Imagine a monkey so rare, scientists only officially met it in 1993. Now imagine that same monkey, bright red and critically endangered, bouncing back from the brink thanks to one Nigerian conservationist and a whole lot of community buy-in. That's the story of Rachel Ikemeh, who just snagged a 2026 Rolex Award for her work in the Niger Delta.
Ikemeh's mission? Protecting the region's environment, yes, but specifically the Niger Delta red colobus monkey. Locally, they call it epieni. The IUCN, the global authority on who's thriving and who's barely hanging on, has it listed as critically endangered. And for good reason.
Back in the early 90s, roughly 10,000 epieni called the Niger Delta home. By 2013, that number had plummeted to a few hundred. An extinction-level event, basically, for a primate that had barely gotten its official introduction to the world.
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Start Your News DetoxEnter Ikemeh and her team. In 2021, they helped establish a protected area for the epieni in a place called Apoi. This community-protected forest spans a respectable 1,010 hectares (that’s nearly 2,500 acres, for those keeping score at home). And the results? By 2024, the monkey's population in that forest had doubled, soaring from 180-200 individuals in just three years. Let that satisfying number sink in.
Ikemeh's team didn't stop there, helping to set up similar community conservation areas in nearby towns like Garnaut and Kokoloama. Because apparently, once you save one monkey, you start looking around for others who need a hand.
The Power of Community
Ikemeh sees this shiny new Rolex Award not just as a personal win, but as a massive high-five for the entire community conservation model. She's seen the shift firsthand: communities that once eyed outsiders with suspicion, worried the government was coming to swipe their forest, now proudly claim the epieni as their own.
Turns out, having a unique, bright red monkey that only lives in your backyard is a pretty good way to put your village on the map. And a great reason to protect it.
