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

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.

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.

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.

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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.

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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.