Celebrating 25 Years of Action for Biodiversity

[ ] 35 East Africa — A flying fox takes a giant leap towards recovery With support from the GEF, conservation groups have helped a rare bat species in East Africa turn away from the brink of extinction By the 1990s, the Pemba flying fox (Pteropus voeltzkowi), a species of fruit bat with a wingspan of five-and-a-half feet, was at risk of disappearing. Endemic to Pemba Island, a small landmass in the Zanzibar archipelago of Tanzania, the species was hunted and eaten widely throughout the island. By the 1990s, 95 per cent of its forest habitat had been destroyed, and its reproductive rates had dropped to an all-time low. Flora & Fauna International and its local partner, the Department of Commercial Crops, Fruits and Forestry, collaborated on emergency intervention measures. Thanks to these efforts, the Pemba flying fox has taken a dramatic turn from the edge of extinction. By 2010, surveys reported that the bat had fully recovered to somewhere between 22,000 and 35,600 individuals. Consequently, the species was downgraded to Vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)’s Red List of Threatened Species.™ As part of its work, FFI helped reduce the threat to bats from hunting, set up two new forest reserves to safeguard the bat’s habitat, raised awareness of the need for conservation throughout Pemba’s communities and helped develop the island’s ecotourism potential. Global Environment Facility