Nigerian conservationist Rachel Ikemeh has been named the 2026 Rolex Award laureate, for her work with communities in the Niger Delta to protect the region’s ecology and the critically endangered Niger Delta red colobus monkey.
The red colobus (Piliocolobus epieni), a monkey known as epieni by the region’s communities, is listed as one of the world’s 25 most endangered primates by the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority. It was first described scientifically in 1993. At the time, there were about 10,000 epieni estimated to be living across its limited range in the Niger Delta. However, by 2013, their numbers had plunged to just hundreds rather than thousands of individuals, Ikemeh noted in a study.
In 2021, Ikemeh and her colleagues helped establish a 1,010-hectare (2,496-acre) community-protected area for the epieni in Apoi, a town within the monkey’s range.
By 2024, the monkey’s population had doubled within the community-protected forest, from 180-200 individuals in 2021, Ikemeh told Mongabay by email. She added the team has since helped create community conservation areas in the neighboring communities of Garnaut and Kokoloama.
The award “feels less like a personal honour and more like validation for the community model itself,” Ikemeh said.
She added she’s optimistic about the epieni’s future because she’s seen community perception around their conservation model shift over the years. “[T]he same community who once suspected we’d come to ‘collect their forest’ for the government now talk about epieni as a source of pride, something that put their village on the map,” Ikemeh said. “That change in attitude is the real conservation infrastructure; it’s what makes this conservation story very meaningful to tell.”
Ikemeh said Apoi community members have even hosted six other communities to learn about their community conservation model.
However, epieni conservation still faces challenges. “Outside the protected areas and across the Niger Delta region, there are still threats from oil pollution, logging is rampant, overfishing, indiscriminate hunting and recently black sand mining by the seashores amongst others,” Ikemeh said. “Also, the overall population of epieni is still small and confined to a tiny area, so a disease outbreak, or spike in unrest could undo a lot of this progress quickly.”
She said most funding for their work is also still tied to specific short-term grants and projects. Furthermore, while communities have embraced conservation, Ikemeh said the underlying economic pressures, including poverty and the lack of jobs, still remain.
Ikemeh said the 100,000 Swiss franc ($123,000) Rolex Award will allow for her team to set up four new community conservation areas around Apoi. This will include the first locally managed marine community conservation area in the region. She added the money will also help them establish a mobile environmental education program to reach communities they haven’t been able to visit.
Banner image: Nigerian conservationist Rachel Ikemeh is a winner of the 2026 Rolex Awards. Image courtesy of Rolex Awards.
