Community-led conservation has helped the critically threatened Niger Delta red colobus population roughly double from a low of about 200 in Nigeria.
“When you want something to be sustainable, you want it to be stewarded by the people who live closest to it and by the people who need it for their livelihood,” said Rachel Ikemeh, Nigerian conservationist and founder of the South-West/Niger Delta Forest Project.
Ikemeh began working with local communities after finding the monkey close to extinction, establishing a 2,500-acre protected area where four groups now thrive and raise young. Her programme has since expanded to protect more than 20,000 acres of forest and at least 16 threatened species, while supporting nearly 14,000 livelihoods. It has also established Nigeria’s first locally managed marine area, with former hunters, loggers and fishermen helping protect wildlife and restore habitats across the Niger Delta.
