our marine ecosystems, one standout is seaweed farming. Presently, it is practiced across the globe, particularly in the waters of the Pacific Northwest by US farmers, the Tamil Nadu and Gujarat coasts of India, Ariake Sea in Japan, and by the Bagamoyo Community along Tanzania’s Indian Ocean Coast.

Bagamayo is a coastal town in the Pwani Region of Tanzania with deep history. It is the capital of Bagamoyo District but was once the capital of German East Africa, an ivory and slave trading port, a settlement for Muslim Omani families, and a victim of the severe devastation of the First World War. The town’s history goes back many centuries, but much of it was established between the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Bagamoyo’s oceans face the same environmental threats as others around the world, prompting a young science teacher, Zuhura Ahmad, to take action.

Ahmad works with the town’s municipal government and other local non-governmental organizations to mobilize young women in the community to restore the deteriorating ocean ecosystem through seaweed farming. The farming processes lead to a reduction in ocean acidification and production of a variety of products from the seaweed, which are eventually used to create lotion, toothpastes, and oils.

Ahmad spoke to The Habibat Project about her stewardship with the Global Landscapes Forum (GLF), and how she intends to collaborate with 100 Bagamoyo women to not only restore their community’s ocean systems but maximize the full potential of seaweed farming.

(This interview has been edited for length and clarity).

Tell us about the woman, Zuhura Ahmad. Tell us about your background and inspirations.

I am Zuhura Ahmad. I work with “Youth4Nature” as the global ambassador. I am a science teacher, and I teach chemistry and biology and [that is where] the environmentalism inspiration comes from. Since high school, I have been very inspired to work with environmental organizations and clubs; when I got to university, I joined some of the university chapters working in the environmental arena. I volunteered in such kinds of activities, including cleanups, restorations, and tree planting. Over time, the passion grew, and in August 2023, I came up with the idea of “She Shapes Nature,” that actually works on empowering young women in seaweed farming in a nature-based economy. I introduced the idea to “Youth4Nature,” and it started as “storytelling” in order to gather the voices of young women on what they were doing, the challenges, and the lessons learned. So, when it came to [the] challenges, [I sought] to support them in terms of resources and materials to scale up the year's work. In October 2023, I started to collect the stories, and in 2024, I got the chance to work with them in terms of capacity building, because I realized they lacked the resources, knowledge, and education in ocean restoration, which includes seaweed farming. I have been working together with the government, communities, but with the support of “Youth4Nature,” and in December, 2024, I got the Ocean Restoration Steward Award.

Can you elaborate on how exactly your seaweed farming initiative is able to restore coastal ecosystems?

There’s land-based agriculture, but when it comes to seaweed farming, we do not use the soil, fertilizer, or land. Sustainable seaweed farming restores the ocean, and we support young women in shifting to ocean-based farming; this contributes to marine biodiversity by creating the habitats for marine life and improving water quality. What we do actually reduces marine pollution, because we not only advocate for seaweed farming, but for waste management practices. [Green] seaweeds absorb carbon dioxide from the surrounding water and air during photosynthesis, help to mitigate ocean acidification, and reduce the impact of climate change. It contributes to long-term carbon sequestration and acts as a natural carbon sink. It also supports mangroves and coral reefs restoration, as they rely on healthy water conditions and biodiversity. I said earlier that capacity building in ocean restoration is saddled with advocacy and storytelling. We do not do this alone. We partner with the local government to provide resources, technical skills, and market access for the young women. Generally, these actions are driven by commitment, not only [to] restore the ocean ecosystem, but also ensure that the women can thrive sustainably.

Can you describe the seaweed planting process?

It is a straightforward but systematic process that involves selecting a suitable farming site, which is very critical for successful seed cultivation. For example, you can observe the water condition for ocean water that is not polluted. Ocean water is salty water, and the shallow area is where the seaweed can grow. [This is] simply because the seaweed grows at a stable salinity level and temperature, which needs to range from 20°C to 30°C. To do it, we use pegs. We place those two pegs in shallow water and, in between, we attach the ropes, because the seaweed will hang on the ropes. When in the shore area, we tie the seaweed seeds onto the ropes and, afterwards, drive the two pegs [into the ground], so the line that contains the seaweed will hang between the two pegs while in the ocean.

What major challenges have you encountered in seaweed farming, especially in terms of community engagement, funding, or other technical barriers?

I can say the challenge is fundraising — the issue of fundraising in order to support these women and girls to be able to unlock their potential in ocean restoration. When I started, I realized that they really needed support in terms of education, because seaweed farming is not only about farming, but value addition; so after they harvest, what is next? They need to transport and create value from that seaweed into different kinds of products. That was one of the things that they lacked. Currently, they are able to make soap, oil, and lotions. We are focusing on basic cultivation methods with potential for growth in terms of market integration and value-added products, but there are some regions, including Zanzibar, where there are more innovations. While seaweed farming is present in Bagamoyo, it may not yet have adopted as many advanced farming techniques or value-addition methods, so the innovation here is in its early stage. Also, I have realized in seaweed farming that there are more women of the age of forty-to-fifty, and small numbers of young women. That is a really big gap, so we need to include young women. As we know, young people have skills, knowledge, capacity, energy, and are active, so we need to engage them, so that we can create more innovations and be able to scale up into more impactful sectors.

The Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) recognized your work with the award. Congratulations. How did you find yourself becoming a steward with funding to conduct your projects?

Thank you. For me, it started with [an] application. I saw the [call for] applications and was interested. I noticed I fit the criteria, because it was all about the things that I was doing on the ground. Of course, I really needed the support, not only in terms of finance, but also in terms of mentorship, learning, experience, exposure, and to connect with more people to see how they can support the project as well, so I applied and got selected. It was a big competition with more than 300 young people. After being selected, I got to be interviewed and the relationship started. I introduced the project that I wanted to do and now we can build a strong relationship.

It is mentioned in your bio that you want to directly impact over 100 women by the end of 2025. What unique strategies will you be implementing to be able to achieve this milestone?

To reach that number of young women is not so hard, but it actually needs the [right] strategies. I've already been working with 35 young women, and in the Bagamoyo community, there are so many groups of women that are actually working on ocean restoration, but they lack support. Because of the capacity and resources that I had before, I was able to impact the 35 young women. Now, because I'll get more support, I'll be able to support more than that. I will be working with the local government, NGOs in Bagamoyo Municipal, and those 35 young women to recruit more young women in order to reach that milestone. The women know their fellows; when it comes to local government, they know their people, and that will make it easy for us to be trusted by the people, because they will introduce us to them. That will be the number one strategy, and we can then work on the NEEDS assessments to identify the needs and support that they actually require in order to continue working on ocean restoration. The assessment and evaluation will follow up, maybe in three months, to see how we are progressing. What challenges are there? What areas need to be improved? Then we can see how to move together.

The Batwa community has struggled since they were kicked out of their homes in the rainforests of southwestern Uganda to favor mountain gorilla conservation efforts, which have actually yielded increased gorilla populations. The pygmy tribe was forced to relocate to the outskirts of the forest and has since struggled to engage in other forms of livelihood that neither align with their traditional values nor history of living in the forest, squirrel or antelope hunting, or even honey extraction. They have largely been forsaken by the government and other tribes in their society and, unfortunately, are not excellent farmers either, largely leaving them at the mercy of tourists and nonprofits.

Despite numerous challenges to the group, including environmental degradation and the risk of extinction, their community in Kalehe, southwestern Uganda, has recently excelled in conserving indigenous plant species, sustainable coffee production, and animal husbandry, all in thanks to the dedicated advocacy of environmental journalist, Wendee Nicole.

Nicole has worked with the Batwa for more than ten years and is a welcome member of the family in Kalehe village. Her daughter, Joyce Orishaba, an undergraduate at Stanford University, left with her for the United States as a child, but is Batwa through and through and partners actively with Nicole to implement environmental sustainability projects in the area through the Redemption Song Foundation, to the benefit of the entire tribe. Nicole and Orishaba speak to The Habibat Project on their environmental sustainability efforts, including the challenges, successes, and a particularly fond memory of Orishaba’s grandfather using ‘bush medicine’ on his body to harvest honey.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What exactly is the Batwa struggle about?

Nicole: The Batwa people are an indigenous hunter-gatherer tribe that lived in the Central African Rainforest, pretty much from time immemorial, and they were forcibly removed in Uganda at gunpoint to create a national park to save mountain gorillas. They were not necessarily threatening the gorillas, because they'd lived there forever with the gorillas, and the gorillas were being poached by other groups. Interestingly, I went there as a journalist in 2014, and one of the things I was reporting on was how human livelihoods and wildlife or forest conservation can work together, and how it sometimes does not work together. And there's research out of Makerere University in Uganda by a professor named Abwoli Banana, who was on our committee as a board member for a while, and he showed that when the Batwa were living in the forest, there was actually less poaching, not just of gorillas, but of other wildlife. Not living in the forest anymore, they have had to turn to agriculture, which does not come natural to them.

Can you share some of the repercussions the Batwa have had to deal with, since being forcefully evicted from the forest?

Orishaba: Being in school in America, I wasn't able to be in the forest [for long], but I think them [my people] being removed from there [the forest] and put in this new environment and culture that they're not used to, lost a part of who they used to be in the forest, because now it feels like we don't know who we really are. They're not sure whether they are Batwa or Bakiga, which is the other tribe, and I think what brings a lot of our problems is that we're not able to fit in, because we're not able to know who we were in the beginning in order to adapt to this new culture. We're very much discriminated against in the village, so we [often] want to be like the other tribe [Bakiga] so we can fit in.

What is the story behind the Batwa community’s reforestation campaign, and what has been the impact on the people and the environment?

Nicole: Being a conservationist, I was like, we can't necessarily return the Batwa to the forest at this point in time, but we can return the forest to the Batwa, so we started a campaign of ten-thousand trees, and we've planted about four-thousand so far. We [planted] native trees, because we didn't want to plant non-native, invasive plants for the most part; we do plant fruit trees like mangoes, avocado, jackfruit, so that we [can] provide them food security, [and] create a sustainable food forest, so the native trees like mahogany and African cherry will grow. We worked with this really amazing woman named Asiimwe Mourine, who had won the Miss Conservation Kigezi, and she helped us plant the trees. She would come back and make sure that they were taken care of and growing up properly. Now and then, we continue to plant trees, and we get the kids to plant them, so the kids can watch their little trees grow up.

How has this ‘ten-thousand tree campaign’ impacted your community's relationship with the land and their view of sustainability?

Orishaba: I remember when we went back [to the village] in 2016 to plant trees, and I hadn't been up there [in a while], because mom had gone back a couple of times without me, because [I was] at school. We went up to the village where I lived, and it looked so pretty, so green, and there were more trees. Planting the trees definitely was an experience [for] the kids, and they looked so happy to do it. Like mom said, planting their own little trees and watching them grow up is definitely a good way to connect them to the forest and nature in general, because they do love being in the forest. I think having the fruits, the trees, and where they can climb and play around their home is a good way to keep them [my people] connected to the forest and nature and, maybe somehow, their original roots will come back.

How have you gone about the coffee production and animal-husbandry projects, making sure that they are environmentally and economically sustainable?

Nicole: Basically, we're trying to create a sustainable food forest, which is like permaculture, where you have trees and forest, gardens, and fruit trees. We have coffee, and it’s shade-grown. It's still very new, because we've only had this going on since the pandemic. The rabbits and the goats provide manure, which is fertilizer for the gardens. The rabbit urine and poop is very good for coffee, so I was taught, and I passed this along to the Batwa as a tradition they can put [to work] on coffee [plants] and vegetables to repel insects and mold. [Basically], they take some nitrogen fixing plants, rabbit poop, sometimes goat poop, and the rabbit urine, and they mix it in; then they make this big blue bin full of liquid manure, and they set it there for 30 days. It marinates, and they can then spray it on coffee and their vegetables, and it's a natural way to repel pests without using chemicals, knowing that chemicals can be harmful to your health. The animals are an integral part of that, because they provide the poop that can actually fertilize the soil, but it can also be this liquid manure that can repel pests from the leaves, etc, and we use a pass-on-the-gift model, which I learned from the Jane Goodall Institute, where, when you give one family rabbits or goats, the first one or two offsprings then get passed on to the next family. The great thing about living organisms is what I try to teach the Batwa — if you can take care of your herd, your vegetables, or your trees, you will always be able to survive.

Can you shed more light on their homeland that has been converted to the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, the UNESCO site?

Nicole: The whole park is their land that has been stolen from them. The tropical forest used to be much bigger, and they cut down the trees and, eventually, that's why they kicked out the Batwa people. They were going to save what's left [of the forest], but I don't know why they thought the Batwa people had to be removed, but that's what they did. So, that is their land, and there are legal cases happening right now. In fact, the Batwa won a case that said that they were unfairly removed, and that they were owed compensation for that loss. Then it was appealed by the Ugandan government, and that's still currently in litigation, but they will, hopefully, one day get, if not back in the forest or access to the forest, money for that loss, because it is a hundred percent their land. Every time I drive through [the park], I tell Joyce, this is your forest. It is your people's land that was taken unfairly from you. There's no way else to look at it.

Do you have long-term goals for the sustainable development of the Batwa community?

Nicole: I really am focusing on education, because I want those kids, the ones who I've been with for 10 years, who are now in secondary school, to be the leaders they need to be, using their voices to advocate for their own people. I'm just the facilitator, so if I can get them in good schools and [to] understand and re-embrace the pride of being Batwa, instead of a shame that they seem to now have, they can then organize and utilize their voices, just like [the] native people in America, South America, [or] the Amazonian people that are organizing together, getting celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio to help them with [the] Amazon frontlines. We need people like Joyce, our kids, and other Batwa leaders to really come together, and that's just a focus of mine, tending [to] those trees and [the] community and helping it to be a model village of beauty, conservation, [and] mitigating climate change by planting these trees and caring for them, because climate is going to affect the poorest and the most marginalized the most. They're on lands that are vulnerable to landslides, because it's very steep. They gave the Batwa the worst land up on the steep slopes, but that's also great land for growing coffee, which is why I'm trying to take what they have and help them get a trade or a livelihood that, over time, they could grow coffee that could then be imported to America, but this stuff is going to take time.

Indigenous environmental knowledge abounds. Can you share a cool Batwa forest tradition with us to close this conversation?

Orishaba: My grandfather would go to the forest, if there was a beehive, and find this special [medicine] to put on his face and arms, and he would climb up the tree without wearing bee suits, after covering himself with this ‘bush medicine,’ then he would start a fire up [in] the tree to smoke out the bees, and he would get all of it [the honey], which was really cool, because there were a lot of bees, so they'd be on him, but he wouldn't get stung.

Enjoy some of the most valuable biodiversity conservation lessons!

The podcast version of the previous webinar can be accessed here. Questions and feedback can be forwarded here: thehabibatproject@gmail.com

As temperatures continually rise due to climate change, the Himalayan region is facing increasing environmental risks. In Nepal, the Himalayas are warming faster than other areas in the country, with an average temperature increase of 0.08°C per year, according to the country’s Department of Hydrology and Meteorology.

Nepal's landscape includes flat plains, mountains, and the Himalayas, which cover about 15% of the country’s total area of 147,516 square kilometers. The Himalayan region is also home to eight of the world's 14 highest mountains, including Mount Everest.

The rising temperatures are causing glaciers to melt faster, leading to the formation of glacial lakes. In 2015, a study mapped 3,624 glacial lakes in the Koshi, Gandaki, and Karnali river basins, Nepal's largest river systems. These lakes covered 195.13 square kilometers. By comparison, in 2005, there were 3,696 lakes, covering 186.44 square kilometers. Though the number of lakes had decreased, their total area had grown due to the rapid melting, and a recent report has identified 47 lakes in Nepal as dangerous, meaning they could burst at any time, leading to severe flooding.

Chairperson of the Nepal Water Conservation Foundation, Ngamindra Dahal, describes this situation as alarming. He said, "Climate change is having a stronger impact [on areas] above 3,000 meters in Nepal. If we don't take serious action, we could face huge losses of lives and infrastructure. It’s important to focus efforts on the Himalayan region." Dahal stressed the need for better monitoring of glacial lakes to identify those at risk of bursting. 

Subscribe now

The Destabilizing Consequences

If a glacial lake bursts, the impact could be catastrophic. 

On September 16, 2024, a small glacial lake burst in the Solukhumbu district, near Mount Everest. Although it was not marked as dangerous, the damage amounted to about USD 10 million. The Thame village in the area was wiped out by the resulting flood, destroying 55 homes, schools, health posts, and hydropower facilities. 

Thankfully, no one died because the flood occurred during the day. "Had it happened at night, many lives would have been lost," said Mingma Chhiri Sherpa, Chairperson of the Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality.

Nepal has had other bad experiences with Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs). In 2016, a glacial lake burst in Tibet, causing significant damage in Nepal — twenty houses, a school, roads, and a 45 MW hydropower project were destroyed.

Nepal has experienced at least 24 GLOF events before, 14 of which occurred within Nepal, and 10 caused by floods from Tibet.

What is the Solution?

Although Nepal can’t control rising temperatures, experts say it can reduce the risk of GLOFs.

According to Basanta Raj Adhikari, an engineering professor at Tribhuvan University with extensive knowledge of the issue, the first step is to map all glacial lakes in Nepal and request China to do the same for lakes in Tibet, whose waters flow into Nepal. “We need to understand the situation of all these lakes," Adhikari said. "For those in danger, lowering the water levels is the main solution."

Nepal has some experience in reducing water levels. In 2016, the water level of the Imja glacial lake was lowered by three meters, which helped protect more than 12 villages from potential flooding. Similarly, in 2001, Nepal reduced the water level of the Tso Rolpa glacial lake.

The Department of Hydrology and Meteorology is working on plans to lower the water levels of four other dangerous lakes: Thulagi, Lower Barun, Lumding Tsho, and Hongu-2. Jagadishwor Karmacharya, Director General of the department, noted that they have applied for funding from the Green Climate Fund for this project.

Share

“Rivers,” the Canadian conservationist Roderick Haig-Brown once wrote, are like the “veins of the Earth,” serving as lifelines for people and countless other species as well. Without healthy waterways, he suggested, we all would suffer.

It’s a sentiment likely shared by the millions of people around the world preparing to celebrate World Rivers Day 2024 on September 22, with events planned in some 100 nations.  In Kenya, for example, restorationists will be planting trees and bamboo along 25 kilometers of the Kipchorian River. In India, volunteers will be plucking trash from the Jalangi River. In Europe and North America, river lovers are expected to flock to dozens of festivals celebrating local waterways. Such events are designed to highlight “the many values of rivers,” says World Rivers Day spokesperson Tunde Murphy, “and hopefully encourage the improved stewardship of rivers around the world.”

Earth’s estimated three million rivers are in desperate need of that stewardship, recent studies suggest. They show that rivers continue to suffer from longstanding problems such as water pollution, but also face emerging risks associated with a warming climate and the spiraling demand for water by a growing human population. But amid the worrying findings are also glimmers of hope, as some nations and communities are finding ways to protect and restore waterways that are their environmental, economic, and cultural lifelines.

The bad news about rivers isn’t hard to find. A number of recent studies, for example, have highlighted how dams are wreaking havoc on river ecosystems. In Europe, more than 1.2 million barriers of varying types and sizes – nearly one for every kilometer river – have prevented fish and other animal migrations, fragmented some 200,000 kilometers of waterways, and damaged freshwater ecosystems, researchers reported in Nature Communications in 2023. But less than 15% of these structures have a clear socio-economic value. 

In the United States, meanwhile, some 50,000 medium to large dams used for flood control and water storage have produced similar ecological damage, researchers reported in a different 2023 study in Nature Communications. In some cases, river reaches once pulsing with life have been reduced to dead, dry ditches.

Overall, researchers estimate that 63% of the world’s longest rivers no longer flow freely and nearly half of all reaches have some level of fragmentation. Such disruption has led to the disappearance of valuable fisheries, riverside farmland, and groundwater supplies. And in places dams have choked off sediment flows, which has led to the erosion of riverside lands and deltas that support millions of people. 

Despite such costs, many nations are still hell-bent on dam construction. In Brazil, which has roughly one-third of the world’s remaining free-flowing rivers, the government is funding efforts to add to the nation’s existing stock of 23,000 dams. But the money would be better spent fixing or improving thousands of the nation’s existing dams, researchers argued last year in a letter to Science.

Other studies have highlighted the threats posed by climate change. Shrinking mountain glaciers, for example, threaten water supplies that feed many rivers, especially in tropical regions. But climate change is creating a different problem on the Tibetan Plateau, where temperatures have increased by nearly double the global average over the past few decades. Accelerating melting of ice and thawing of permafrost has resulted in more sediment eroding into streams. The silt and mud threaten to choke off aquatic life, destabilize downstream infrastructure such as dams, and bury riverfront farmland vulnerable to seasonal floods, researchers wrote in Science earlier this year. In other areas, sea level rise driven by climate change is enabling saltwater to intrude further inland, increasing the salt content of groundwater that feeds rivers and threatening freshwater ecosystems.

Solving such problems won’t be easy. But the good news is that, across the globe, people are taking action to protect and restore rivers. In the United States, for example, engineers have dismantled hundreds of dams in recent years – some 80 last year alone, according to the conservation group, American Rivers. And this year, they will complete one of the world’s largest dam removal projects, tearing down four dams blocking the Klamath River in the northwestern United States. The project will enable the return of migrating salmon and other endangered species.

In Mexico, the Colorado River delta is showing signs of life again after U.S. officials agreed to allow more water to flow down the river into the once nearly-dry delta. Native birds and plants are starting to return, researchers reported earlier this year in two studies in Ecological Engineering. In Japan and Korea, concerted efforts to clean up water pollution caused by decades of industrial development are starting to pay off.

On World Rivers Day, river advocates will rightly celebrate these successes. But it will also be a day to acknowledge how much work is left to be done in keeping the “veins of the Earth” healthy and flowing.

David Malakoff is a longtime science journalist and river lover. He is the International News Editor at Science in Washington, D.C.

If you have not joined our Community WhatsApp Group yet, chances are that you did not know that we had our First Webinar today. Go listen to this new episode of our THP Podcast right above, the alt version of our Webinar.

For an amazing 40 minutes, , hosted this online learning session, where we highlighted our key strategy and processes including an introduction to The Habibat Project, the topics that we cover and why, reasons for our monthly assessments, and 2 key learning sessions on our stories:

1. “No to Food. Yes to Microplastics.” Arctic Wildlife Forced to Welcome Environmental Pollution

   and

2. What may we learn from Qatar’s policy focus on sustainability via its National Vision 2030?

The lessons highlighted were some of the most valuable ones, and you can find the resources that we utilized for the Webinar below:

• PDF Slide:

  

  The Habibat Project's First Webinar Presentation

  7.8MB ∙ PDF file

  Download

  Download

  Credits:
  Podcast background audio: Good_B_Music

  Stock photos: Pixabay/Pexels

Make sure to leave an email reply or comment if you enjoyed this particular episode. To be sure of what The Habibat Project is all about, you can always refer to our about section or just listen to this Podcast episode.

While people often think that there isn't enough happening in the Arctic to be affected by the frequent anthropogenic activities that go on in the rest of the world, The Habibat Project reports that that is not the case.

A lot of plastic pollution goes on in the Arctic and often is not detected except via special techniques. Why is this a problem in the first case? Plastics live with humans for too long, because they are non-biodegradable substances, and they end up contaminating our environment in terms of physical alteration, as reflected in dump sites, agricultural land, and drainages blocked by waste and, chemical intoxication, in terms of how it affects the health of humans and other living biodiversity on Earth. Plastics eventually become microplastics after diminishing into fragmented invisible forms over a long period of time and climate variations.

The Arctic is the cold far-away northernmost polar region of Earth that, due to its very low temperature, would naturally be considered quite hostile to live in, and that would mean zero to minimal human pollution. But in an interview with award-winning biologist and polar deep-sea researcher at the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), Dr Melanie Bergmann, we are informed that the pollution level in sediments at the Arctic surpasses that of the North Sea, and that some wildlife in the Arctic would feed on microplastics instead of their natural diet in a sudden twist of fate. 

In this interview, The Habibat Project learns from her, what exactly is responsible for this level of pollution accompanied by drastic changes in natural patterns, and what her role is in mitigating the consequences of this level of microplastic pollution in the region. Dr Bergmann was hitherto the founder of Litterbase, which gave us detailed breakdown of microplastic pollution around the world, gathering its credible info from research studies, until its temporary hiatus in 2020; she is also now considering restarting it.

(This interview has been edited for length and clarity)

What is the state of microplastics in the Arctic region exactly?

Well, it is quite high in the Arctic region. It depends on where you're looking, but we found extremely high microplastic levels in sea ice and also in the deep-sea sediments, up to 12,000 particles per kilogram of sediment. So that's actually really quite a lot, especially because supposedly we're very far away from the main sources and, because, the Arctic is largely uninhabited. That [number] actually surpasses some of the thresholds that had been suggested by people who do work on risk assessments. The reason why we're finding so many microplastics might also be because we use quite sensitive methods that can also detect very small microplastics. A lot of other laboratories don't have these facilities, so they measure only the larger plastics and, actually, we find that 80 to 90% of the particles that we measured were in the very smallest size range. If you're only looking at the large plastics, then you will seriously underestimate what's in the environment, unfortunately. The analysis pipeline that we're using is quite sophisticated; not everyone has the ability and finances to do these types of measurements. So, on one hand, it's good because you can show what is there. On the other hand, it's a bit of a shame that we always find very high levels of pollution because of the methodology that we use, but we have also done studies, using the same methodology, on sediments in the North Sea and some other parts of the world and, actually, the levels found in the Arctic sediments were higher. 

What are the reasons for so many microplastics in the Arctic, and what are the likely consequences on the Arctic area?

On one hand, you get Atlantic currents basically bringing everything from our part of the world to The North. Another reason would be local emissions, because there are actually quite a few fishing boats operating in the area now. There are also inhabited places in Siberia. Another reason is that there are rivers discharging their water into the Arctic Ocean and, while the Arctic Ocean comprises only 1 to 2% of the global ocean volume, say it receives 10% of the global river discharge. So, it's actually quite a lot of water that is coming out of these rivers into the Arctic Ocean, and some of these rivers do pass [through] some cities or run through agricultural land and, in the winter [when frozen], they are used almost like roads, because vehicles drive on them. We have atmospheric microplastics, because we did also find quite a lot of microplastics in snow samples. We also found microplastics in air samples, but we haven't published this yet. And if you look at the main air current systems in our research area in the Fram Strait, you will see that it comes basically from different directions into our area, bringing the particles with the air into that area. So, these are the main pathways. Also, tourism has increased a lot in the area. The numbers and sizes of cruise ships have increased a lot over the past 10 years. Even when they don't discharge plastics on purpose, wherever you find a ship, you will have a plastic imprint, through the graywater, or just stuff being blown overboard in some way or another. And if you have big cruise ships with thousands of people, it's inevitable. 

What are the consequences for the living organisms there?

We haven't got so much data here, because it's very difficult to get the samples from the Arctic, unlike in the North Sea. Now we [researchers] are starting to look at how much [of microplastics] do we find in the animals and what might be the effects? We can't really do effect studies with Arctic animals, as it's more difficult to keep them in the laboratory, because they live under very different conditions – as soon as you bring them up, they're dead or so stressed that you cannot do anything with them anymore. So I think it's reasonable to assume that they're at least as vulnerable or prone to effects [of microplastics] as other animals that have been studied in other areas, possibly more so because they are already under serious threat from climate change, because climate change is happening in the Arctic four times faster than the global average. And lots of things are not in balance anymore, so to say. For instance, if animals eat microplastics rather than nutritious particles that they usually would, then it puts further stress on them.

You did some work in a pollution observatory. What was the nature of your work? 

Basically, since 1999, the Alfred Wegener Institute have [had] this observatory in the Farm Strait in the West of Svalbard, we call it Hausgarten Observatory, and we do a lot of research on all the different parts of the ecosystem, from the sea surface down to the deep seafloor. And my role was to analyze photographs from the ocean floor to look at changes in the organisms living there. So every year, we would take a camera down and tow it along a certain stretch of the seabed. And the next year, we would do exactly the same. Then you can compare the photographs from the different years to see if there's [been] any changes in the organisms there. While I was doing that, I was seeing more and more plastic debris in the images; we found that we had a seven-fold increase in marine debris. And that's not only plastic, that's all the anthropogenic items, because we also find a lot of glass down there. So, there was a big increase over 13 years, basically.

There is a lot of focus on some new methods that exist to be able to detect microplastics in our environment. Can you shed more light on these new methods?

It's something we call Micro-FTIR, it's Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy. And we basically shine infrared rays on particles to get a spectrum, and then we compare the spectrum with spectra of known substances and delineate what it could be in simple terms. This [method] enables us to look at smaller particles, because some of the other analyses work only for larger particles that are, for example, larger than 300 microns as they rely on visual selection of putative microplastics.

Is Litterbase, the global microplastic pollution tracking platform, still regularly updated for public use?

Not anymore. We had to stop. When we started it in 2016, a lot less [research] was published. The number of scientific publications have skyrocketed in recent years and, every year, it's increasing, so it's just impossible to do that [maintain Litterbase]. It stopped in 2020, unfortunately, because, I couldn't do anything else anymore if I was doing that, and [it] also would require more quality assurance, because we did it manually; basically, you need a person to look at all the publications that are coming out to first find out which ones are relevant to Litterbase, that already takes a lot of time, and then you need someone to read the publication and enter all the details into the computer according to this format that we have and, that, of course, also takes quite a lot of time. When you do something like this, you end up with inconsistencies or errors but, often, it's just inconsistencies. So you do need some sort of data quality assurance process to check up on this every now and then and, that, we hadn't put into place either. Litterbase was mostly intended to be a public outreach tool, not so much a scientific metaanalysis type of thing.

Is that the end? 

We were considering putting it up again with my former PhD student, Mine Tekman. She is exploring ways to revive it, but there's nothing on the horizon yet. So, we'll see. 

Are you working on any research that points to what we can expect going forward in terms of the handling of plastic waste everywhere around the world?

Not me, specifically. I am part of the Scientists’ Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty, which tries to inform these UN plastic treaty negotiations. We're doing a lot of outreach to the negotiators. We're writing policy briefs, fact sheets, and when there are negotiation rounds, like there was one in Nairobi [Kenya], another in Ottawa [Canada], Paris [France]; the next one will be in South Korea in November. We go to these negotiations and try to approach country negotiators to provide them with the scientific evidence available because, quite often, they are not aware of the state of knowledge already there. Sometimes, some of them even have lobbyists, industry lobbyists, in their delegations, and there was a lot of lobbyism happening around these negotiations in Ottawa. It was just terrible.

Subscribe now

Share

Qatar is known for its oil and gas exploration and adventures which have made it the richest state in the Middle East and North African (MENA) region. It is a small state in terms of size and population but has a wide footprint across the globe in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and global warming. However, the nation strives to mitigate the impact of its emission activities via a comprehensive national plan that it established in 2008 but designed to last till 2030; this national plan, amidst other things, focuses on developing sustainable technologies, funding institutions dedicated to the protection of the environment, funding climate conferences dedicated to reducing global warming, and consolidating loose structures of its environmental policy frameworks. The passion is amazing to see but how far have these actions helped in protecting the environmental integrity of the nation and the rest of the Arabian Peninsula? And what may others learn from their policies?

Is their focus on sustainability truly impressive? An award-winning Professor of Law and UNESCO Chair on Environmental Law and Sustainable Development at the College of Law, Hamad bin Khalifa University, Doha, Qatar, Professor Damilola Olawuyi (SAN, FCIArb) believes in the ongoing reform project in Qatar. Speaking to The Habibat Project, Professor Olawuyi, who doubles as the Deputy Vice Chancellor at the Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, believes that the Qatari approach is a sustainable one, and that the nation’s ongoing transition to tourism from an oil-dependent economy is excellent for the MENA region. He opines that their approach is the way forward for other states intending to transit and diversify in a way that prioritizes technology, adequate water management, policy, and the sustainability of the environment.

(This interview has been edited for length and clarity).

Qatar and other MENA nations are trying to transition their economies from being oil-dependent to significantly including tourism and other sectors. However, tourism puts pressure on resources, particularly water resources. What kinds of frameworks and policies are in place in Qatar to protect water resources, given that it is situated in an arid region?

You're right. Water scarcity is a big issue in the region, because it's an arid region characterized by dry lands, right? When you are in the desert region, you must be very innovative in water generation as well as water management. What Qatar and the rest have done is to promote the use of water technologies. There's a lot of investment in water technologies, water desalination technologies specifically. It's a technology through which you can indeed take out the salt from seawater and make it useful, and most of the water used in the region, even in Qatar is from desalination plants. It's a two-pronged approach, investment in water desalination technology to generate water, as well as then making regulations to ensure water conservation and management. They've taken that integrated approach for water conservation; they have the water efficiency data sheet — it is called [the] Tarsheed water efficiency program, in which there is a clear stipulation on how much water you can use; there is a clear stipulation on the need for facilities and businesses to have water conservation plans. So the combination of both has really made the country advance this issue of water sustainability, especially advancing SDG 6 [Clean water and sanitation]. Water governance is definitely at the forefront [of the Qatari approach] — promoting water technologies, ensuring water efficiency, water conservation, and promoting training.

Let’s delve into the grand vision. What exactly does Qatar’s National Vision portend for the environmental condition of the country and the Arab Peninsula?

Qatar, as you know, is a major producer of natural gas, as well as some oil. In many of the petroleum rich states, for many years, their economies had been closely tied to oil and gas extraction. So, now the National Vision 2030 is a clear document that tries to say, okay, how we use our natural resources to transition towards a more diversified, knowledge based technology-driven society. Qatar has made a lot of progress in implementing that vision — the environment pillar [of the plan] talks a lot about awareness. And now in Qatar, there are a lot of universities focusing on environmental awareness [and] environmental causes. As you may know, I established the Association of Environmental Law Lecturers in the MENA region, which has also supported that vision in providing consistent training and capacity development on environmental issues, as the national mission specifically says the country hopes to develop an environmentally-aware population that understands environmental and habitat protection. We also have the environmental law in Qatar that specifically mandates all education providers to include environmental courses. That's in the law. So you will see that the environmental awareness is at an all time high in Qatar.

That's great, but there are other frameworks including the National Environmental Climate Strategy, the National Climate Change Action Plan, and even the National Development Strategy. How do they all key into this national vision?

Yes, as you will realize, the national vision is an umbrella document that has that general national vision — [embodying] the number of instruments [climate agendas] that have been released. Qatar now has more than ninety laws and regulations on the environment. And those regulations and laws sort of specify the exact goal that must be met. The Government of Qatar adopted the climate change strategy, which now includes having the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change. Before it used to be the Ministry of Municipality and Environment, so the environment was just an appendage at the time. But now, there is a clear Ministry of Environment and Climate Change with a mandate to address [the] issues of climate change. It shows the country's ambition to be at the forefront of climate solutions. Even in that Climate Change Strategy, they talked about the desire to achieve net-zero carbon emission. So I think the national vision has provided “the umbrella [document],” while these new strategies are now going into the specific granular details.

Qatar was a signatory to the 2016 Paris financing agreement, and COP29 will be held in November in Baku, Azerbaijan. So in what ways do you think Qatar can improve upon its existing climate financing commitments, especially to the developing states within the MENA sphere?

It's a good question, and one of the key things at the COP28 in the UAE was the emphasis on solidarity, right? The need for international solidarity to move climate action forward. And solidarity simply means [that], well-off countries, countries that have the technology, resources, and the money should provide support to developing countries; the MENA region is a mix of very rich countries, but there are some countries, like you mentioned, that will require a lot of help. So, Qatar, through its development fund and its overseas programs, have been at the forefront of providing support for other countries, both in terms of financial support and technology. I've realized that Qatar is aligning diplomacy with climate change. Qatar is at the forefront of what I call climate-change diplomacy, which aims to use diplomacy and international development & support to advance climate-change ambitions across the region.

Qatar has also been involved in a lot of legal prosecution of violators of the integrity of the environment. What exactly do you think other countries can learn from the Qatari legal framework, and how can they implement it in their own countries as well? 

I think some of the things that have worked well for Qatar include, one, having a very clear and committed environmental legislation that covers a wide range of use[s]. I am aware that “Law Number 30,” as it's called, as well as the executive bylaws, are very comprehensive, and I'm aware that the country is in the process of updating them. So, one thing that Qatar has been able to do is to continue to update its laws in line with modern realities.

Secondly, you would say, “how is the country able to still continue oil and gas [exploration] without having as many environmental problems?” That's also because the national energy company there, called Qatar Energy, has their own very stringent health, safety and environment regulations that make it unprofitable for any business to want to pollute, because if you do it and they cancel your license, you're gone. I think that [the] idea of a national oil company having a very stringent set of regulations on health, safety, and environment has really really worked well for Qatar. 

The third lesson one can draw from Qatar’s approach is that strong international engagement. In international law, you don't get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate. So you have to be at the forefront, as a country, in terms of climate diplomacy and international negotiation. Because if you're not, then you will get international deals that will weaken your own economy; that could make it even difficult for you to protect the environment. So I think [that] Qatar has realized it and is playing a very big role in the international diplomacy environment — that active engagement. For example, Qatar organized the climate COP[18], thereby showing the interest that they have in being at the forefront of these issues. 

The relationship between the Arabian authorities’ and their local communities, I would say, has been grossly underreported. Some of the locals in the oil-exploring MENA states may have been affected by activities that are related to oil drilling and exploration. How has Qatar been able to ensure environmental justice, proving that it is not just a situation where they're making money off them, but also giving them something in return?

The approach taken by Qatar is one promoting the fair and equitable distribution of the benefits of oil and gas production. They are ensuring that no one is left behind [by] promoting public participation — that is the approach [being] taken. Most people now channel their [environmental] concerns through the Shura Council, made up of elected individuals. It's a small country, so some of the issues of indigenous rights that you might see in other countries don't manifest in the same manner in Qatar. Rather, [the] environmental justice that we emphasize over there is more about ensuring that the benefits of oil and gas and other development projects are maximized to continue on the path of sustainable development. And I hope they [the Qatari authorities] can maintain and sustain this — using their resources for the benefit of the current generation, as well as for the protection of future generations. We've seen in the region, free education for their citizens and support for those that want to go into eco-entrepreneurship. Those are policies and future-generation programs that are quite commendable.

Congratulations on receiving the Weeramantry International Justice award. It's a testament to your hard work and dedication to sustainability over the years. How exactly do you feel about being a recipient of this award?

It is indeed a truly special moment to be found worthy of such important recognition. The award is named in honor of the legacy of Judge Weeramantry, one of the leading lights in environmental law, [whom] as well as becoming a judge, was a vice president of the ICJ. So to receive an award, named after such an iconic figure is a special moment. And, as a student, I read closely, some of the leading judgments and pronouncements of Judge Weeramantry, especially cases like Gabčíkovo, which indeed shaped the idea of what states should do to protect the environment. So, I'm honored to receive the award, and I think it would only motivate me to do more for sustainable development, world peace, and environmental justice.

Introduction of the issue on ground

Illicit artisanal mining in Zamfara State is now “a tale as old as time.” Zamfara is rich in deposits of gold, zinc, copper, and many other mineral resources. Ironically, it remains one of Nigeria’s many states grappling with socio-economic challenges and is particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts, due to its location in the Sudano-Sahelian region of sub-Saharan Africa.

These persistent issues have led to toxic lead poisoning in the environment and widespread violence and abductions by armed bandit groups, who, coincidentally, illegally control gold mines to fund their operations and procure small arms and light weapons. The consequences of these unregulated actions, as we would find out at the end of this story, are severe environmental and health hazards, food insecurity, and numerous victims of sexual and gender-based violence.

Two years ago, the authors of a study interrogating the relationship between banditry and illegal mining in Nigeria interviewed illegal miners in Bagega, Zamfara State, an area notorious for the armed banditry and illegal mining, and half of them confessed to having unlicensed access to weapons to “protect themselves.”

In a separate study published earlier this year by Abdulnasir Umar, a researcher at the Department of Political Science at the Federal University Gusau, and other co-researchers, they ascertain that there are around 10,000 armed groups of bandits operating in Zamfara that have destroyed 120 villages and have displaced 50,000 people mostly into neighboring Niger Republic. Their study further notes that the armed syndicates are in competition to control and cash in on the gold mines, further exacerbating other vices, such as cattle rustling in connivance with administrative authorities.

Speaking to other sources with knowledge on the issue, The Habibat Project discovers in Zamfara State, a deep-rooted connection among the regular destabilization of the food-production structure of the state, severe environmental degradation, an increasing number of victims of psychological and sexual violence, and the domino effects of the banditry, a now confirmed front for illicit artisanal mining.

This story has been divided into four parts

Illegal mining in Zamfara and how the bandits get the gold

Gold is a precious resource, but mining and sub-licensing the authority to mine in Nigeria is a responsibility exclusive to the federal government, according to Section 1 (1) of the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act, 2007 and, in many ways, that is an issue according to Ilias and his co-researchers, who recommend at the end of their study that mining be eliminated from the exclusive list, so as to better aid the regulation of the sector.

ENACT and the US Institute of Peace previously reported that illegal artisanal mining, as is now ubiquitous in Zamfara State, would not be as successful as it is without the influence of criminal foreign entities and other local stakeholders, who fuel the violent conflicts in Zamfara and other resource-abundant areas, including the Mambilla Plateau in Taraba state and the Jos Plateau in Plateau state. 

Military resources and state-wide bans on mining have been placed in Zamfara severally, but all to no avail in the dysfunctional state, because the miners resort to violence to cause artificial displacement of people, so that their illegal mining operations can take place without obstructions.

Jibril Lawal, a researcher at the Federal University of Gusau, whose study successfully identified the correlation between illegal mining and banditry, notes, along with other co-authors, that a poor governance structure and a lack of income-generating opportunities for youths are the factors that have led to the situation, where groups of informants and erring security personnel collaborate to ensure that banditry and illegal artisanal mining align to wreak havoc pari passu. The authors also highlight that banditry affects the rural areas in the state the most.

Fate of the women (the victims speak)

We uncovered the domino effect of the problems here, when Khadijah Abdulbasiru, a 36-year-old Zamfara resident, spoke with deep sorrow in Hausa to The Habibat Project about her ordeal, since bandits forced her and her family out of their village.

In her words now translated for accuracy, “the bandits came around 2 am in the middle of the night to attack our community. I was heavily pregnant with my baby, then everybody was running helter-skelter, and when I got to a nearby village which was secure, I was unable to sit. I could not even sit at that time because of how I ran, and my husband assumed it was a forced labor and, immediately, they took me to the hospital. When we got to the hospital, the nurses did not attend to us because my husband did not have money and they could not admit me…”

She eventually got help from a kind samaritan, but ‘kindness’ from hosts in their new town comes at a hefty price, according to Abdulbasiru.

She would later move to a make-shift Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp and meet many banditry-induced displaced people like herself, majorly women and children, where they got food and a place to put their heads for an extended period. After a while, food was no longer forthcoming due to scarcity, so their husbands left them. The men who would stay behind had to go look for menial jobs in neighboring towns but not without putting their wives and kids in the care of resident families in their host town. Another reason for doing so was to get their wives the opportunity to get paid or receive gift items for doing menial jobs like small-scale farming and house chores for their hosts.

This arrangement turned out to be the reason their children were sexually violated.

“Some [of our husbands] went inside the town or to the neighboring towns to look for jobs to do, so the men in the community took advantage of our situation and started having sex with our children, mostly young girls.

“It got to an extent that our hosts started coming to us, wanting to have sex with us, wanting to have something to do with us and, finally, when our own husbands came back and we told them, some would just overlook it and tell their wives not to agree to it, but some will get angry…my own husband got angry and said we should leave there at the time,” Abdulbasiru narrated.

The manager in charge of the temporary camp Abdulbasiru resides, Luqman Garba, confirms that women and children account for over 60% of persons displaced by armed banditry, and that they have been sexually violated, both within and outside the camps. Talking about the spiking rate of sexual violence, he recounted, “...27th of July, a girl was raped and she was just 11 years of age. She was raped by her uncle. We took her to the hospital, and she was admitted there for more than a week, but the man is now in prison, and the girl is getting better.”

The camp management’s response to the issue was to limit the number of persons they would accommodate at a time. “Three to four months ago, some of the displaced persons went back to their areas to farm. If they come back, we don't have a place to accommodate them; because of this lack of electricity, we have more rampant rape [cases]. That's why we limited their numbers. When they come, we would take them into another neighboring IDP, which I manage,” Garba explained.

Another victim, identified only by her first name, Zainab, shared the trauma endured by her family due to the crisis. As a humanitarian worker, she recounted the harrowing story of a woman from an affected village who, devastated by her daughter’s sexual assault by bandits, contemplated taking her own life.

“...imagine that when they came to invade her village, one of the bandits started to rape her daughter in front of her. And she was like — you would have to kill her first for something like that,” she recounted.

When Zainab finally chose to share her own experience, she spoke without pause, unable to hold back.

“They kidnapped my friend's wife and their three-month-old baby. I think that was one of the scariest events that I will say personally made me scared. I have been in the field. I have been in local government. I've seen bandits coming into a town to attack, and soldiers repelling them. I think I've never been scared like the one that happened to my friend's wife and their three-month-old daughter. They came for my friend, but he wasn't around, so they took his wife and his baby and her sister that was staying together with them, and at that moment, I became scared.

“The bandits came to my neighborhood, and my six-year-old sister woke up because of the gunshots. Psychologically, it's not something that I wish on anyone of us. She couldn't go back to sleep and, to date, when you tell her to go and sleep by herself, she'll just tell you that she is scared, and this is how it has been happening. So, it's been affecting people — if not physically, then psychologically; it is something that affects every one of us.”

To date, the fate of women at the hands of bandits in the rural and semi-urban areas of Zamfara State continues to hang in thin air and, unfortunately, for sexual and homely responsibilities, the bandits prefer to abduct women.

Situation report on the environment

There have been no concrete up-to-date reports that put into perspective the current state of contamination and degradation in the state, as most of the coverage focuses on the banditry angle. However, in 2010 the severe lead poisoning in Zamfara attracted international attention, because it was at levels never experienced before in history, and it led to the high emission of lead dust into the environment. The same situation is repeating itself today — the illegal artisanal processing of lead-rich ores to obtain gold.

A study published earlier this year by Sule Aliyu Anka, a researcher at the Department of Biology, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, noted that field investigations during the severe lead poisoning period found excessive lead in surface water, soil, and cultivated crops, and high mercury levels in the air. He noted that the primary source of lead exposure was through the soil, and this affected farming, the major source of livelihood for residents in Zamfara; the lead levels in 100 tested children at the time were unprecedented in Dareta and Yargalma villages of the state.

Since the UN Central Emergency Response Fund intervention, together with other international bodies, the lead levels in the affected villages dropped significantly the year after. However, the CDC in 2016 estimated that there were 40 additional contaminated villages, affecting more than 30,000 residents of the State.

Today’s high level of illegal mining and processing in Zamfara means there is an overlooked, comparable physical devastation of the environment, and a contamination of groundwater, soil, and food for humans and livestock with toxic, non-biodegradable substances, such as lead.

A mathematical approach to solving the crisis

To facilitate an end to illegal mining practices and its associated armed banditry, Lawal and co. in 2023 formulated a “deterministic mathematical model,” which they note holds the answers to ending the nemesis. Their model utilizes two time-dependent controls, namely “controlling the spread of armed banditry using job creation” and “making armed banditry unprofitable.”

“The results obtained on simulations suggest that the application of any of the controls is effective in decreasing the population profile of the informers and the bandits in a finite time,” the researchers concluded.

They concur that organized banditry and illicit mining in Zamfara State stem from the same root causes, with informants, local collaborators, unemployment, and an underdeveloped mining sector converging to fuel the rise in banditry.

As recommendations, they say teamwork between security agencies and local leaders in dealing with displaced persons, illegal mining, and rural banditry should be considered. And that “governments should address the links between unemployment, poverty, and criminality by promoting alternative, non-criminal livelihoods for youths, for instance, skill training centres in both rural and urban areas.”

Some parts of the story were corrected for accuracy in April, 2025

Share

PROTACs (PROteolysis TArgeting Chimeras) were first introduced in 2001 to help remove specific unwanted protein growths, with the potential to target and destroy disease-causing protein tumors. This technology now presents a promising alternative to chemotherapy and precision medicines where tumor cells can develop resistance systems. 

There have been notable developments of the technology by several companies in the race to transform it to a usable drug. Notable amongst them is Arvinas Therapeutics, a company founded by Craig Crews, Professor Of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at Yale University, whose PROTACs technology is in the third phase of development for breast cancer treatment and underwent human trial for the treatment of prostate cancer in 2019.

Despite the organization’s significant advances, Crews, who is also this year’s IUPAC-Richter prize winner in medicinal chemistry, along with his research teams, has continued to make strides, further publishing a “proof-of-concept” study on downmodulating the transcription factor, brachyury, to help eliminate chordoma, while also working on the development of Regulated Induced Proximity-Targeting Chimeras (RIPTACs) through another company, Halda Therapeutics.

Speaking to The Habibat Project, he sheds more light on all stages of these developments.

(This interview has been edited for length and clarity).

How do you feel being the recipient of the 2024 IUPAC-Richter prize in medicinal chemistry?

Well, I'm very honored to be recognized and excited for the potential impact that this technology [PROTACs] will have on the field of drug development.

What is the rationale behind the PROTACs drug development?

These molecules are the product of many years of optimization. One of the hopes for this technology is that by being catalytic in terms of its mechanism, one would not need to dose at the multiples necessary for an occupancy-driven approach. So if you think about a drug target and a drug, if it binds, you get the clinical benefit, [and if] it falls off, you have the disease. And since most drugs do not bind permanently, it means that if you have a drug that falls off, you have to have another drug and another drug [multiple doses of drugs]; you have to have all these extra drugs around to make sure that at any given time, you have occupancy. And that requires excess drugs. That's one of the main challenges today in drug development; how do you achieve excess high levels systemically of your drug?  It's not only the challenge in achieving and maintaining those concentrations, but it also means that excess [concentration] has the potential to start hitting other drug targets. And that's where the side effects come in. If we have a catalytic drug whereby the paradigm is not occupancy but events, and the events are binding, tagging, elimination, binding, tagging, and elimination, [then] it's event-driven pharmacology. That is catalytic and if you can have multiple rounds of recruiting and tagging, then one could get away with less drug, and less drug has the potential to have different pharmacokinetic pharmacodynamic relationships, as well as the potential for maybe fewer side effects.

What is the most recent update to PROTACs, and in what way does it change what is already known about it?

Yes. Arvinas, the company I founded in 2013, now has four compounds that will be going into the clinic. Three of those compounds are focused on oncology targets. But the fourth is a neurodegeneration target. And what is particularly exciting about that target is that it is believed to play a role in Parkinson's disease. And the important part for the PROTAC technology and its role in drug development is that this particular PROTAC candidate from Arvinas is not only orally bioavailable like all the other four, the total four, at Arvinas, but this also crosses the blood-brain barrier. So, the potential to be able to get a catalytic protein degrader molecule like PROTACs into the brain really opens up new areas for drug-target exploration, and new indications like neurodegeneration. That's something that Arvinas is really pioneering. They're farthest along in their breast cancer indication and are in phase three trials now with anticipated top-line readout at the end of this year in terms of the results of that trial. But I should also say there are many other companies that are making important strides in PROTACs development.  

You, along with some other authors, published a study last month on downmodulating the transcription factor brachyury. Can you explain this for non-scientists in plain easy-to-grasp English?

Sure. Brachyury is a protein that is turned on during human development. In fact, it makes our spinal cord when we're embryos, then gets turned off. After you make the spinal cord, you don't need another spinal cord, right? You only need one. The problem is that patients – human adults – can reexpress this one gene, brachyury, and the cell tries to make a spinal cord. And that cell becomes a particular type of cancer called a Chordoma. More than 90% of patients that have Chordoma have a reexpression of this gene that should be silenced and was useful for making the spinal cord. You don't need a second spinal cord. If we could drug the brachyury, we'd be able to help these patients with chordomas. My lab has shown that a particular small molecule can covalently permanently bind to brachyury, leading to its downregulation. Hopefully, in the future, this strategy could be used to treat Chordoma patients.

How soon can this translate to a drug that would help destroy Chordoma growth?

There is a patient advocacy group, the Chordoma Foundation, that is led by an amazing young man named Josh Summers, who is a Chordoma patient himself. Josh Summers and the Chordoma Foundation have taken a very proactive approach to bring together academics, [the] pharmaceutical industry, drug developers, [and] the regulatory agencies to see how the foundation can help accelerate this work. Together with another foundation called the Mark Foundation, they have been instrumental in pushing forward and supporting our work with a brachyury potential drug.

Who funded the research?

The Mark Foundation, the Chordoma Foundation, and the NIH, [the] US National Institutes of Health.

Are you working on new research that is likely to have a drastic effect on the public well being?

There is a technology that I started with Halda Therapeutics [Crew’s third company], and it is a hetero-bifunctional drug like PROTACs, where you have two ligands on either side and a linker. But it's not degradation. Let me set this up in terms of what it is helping; if you think about cancer and cancer drugs, chemotherapy was revolutionary in the 40s and 50s because, up until then, doctors really did not have a way to address fast growing tumors. But chemotherapy is a bit of a sledgehammer, in the sense that it just kills everything that's growing. And that's why in the 80s and 90s, precision medicine really was a major advance where we knew the problem proteins, the kinases, and we developed drugs for those targets. But where we are now is that there are many ways the tumor cells can evolve resistance mechanisms to these precision medicines. What we really need is a way to address all of these different resistance mechanisms in a global way. Because you can have one precision medicine drug, but many different resistant mechanisms. As a result, what we've come up with is this top technology we call RIPTACs [Regulated induced proximity-targeting chimeras]. 

The idea is that we want to kill selectively, just the tumor cell, whereby, if you take animals that are growing a human tumor for prostate cancer, if untreated, the tumor continues to grow; if you treat with the standard of care Enzalutamide, the tumor doesn't care anymore; but if you treat with the RIPTAC, now the tumor doesn't grow at all. In fact, it looks like it might even start to regress, and it's because of this complex between the essential protein and the tumor-selective protein. I hope that gives you an idea of the next technology that I think is going to be very exciting. 

How exactly would you say this particular technology compares to the others currently available to fight malign tumor growth? 

This is a new approach that offers new possibilities. If you think about one area that's very exciting these days in drug development is antibody drug conjugates, ADCs. ADCs work by having a toxic molecule conjugated to an antibody that will bind to a specific protein on the surface of a tumor cell. Upon binding, it gets internalized, the toxin is released, and you get selective delivery of a toxic protein to the tumor cell. But that's only through recognition of something uniquely expressed on the outside of a tumor cell. A RIPTAC can be considered an intracellular equivalent of an ADC, in the sense that they're taking advantage of the overexpression of an intracellular target tumor selective protein and using that tumor-selective protein to now become part of the inhibitor of an essential protein. So, we can selectively target cell death in tumor cells using the recruitment of this tumor-selective protein to now kill those tumor cells. So it opens up new areas to exploit differential expressions, not on the outside of the cell, like the antibody drug conjugates, but using intracellular differences of proteins between normal cells and tumor cells.

Bats in Ukraine are under threat and are listed in the national red-data book. The conditions of these flying mammals are further worsened by the Russia-Ukraine war, as the buildings and environments they hibernate in are bombed, leading to their deaths. As if this is not enough, there is an increasing record of the death of bats by wind turbines in Europe, even leading to a drastic reduction in the population of bats in Germany. For over 10 years, Alona Prylutska, co-founder Anton Vlaschenko, and the rest of their full-time team at the first and only Center for Bat Rehabilitation in Ukraine, have been trying to alter this unfortunate trajectory. Speaking to The Habibat Project, Alona, a bat biologist and co-founder of the center, shares a hidden side to the microbats survival story and all progress so far.

Do the people in Ukraine and Eastern Europe really believe that bats are sources of bad luck?

Unfortunately, yes, they are in fear of myths; they believe in all these kinds of myths about vampires. We [Ukrainians] have such myths that all bats can stick to your hair somehow. So yeah, unfortunately, they believe in those kinds of things. And, of course, they are afraid of rabies. It's also one of the strong beliefs that all bats carry rabies. It's one of the biggest problems that we are trying to change, to change people's minds, their attitude towards bats, because their survival, a lot, depends on people's attitude and how they behave when they find the bat.

Would that fear factor be responsible for the human-bat conflicts in Ukraine?

Yeah, exactly. Especially now, we understand that we can't save all bats in Ukraine. Because it's impossible. But we can change their minds and change their attitude towards this animal. So in this case [a change of attitude of the people], we would save many more animals than we do right now. We have three directions of our work. One of which is research. Actually, we started as bat researchers, I studied bats in woodlands and different landscapes. The second one is rehabilitation…and the third one is public awareness. Of course, educational work means a lot and that's why we do a lot of different educational events. And actually, it's one of my biggest parts [of Alona’s work] now; I work more with people now than with bats.

Would you say climate change and human encroachment are responsible for the movement of bats from their original homes to residential areas?

It's one of the possible reasons why they switch their migration behavior. But yeah, one of the reasons is climate change, because those bats which we rescue now, 80% of them are noctules, Nyctalus noctula. Nocturnal bats. So they used to be a migrant species. They spent summer in Ukraine, and they went for hibernation in Western Europe, Southern Western Europe, Mediterranean region, where a lot of caves are around. But nowadays, around the last 30 years, they switched this migration behavior and they started to hibernate in Kharkiv, not only in Kharkiv, but in many Ukrainian cities, mostly in the northern ones, but as well as in the southern ones, and one of the reasons why they started to do that is climate change, because winters are getting warmer. And for bats, it is a question like, “should we migrate or can we stay at the same place and not migrate?” Because migration is risky, they can die during it. But hibernation in cold places also can be very risky. The second reason why they probably started to do that…we don't know exactly but in the last 30/40 years, there was a huge growth of our Ukrainian cities, especially these high storey buildings. With a lot of cracks, crevices, bats actually find their roost. So they started to stay in buildings, probably because warmer winters, plus a great amount of roosts led to staying for hibernation in Ukraine. We don't know exactly. But we see these changes because we had records about bats in Kharkiv from [the] 1960s, and there were no noctules, only Serotine bats and other species. But currently, there are hundreds of them, maybe even in the Mainland, hibernating in Kharkiv, and in other cities; they are also very common in Kyiv, Dnipro, and Zaporizhzhya, and other cities, from where we are rescuing now. 

What are the implications of this kind of migration to the ecosystem over there?

I guess, in general for the ecosystem, it's not such a big change, you know, animals migrate all the time. And I mean, like in the historical times, they were migrating to different places and for different periods. So, we can't say exactly how big the impact of this change is. But of course, for countries of Western and Southern Europe, such as Germany, for example, they have had this decline in the numbers of bats for the past years. In numbers, I can’t tell you, but together with wind turbines, which are very common here in Western Europe, you know, wind turbines kill a lot of bats during migration, and not only during migration…accidents, you can find these numbers, it's well known. Like it's rather studied. Questions about how many bats were killed in wind turbines are in huge numbers. There is a big decline in the numbers of at least one species, Nyctalus noctula. I can't say about others, but noctule bats are really less common in Germany for the past maybe decades or something like that. But in Ukraine, we see this arousal in numbers, because they started to stay for winter. So they spent maybe all their year in our zones. Not only in Ukraine, they’re also in Belarus and southern parts of Russia – so in this part of the world.

Subscribe now

I discovered that there was a lot of special attention for microbats in your works. So what differentiates microbats from other bat species and how have you navigated the needs of various bat species successfully?

Oh, you know, in Europe, we have, except for one, only microbats species. [About] that one, it’s the Egyptian fruit bats, the rest are microbats. Microbats are common in Europe, so we study what we have. Rather just say, Egyptian rousette, that's the name of the fruit bat. In Europe, they are very rare; they live in Cyprus and in Turkey. We have microbats, so we study them, because all 28 species of Ukraine are microbats.

What are your struggles in trying to change the perception that bats are of bad luck in Ukraine?

Yeah, usually people. Social behavior of people and not just on the social, but then in the psychology of people's attitude toward bats because, unfortunately, we had a lot of cases when people just didn't want to share their home, their buildings, with bat colonies which wanted to hibernate there. So it is actually why we started to rehabilitate them, you know, at our Bat Rehabilitation Center. In 2007, I guess we had a call from people in the city center of Kharkiv, they found bats laying on the ground. But then other people just throw them away from the window, as it was winter, if they found the bats during the renovation work in their building, and then, they throw them away just to the ground, on the roads. And cars were crashing them out, and the road and snow were all red with blood, and it was other people that called us and told us about the situation. But unfortunately, we were away from the city and we were studying other animals in the forest. And then we came back and realized that we had such big issues of bat-human conflicts, we decided to share our phones, our contacts, university address, and asked people to call us if they found those bats. So yeah, we still have such  accidents. And almost 70% of them, it's about human cruelty, because they don't want to live together. They complain that bats are smelling bad, that they emit very loud sounds, and they don't want to share their balcony with them. So they want to get rid of them as garbage. People don't understand that they are animals, and that they are protected animals listed in our red-data book. That's what we're trying to tell people in our lectures, events…we still are in a very big connection with nature, and we need to at least understand and try to live together somehow.

What is the future of Open Data for the bats’ research?

I started by monitoring one of our nature protected areas in the Kharkiv region. I did it for eight years; a bat monitoring project. And we all understand that we need to get our data open. So my last publication was about free, like open data, which we shared on the GBIF, global biodiversity data facility website, where we published our 10 years data set of bats, which were found mostly in Kharkiv, and in different cities of Ukraine, which we got in our bat rehabilitation center. So we are trying to share our data, our knowledge, and also we have a huge collection of bat skulls. Unfortunately, bats are dying, but we preserve all these specimens from them, tissue analysis, DNA, bat skulls & morphology, and so on, so we have a big collection of bat skulls, it’s several thousands. And we have collaborators in Western Europe, so we want to share our data or material with them. Because no one knows how war ends and what and who survives. So we decided, at least to make it open and share this. We are taking samples, different kinds of samples from live bats for viral projects. Many directions, many plans, but unfortunately, it's hard to plan far in summer, you don't know how the situation will be, how safe it is, and unfortunately, some parts of Ukraine are still very unsafe, and it is even forbidden to visit. I mean, forests are forbidden to visit in the south and in the eastern part of Ukraine.

Share

Some things have struck me in the course of conversation so far. First, I think I might have underestimated how enthusiastic you are about bats and, secondly, that you are very courageous. I mean, having to, you know, still look after the bats even at the peak of the war, right? Can you paint a picture of this kind of scenario?

So yeah, I understand it might be surprising that we do this kind of activity now, but actually it helps us, not only me, but whole my team; it helps to not to be depressed so much yeah, you know, not to feel hopeless, because maybe in the first few months of the war, we were like in this waiting condition. We were waiting for victory, for the end of wars and so on but, later, we realized that we can't just wait all our lives. We need to do something, and the best thing is what you can do, just do what you are into the best. Yeah. And we were studying bats, we were rescuing  them before the war, and we can't just stop it because of war. And, because, as you might know, the war started in winter, and we already had on our hands, two thousand bats which were hibernating, so it was difficult just to leave them to die, and one part of them [the bat population] was hibernating, almost on the front line in this private zoo, Feldman Ecopark, and it was only at the end of March were we able to rescue them, like to get them away from that area.

So, this bat-activity-work helps us not to give up. Yeah, and we are doing what we can and, actually, [about the] bats, they don't know what war is, you know, they live their lives and don't understand what is happening. Of course some of them died because of war, because they were hibernating in these buildings which were hit by rockets, which were destroyed by rockets. We can't even say the numbers – how many exactly – but we published one paper about our attempts to calculate to check those buildings which we knew were inhabited by bats but they were destroyed [during the war]. 

There was also this part where I read that you refrigerate some of those bats during their hibernation stage. What's the point of it?

Bats need low temperatures for hibernation, such as in caves, it's from +2 to +8 degrees above zero. So fridges are such alternatives to caves. Actually, I started rehabilitating bats at my home in 2012. In my home, just in an ordinary fridge. But it shows that these conditions are almost good for bats, it depends on their level of humidity, they also need very high humidity, as high as possible. So we started to keep them in hibernation in fridges. And yet they are fine. Of course, we check them. We have hospital-[like] conditions, [through which] we check bats each month – their body mass, their body conditions. If their body mass decreases, we start to feed them with insects. And those bats which come to us in bad conditions, we feed them before hibernation, and then they hibernate – because they hibernate thanks to their fat reserves, and they need big amounts of fat reserves, as bears for example, as many animals.

You also host bat festivals. What are they like?

We call it the Bat Spring Release festival. Actually, it's about releasing rescued bats back to the wild, in spring, after winter rehabilitation. Some survive. Unfortunately, not all of them survive, but 85% of them usually survive. And we release them back into the wild, and for more than 10 years…this year will make it 12 years [that we have been doing] this event. So, we just invite people, anyone who wants to hold the bat on their hands, in gloves, of course; we give them only [while wearing] gloves, [and instruct them to] hold on a hand and just release them into the wild, in the dark sky. So people really enjoy it. Because for many of them, it's an opportunity to see a live bat, to touch, to see, that's the most powerful thing which can change this attitude toward bats. So people came to our event before the war from time to time, like from year to year, they were very into this event. And we organize this bat release fest not only in Kharkiv, but in different cities, in Dnipro, and in Zaporizhzhya. This year, we want to organize it in eight cities of Ukraine because we got a lot of bats from these cities. So, we want to bring them [bats] back and organize this event. It has very good journalists’ attention – [translating to] a lot of broadcasts and articles.

Mangroves are very instrumental to the ecosystem and play a key role in the mitigation of excessive flooding and storm surges in the areas where they are found. These woody plants that are either trees or shrubs are important to man and other organisms dependent on them for survival. To be more specific, a recent UN report estimates that mangroves store two to four times more carbon than terrestrial forests, and when they are destroyed, a huge amount of carbon is released back into the atmosphere, proving their essentiality as great carbon sinks capable of helping cool the environment. Also, mangroves are associated with over a thousand different species reliant on them for food and natural spaces – in fact, over 2 billion people living within 100 km of the world’s coastlines are dependent on these plants in one way or the other. 

In Nigeria, mangroves are peculiar to local areas in the Niger Delta and constitute parts of the cultures of the people therein. In Calabar, the coastal capital city of Cross River, Nigeria, Anna Obi Akpe, a young conservationist, is reviving the dying magical aura of the mangroves there; due to changes in the global climate and a lot of poverty in the rural areas, the plants are fast depleting. A recent study shows that between 1996 and 2016, Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers states had lost 8,274 ha, 4,824 ha, and 2,281 ha of their mangrove forests at the rates of 413.7, 241.2, and 114.1 ha/annum respectively, reaffirming the need for improved restoration practices in Nigeria and around the world.

Speaking to Anna, she helps break down the issue to The Habibat Project, further highlighting how she, along with her club members, is tackling it, and how a recently-won grant from the Global Landscape forum (GLF) will aid the restoration cause significantly.

When the Global Landscape Forum reached out to say they had a promising lady doing great stuff on Mangrove restoration in Calabar, we said, “bring her on,” and here we are today. You were selected out of over 300 candidates for the grant and mentorship by the GLF. How do you feel?

Exciting. I think it is indeed a privilege to be selected amongst 300 [competitors] like you said, so I'm grateful for this opportunity given to me by the Global Landscape Forum to act in a capacity where I would contribute to the environment while I learn in the process.

The grant also came with some form of mentorship. How has that been going so far?

Yeah [the] mentorship is still going on – it's definitely not going to end from the area of the Global Landscape Forum. Basically, I don't work alone. I work with members of the club I volunteer with – [the] Biodiversity Rescue Club. So, it has all been mentorship from both sides. During the course of this project, I collaborate with NGOs, government agencies, as well [as] the community which I'll be carrying out this very project.

Let’s delve into conservation. What does conservation mean to you and in what ways can you relate it to the situation In Calabar?

How should I put it [conservation]? When it pertains [to] natural resources, sustainable use should be applied. Sustainable use of every single thing that comes from nature is very important. So, we should adopt the act of reusing [the] natural resources. We should adopt the act of recycling…this is more like the three Rs – reuse, recycle and reduce. The state of conservation here is very poor, in the sense that lots of deforestation [practices] are going on in this environment really – cutting down of trees for agricultural purposes, urbanization, industrialization. So people really do not value the essence of conserving these natural resources, the trees around the forest ecosystem…they do not really see the importance and the need to conduct this process here. So, really, the awareness here is not so much; it's really not so much.

I read that the state of mangroves in Nigeria is even worse than we think. What specific actions have you been taking to correct this issue?

Just like I had mentioned earlier, I work with my club. And so far, we've been carrying out educational activities in schools. Yes, when we go to schools, we educate these children on the importance of caring for these natural resources, the biodiversity as a whole, the flora and fauna species, every form of living thing that exists. We educate them continuously on their importance as well, even in the sites we are presently working on. And in our little capacity, we've been able to replant most of the mangrove seedlings in those degraded sites. Yes, so that's basically what we've been doing so far.

Are these sites you're talking about just in Calabar or beyond it?

There are various mangrove locations, at least you can find them along coastal areas. For certain reasons, we picked interest in this very one; it's accessible to begin with – in Esierebom community, still in Calabar, precisely Calabar South. Over the years, we’ve observed that there's been [a] lot of deforestation there. There's been lot of…all the things that I had [previously] mentioned, urbanization, [deforestation] for agriculture, because they do not have an alternative source of livelihood. So it's all there. So even through the costs of restoring this mangrove site, obviously, an alternative source of livelihood will [have to] be provided, because if eventually we're able to restore these, and they do not have enough awareness. And they haven't gained enough knowledge [as] to why this place should be maintained and conserved, they’ll eventually go back to this site, which would have been restored.

What was the latest project you carried out in that community?

Well, [for] the latest project, it's been on the advocacy level. Yes, since we have not had the financial capacity to go beyond that point. We do that in schools, and in our little capacity, we just plant mangrove seedlings in that site [school area]; [the] few numbers that we are able to purchase. So this funding is going to do a lot more for us.

What other kinds of organisms, along with the mangroves, are at risk in the wetlands…?

…different types of mangroves; other plants that you can find, you can actually find ferns around this area. Yeah, ferns – pteridophytes. You are able to find your shrimps. You're able to find the crabs. You're able to find your periwinkles. Yes, the ones I love. Yes, you are able to find them in habitats like that, even the snakes – the very wild ones. I will just channel my major focus to mangrove restoration at the moment; you can't do it all on your own. So you just pick… I'm focusing on this, which I find more interesting.

What inspired your decision to become a conservator?

Okay. Well, I will just relate it back to my background study in school. I studied in school – plants and ecological studies. That was a first for me. And then it's one of the course[s] I treated in school, the mangroves. So I got to learn about the important role which the mangroves play. You know, lots of attention has been paid to the forest ecosystem, and so little on the mangrove ecosystem. Meanwhile, this mangrove ecosystem stores a lot more carbon than the forest can even store. 

What inspired your decision to apply for the stewardship program?

Well, what inspired my decision to apply for it was a need, that there is a problem to be solved, just like I mentioned; a problem that needs a solution. And as a student-led organization, we do not have the funding to carry this out. So this was an opportunity for us to apply and get these grants to proceed with whatever projects or whatever plan we had for our ecosystem. So that was when I thought of applying for this grant. And good thing [that] we got it, so we hope to do a lot with this already. We have our groundwork laid down.

You're young and it seems like a lot of responsibility on you already, taking mangrove restoration head-on. How do you plan to carry others in the community along, so that they can also contribute and play active roles in restoring mangroves to the wetlands?

So while we go ahead with planting, we will definitely work with the community members, the women, the men, and the youth inclusive, because at the end of the day, they will still be the custodians of these sites. It's not like you're going to get external bodies to take care of these places you've restored. They [community members] will still be the ones to take care of it. So, it's better off [for them] to do it themselves. As well, you have created that awareness; you've made them understand the reason why they should do this. So, I don't think you need extra bodies, except the bodies I’ve mentioned, the community members, the women, [and] the youths; that’s after the awareness, really, because they need the knowledge first, [then] they need the awareness. After which I wouldn't work alone but still collaborate with the NGOs, which includes [the] NCF. Right now we work with [the] NCF, Nigerian Conservation Foundation. That's an NGO we collaborate with. We [work with] the people, the right academics, and for the government agencies, we work with [the] Forestry Commission and the National Park.

If I want to do something on mangrove restoration in my community in Abuja, for example, how may I go about it? 

Okay, first off, you have to identify a site; finding one is the first step. If you are able to find one, of course, you should do a community entry, because you can't just walk into someone's community and begin to do things your own way. So even as a club, we did a community entry where we met the head of the community. And then we proceeded to meet the paramount ruler of the local government. If you're able to meet these persons, at least, they would pledge their support to you in whatever tasks you want to carry out in that location. So, these are [the] first things, after which you conduct your baseline assessment in those areas. You should know the level of awareness of people around that area, the level of conservation awareness, how much do they know about the mangroves? How much do they know about this project you're about to carry out? That is where you have to educate them. That's when you have to let them know okay, this is it…this is it. And you proceed from there.

Do the mangroves come as seedlings or are there specific seeds you have to purchase?

Well, they don't come as seedlings. We don't call them seedlings; we call them mangrove propagules. So, I don’t know how to describe them; they just come more like in a strand, and then you have to nurse them before taking them to the field.

How has climate change played a role in the deterioration of wetlands generally? 

Climate change is as a result of whatever we are giving to the environment. It's more like the effect of what man has caused. Where climate change actually comes in all of this is that, [by] cutting most of these trees down, it doesn't give room for carbon sequestration. There's nothing to serve as a carbon sink anymore. This is what gives room to climate change. 

Are the communities there polluted and does that cause damage to the wetlands?

Yes, of course. They are polluted because sometimes…even the location I'm working on, it is actually along the Marian axis, and sometimes most of these fishermen…there are certain chemicals, perhaps herbicides, they release to this water body, and in return, it still goes back to those locations, because they [wetlands] retain all of that. So, it's quite harmful to those ecosystems.

Do you think mangroves can achieve earlier abundance levels as a result of this restoration?

Yes, it's possible. It is like one chasing you from your home, and you have nowhere to stay anymore. That is the same thing we do to those plant and animal species, because we destroy their habitats. Obviously, if we’re able to restore the degraded mangroves or the degraded environment, gradually they will come back. It's not something you're just going to stop in one day. Yes, everyone is making efforts in one way or the other in their different localities. It begins from somewhere. We all can work together to achieve this.

Other than funding, what other kind of support would you need to make this happen? 

For other organizations that actually work in the same line as us, I would advise they also find interest at least in doing what we do. They should also try to see how most of these habitats can be restored. It's something we all can do together. The “support” here is working towards achieving the same goal, the same aim, that way, it's going to work. More awareness, social media awareness, by word of mouth, whatever opportunity you have, you just have to say something to someone. The people need to know about this [the importance of mangrove restoration].

Corrections/edits made on 4 December, 2024 to improve clarity of text.

Madagascar is known for its distinct and endemic biodiversity, but the Indian Ocean African island has been facing arduous challenges threatening the smooth functioning of its ecosystem. The US International Development agency, USAID, describes the present threats to Madagascar’s rich biodiversity as “widespread and abject poverty, exacerbated by high birthrates and unsustainable land management practices.” The island and its people, who are highly dependent on its natural resources, are forced to engage in destructive environmental activities such as illegal deforestation for fuelwood, charcoal extraction, and canoe making; illegal exportation of precious wood; subsistence agriculture by burning forest areas; overfishing due to growing food insecurity and low income; and poaching, for lemurs especially. The result of these is a loss of 80% of natural areas on the island and an annual loss of 200,000 ha of land, an 80% loss in sportive lemurs, a 31% critical endangerment of all lemur species in Madagascar, and an endangerment of more than 40 current bird species.

In attempting solutions to mitigate the challenges, Lily-Arison Rene de Roland who leads the crew at the Peregrine Fund, Madagascar, seems to have found a working formula to help cut down on the land and species loss, and the deplorable state of human-wildlife cohabitation in the country. For every fiberglass canoe that is provided for a fisherman by Lily and his team, they are able to save eight big trees. Saving these trees translates to ameliorating the breeding season of different bird species, protecting smaller trees which get caught up in the destruction spree, protecting land area, and saving the homes of eagles, lemurs, chameleons, aye-ayes, and civets in the wild.

Lily-Arison is Malagasy born and bred, and has over thirty years of Malagasy conservation experience. He is influential in conservation activities on the island, and that has been made possible by his relationship with the Peregrine Fund, whose Madagascan division he has headed since 2004. Few months ago, he was awarded the National Geographic Conservation Leadership Award in Africa, and has on more than one occasion, discovered lost bird species including the Madagascar pochard and the Dusky tetraka. The Katableps lilyarisoni (Katableps spider) was also named in his honor after a joint effort at discovery. Speaking to The Habibat Project, he gives an interesting backstory on conservation in the country, and more importantly, explains a working “fiberglass approach” to protecting biodiversity in Madagascar – an approach which he insists can only be effective through collaboration with traditional community leaders and adequate sensitization of the locals.

What's your personal background, and how did you find yourself in the conservation field?

Lily: I come from a small village here in Madagascar. I moved into the University in [the] capital [University of Antananarivo] to learn biology – animal biology. At this time, I met the Peregrine Fund project, which decided to support me in [getting] my degrees. So, I received the support of this American project, since I prepared [for] my Master’s and also for my PhD. After I received my PhD, they nominated me as national director of the project.

What was your PhD thesis about, and how has it structured your career so far?

Lily: I studied three species of hawks in Madagascar. Frances's sparrowhawk, Madagascar sparrowhawk, and Goshawk. For the three species of hawks, I did a comparative study on their biology and ecology. So from these studies, I learned a lot on habitat conservation and species conservation, and it gives me more experiences on birds. And I followed…you know Ian Newton?

No, no, I don't.

Lily: Ian Newton is [a] senior ornithologist. I read lots of his publications. So, I put in time [on] what he did, and what I can do here in Madagascar according to the habitat here in Madagascar, so I learn[ed] more about microhabitat behaviors and bird conservation and, also, almost all animal conservation. So, these practice[s] in [the] field are also one of my advantages. I spent a lot of time in [the] field. So, I had the time to learn how exactly to do conservation here in Madagascar. We have worked closely with local communities. I have lots of experiences on community conservation here in Madagascar. I received more training in Africa, like [in] Uganda, Tanzania, [and] Kenya for conservation. And it helped me [with] lots of experiences — what our colleagues in Africa have [also] done. 

What is your conservation story in Madagascar?

Lily: 30 years ago and at the beginning, I was just focused on birds of prey – on raptors, and during this time, two birds of prey endemic to Madagascar were considered as extinct, one is [the] Madagascar serpent eagle and one is [the] Madagascar red owl; both species were considered as extinct. And the project, Peregrine Fund, arrived here in Madagascar to look for robust species. We, with the Peregrine Fund team, discovered the Madagascar red owl, and it also help[ed] us to have technical experiences on how to monitor the raptors. And after, we have continued to learn more on raptors here in Madagascar. And we have worked at [the] West Coast [and] in [the] Northeast of Madagascar. In 2003, our former president wanted to increase [by] three times, the protected areas in Madagascar. At this time, we inside the Peregrine Fund followed up with the government to also create new protected areas. And after we followed the process from the ministry of environment, and in 2015, we created four protected areas – two at the west with dry forest and wetlands, and at the north of Madagascar, and these four protected areas, totaling about 200,000 hectares, have more threatened species of animals like birds, primates, and also reptiles. And also, one specificity of this site is that, at the West Coast, the site belongs to [is controlled by] traditional management. As you see, here in Madagascar, most of [the] areas which are managed by traditional stakeholders before, [are] then followed by many problems, and it makes the degradation very fast.

When you say traditional stakeholders, are you referring to the indigenous owners of the land?

Lily: I [will] give you an example. [The] West Coast is inside a dry forest. Many lakes [are] inside the forest, and the lakes are used by fishermen to catch and sell fish. But [at] the opening of the fishing season, [the fishermen] don’t follow the calendar from [the] fishing ministry, but the traditional leader, [who] decides each year, the time for the opening of [the] fishing season. So, this kind of management is very important. The Peregrine Fund follow[s] this approach to respect this traditional management, to show to all local communities that traditional management is very important to conserve the biodiversity in Madagascar. So, two of the sites at West Coast, which we managed, also have traditional management. We have worked closely with the leaders of the traditional people at [the] West Coast. And at the north…The North is a very important ecosystem as there are rainforests, marshes, savanna, and volcanic lakes.

Can you tell me more about the West Coast and the kind of species over there, and if it is currently threatened by climate change or not?

Lily: It's a dry forest and inside [the] dry forest, there are lakes. In general, [it has] dry forests and wetlands, and at wetlands, there is one critically-[endangered] bird. It is [the] Madagascar fish eagle. We have worked with this critically-[endangered] bird since 1992. Following your question about climate change, as we have worked on the species for more than 50 years now, we observe that climate change happens on this species because [of] the breeding season. Before, the [breeding] season began in May, but since three or four years ago, it comes late for the beginning of the breeding season, this is one point [made about the effect of climate change]. Also, the second point is [that] some nests didn't [have] laid eggs, or if there are eggs, some eggs did not hatch into the nestling. We knew at the time to put camera traps on the nests to see, what exactly is the issue of non-reproduction of these birds? Has the temperature become very high? Or [is it] the factors of food? I hope that in the next two years, we'll have more information on climate change or the other issues on these species.

Share story with friends & colleagues

Is there any other angle from which we can view the effect of climate change on these birds? 

Lily: As I said, we have studied the impact of climate change on these species. In Madagascar, fishing is the best place to learn about climate change. Because we studied [for] almost 51 years on these species, we have a lot of data of the period for [their] breeding season – the quality of their reproduction success, and also [their] quantity of food, and also the quality of lakes. Quality includes the depth of water. Has the depth of water decreased or has the lake changed in quality? And [this investigation is] all in relation [to] climate change. But once [investigation is complete on] the size of the lakes, the quality of the lakes, the quantity of food for the birds, the reproduction success, and the period of reproduction, we can now learn about all of these factors [together] to see [if] the climate change [has] happened on the species or not. So as I said, maybe after three years, we'll have more information on the impact of climate change on Madagascar fishing.

What specific projects are you working on that are timely to Madagascan conservation?

Lily: At the moment, I focus on two points. Firstly, I have supervised lots of students. My feeling is that we need to have more generations to be educated on conservation. So, I support more students to learn about biodiversity and conservation, and I will continue to do this activity. The second is [that] I want to protect the existing forests. As you know, the speed of forest degradation is very fast. To keep the existing forests, there are some programs, not only here in Madagascar, the programs of [the] government to do reforestation. I think it's a good idea, but [for me] the first thing is how to keep the existing forests. So, I have worked mostly with the local communities to sensitize them to keep the existing forests. So, that is two points. It is my big effort to know how to increase the education of the new generation to learn about biodiversity and conservation and also how to keep the habitat…the existing forest left at the moment.

What is that community-based approach that you employ in preserving the remaining forests, and how does it mitigate human-wildlife conflicts in those areas?

Lily: Like at [the] West Coast, we managed wetlands with [a] lot of fish, and this wetland too is the habitat for [the] Madagascar fish eagle. It's a specie [that], as I said, is critically endangered. Some of these species depend on fish for food, and the local communities also need to have more fish to have money for their livelihood [by selling the fishes]. So, what do you do to protect the Madagascar fishing industry [but simultaneously offer] a good life for the local communities – for the fishermen? We need to have [a working] approach on how to do [the] best management for [the] wetland [areas]. So, we have worked with local communities to explain to them the importance of good management of the lakes. For example, the fishermen use wood[en] canoes, and the wood[en] canoes [are] just used for two years, and after two years, they’re broken. They cut big trees to do a wood[en] canoe, and when they cut the big trees, all of the small trees close to the big trees [are] also destroyed, because they didn't follow the [right] techniques [on] how to cut the trees. So after, we looked for financial support to build the fiber canoe [fiberglass canoes]. In my experience, one fiber canoe can be used for 16 years or 20 years. So if we consider it, for 16 years, one fiber canoe can protect eight big trees. If we share [to] them one fiber canoe, we can stop to cut eight big trees. We looked for financial support to give fiber[glass] canoes to fishermen to stop the destruction [of trees] or the tree cutting, and it also make[s] them to save [cut down expenses associated with cutting trees and using wooden canoes]. So we saved more [trees]. We also wrote rules on which period we can [go] fishing and how to sell the fish [for further] production. So, we shared a lot of experiences on how to make their wellbeing [better] and also protect the threatened species [at the same time]. [Through our] approach, we didn't have a conflict between human and wildlife at the moment. And it's like a lesson learned to share to others, what our experiences are on local or community-based conservation here in Madagascar.

Why is the fiberglass canoe successful in protecting biodiversity in Madagascar, and what is the operation behind it? 

Lily: There are societies which build the fiber[glass] canoe here in the capital. I discussed with them [on] how long we can use one fiber[glass] canoe, and they said, at the time, it can be [used for] more than 10 years. When we bought [them for] the first time in 2001, we saw that in 2017, [that] we could [still] use the boat. As we saw [that] from 2001 [to date], that the fiber[glass] canoe can use more years, we looked for financial support to buy more and share to the fishermen. But it's not only to share, we asked them to pay in small amounts. 

When they use [it] during the [fishing] season for example, from June to November, they pay [a] small amount, and at the end of the fishing season, all of the fiber[glass] canoes come back to our camp — [the] research camp. The participation to pay in small amounts [by the fishermen] makes them take care of [the] equipment. We said to them that, next year, we'll pay again…we'll add the participation [contribution by the fishermen] to the new financial support to buy [more fiberglass canoes] again in order to give [to] their colleagues. 

What other similar approaches that are equally instrumental in fighting against this human-wildlife conflict do you adopt? 

It's been [the] same [method we apply] in agricultural activities. On agricultural activities, we gave the agricultural person some seeds. For example, if we give three kilos of beans [seeds] to one person. And at the end of each [farming] production, he can [return] the three kilos; and in this three kilos [of returned beans seeds], we share again to another [group of] people who didn't receive last year. After this, all of the people [living] in the protected areas have seeds to ensure their cultivation, so the production [harvest] is for them. But the seeds we gave him at the beginning, he will give [back] to us to share to another person. In some [other] areas, they are interested in poultry activities, so, we give them trainings on vaccination; we give them equipment like refrigerators to keep the vaccines [safe] and give a training on how to do the vaccination; they receive more [training] activities, and these activities give them [an opportunity] to sell and to have money. It [also] decreases not taking [poaching], for example, lemurs inside a forest as before. I saw [that] local communities took lemurs for food, but after receiving more support and sensitization [on] the importance of biodiversity. It decreased the impact of hunting in protected areas. As you said, [there exists] wildlife and human conflict, but on our side, no, we didn't see the conflict but growth and development.

Corrections/edits applied to text (grammar) on 4 December, 2024.