This campaign has now closed
Bats without Borders aims to support and mobilise African bat conservation across southern Africa. We will set up the first southern African fruit bat monitoring programme to gather species occurrence data to inform conservation priorities for threatened species and important fruit bat roosts.
Categories
Beneficiaries
Situation
Fruit bats play critical roles in pollination and seed dispersal. Despite their contribution to environmental stability and ecosystem services, they are considered at high risk of extinction with visible tree roosting sites making them easy targets for human persecution. Data on fruit bat populations across Africa are currently lacking and a better understanding of the locations and use of important fruit bat roosts would help to inform conservation efforts.
Solution
We are focused on strengthening in-country capacity for bat conservation across southern Africa by establishing a network of bat groups and bat conservationists. Volunteer bat groups in the UK and elsewhere have been critical to monitoring bat populations and we believe these groups can do the same in Africa. Having trialed a fruit bat community science project in (Malawi) we intend to utilise this newly established network to roll out an Africa-wide fruit bat monitoring programme.
