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SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana Wins Conservation Leadership Award

Congratulations to SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana Executive Director Gilbert Adum and his team for winning Conservation Leadership Award of $15,000, for the protection of Ghana’s Critically Endangered Squeaker Frog (Arthroleptis krokosua). The Squeaker Frog is in immediate trouble of extinction as only 12 individuals are known to exist, all in an unprotected forest patch in Western Ghana’s Sui River Forest Reserve. SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana will collect data on the Squeaker Frog’s population status and habitats, and launch an education program to increase awareness among local people and the general public. On behalf of the team, Gilbert Adum will also attend a two-week Conservation Leadership & Management Training Workshop at a remote ecological research station in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies, where he will learn important leadership skills to help himself and team members become the next generation of experts at the forefront of conservation in Ghana and globally.

Giant Squeaker Frog (Arthroleptis krokosua)

SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana Executive Director Wins a Second Rufford Grant Award

Congratulations to SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana Executive Director Gilbert Adum for winning his second Rufford Small Grants award of £6,000 (US$9,000). The award will enable Gilbert Adum and his SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana team to restore and protect the habitats of Ghana’s Critically Endangered Squeaker Frog (Arthroleptis krokosua). The Squeaker Frog is in immediate danger of extinction as only 12 individuals are known to exist, all in an unprotected forest patch in Western Ghana’s Sui River Forest Reserve. However, the combination of logging, farming, mining and the invasion of the non-native weed Chromolaena odorata are causing the species to decline and preventing its recovery from the brink of extinction. Within an area of 20 hectares, Gilbert and his team will remove the invasive C. odorata which impedes the frogs’ movement and replant fast-growing native trees, and launch an education program to increase conservation awareness among local people and the general public.

On Gilbert’s 1st Rufford project, apart from large surveys that he and his team conducted for the Squeaker Frog and other frogs, they successfully trained local stakeholders in general amphibian ecology, survey and conservation strategies. The project also established that the deadly amphibian disease chytridiomycosis is absent from Ghana. In a paper co-authored in PLoS ONE (Penner et al. 2013), the work contributed to a large pool of similar, c. 800 samples, showing that the disease is also absent from the whole of West Africa (western Nigeria to Senegal). In addition, they organised Ghana’s first ever training workshop on amphibian diseases held in the capital, Accra. With focus on chytridiomycosis, participants from different organisations and institutions across the county received relevant training on amphibian diseases surveillance, monitoring and prevention strategies.

Thanks to the Rufford Small Grants Foundation for helping save the Giant Squeaker Frog!

Illegal logging in Giant Squeaker Frog (Arthroleptis krokosua) habitat

SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana Wins Award from British Ecological Society

Congratulations to SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana Executive Director Gilbert Adum and his team for winning £2,000 ($3,000) from the British Ecological Society (BES). Capacities of SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana UCAES Chapter members and other Ghanaian ecologists are to be enhanced in the conservation of the Critically Endangered Togo Slippery Frog (Conraua derooi) and other frogs at the Atewa Forest.

SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana will organize field courses and workshops on the ecology, survey and monitoring techniques of the frogs and also train ecologists in effective communication skills for targeted local audiences. SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana will also establish three of its junior chapters in local schools, and educate the school children to help ensure they grow up with respect and appreciation for their natural heritage.

Meanwhile, SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana continues to rally support across Ghana and internationally to get Government to rescind its decision to mine the Atewa Forest for bauxite, and to permanently protect the forest as the Atewa Hills National Park. The Atewa Forest is currently unprotected, and the Critically Endangered Togo Slippery Frogs (as well as over 700+ butterfly species that live there) are under serious threat from illegal logging, mountaintop removal mining and people hunting the frogs for food.

SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana is grateful to BES for helping to SAVE THE FROGS!

Togo Slippery Frog photographed by SAVE THE FROGS! Founder Dr. Kerry Kriger

SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana Wins Award from German-based Species Conservation Foundation

Congratulations to SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana for winning the Amphibian Conservation Fund grant award of €4,000 (US$5,360) from German-based Species Conservation Foundation (Stiftung Artenschutz). The award will enable SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana to promote the recovery of Ghana’s Critically Endangered Giant Squeaker Frog (Arthroleptis krokosua). The Giant Squeaker Frog is in immediate danger of extinction as only 12 individuals are known to exist, all in an unprotected forest patch in Western Ghana’s Sui River Forest Reserve. However, the combination of logging, farming, mining and the invasion of the non-native weed Chromolaena odorata are causing the species to decline and preventing its recovery from the brink of extinction. SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana will remove the invasive C. odorata which impedes the frogs’ movement and plant fast-growing native trees, and launch an education program to increase conservation awareness among local people and the general public.

The Species Conservation Foundation (Stiftung Artenschutz) established the Amphibian Conservation Fund to support International NGOs to help conserve and carry out researches on endangered amphibian species or subspecies in the world. The ACF’s call is in response to recent alarming global amphibian decline to find answers and provide solutions to help reverse the situation. SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana appreciates their efforts in helping to save the Endangered Giant Squeaker Frog!

A very special thank you thank you to The Species Conservation Foundation (Stiftung Artenschutz) for this grant.