Target 15.4 Conserve mountain ecosytems
By 2030, ensure the conservation of mountain ecosytems, including their biodiversity, in order to enhance their capacity to provide benefits that are essential for sustainable development
Mt. Kenya and the Mountain Bongo Antelope Repatriation Project
FIU scientists are leading an international effort to save the critically endangered mountain bongo antelope of Kenya. The Mountain Bongo Repatriation Project represents a rare milestone in wildlife conservation, aiming to restore a critically endangered flagship species to self-sustaining levels in the wild from captive U.S. stock. We are on the verge of restoring a sustainable wild bongo population in the Mt. Kenya World Heritage Site with the recent establishment of The Meru Bongo & Rhino Conservation Trust in Kenya. This effort is helping to protect Mt. Kenya and with it, the high-mountain ecosystem that supplies 80 percent of Kenya’s people with clean, fresh water. In collaboration with Meru County Government, Ntimaka and Kamulu Community Forest Associations, Kenya Wildlife Service, Kenya Forest Service, Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, Rare Species Conservatory Foundation (RSCF) and Florida International University's Tropical Conservation Institute, the trust is coordinating recovery of both the Mountain Bongo Antelope and Black Rhinoceros. These critically endangered flagship species have disappeared from Mt. Kenya's forests but now have renewed hope in the wild thanks to aggressive protection, proven conservation science and conservation breeding and effective population management. The trust will oversee a new sanctuary that will receive bongo antelope from RSCF, currently being bred in semi-wild conditions in Florida.
Andes Mountains
Scientists from FIU’s Institute of Environment are going to the far corners of the world and the highest reaches of the Andes Mountains to study and protect frogs in their natural environments and commercially managed areas. Our research teams are also searching for biodiversity, identifying new species of amphibians in previously unexplored parts of the Amazon. One researcher alone has accounted for the discovery of 45 new species of amphibians, along with 7 species of previously unknown reptiles, a diatom and a spider. Recently, FIU scientists were also part of an international collaboration to expedite the establishment of nine new protected areas in Peru within the Amazonian lowlands and Andean foothills bordering Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador. As an increasing number of frog species are threatened with extinction, this work is becoming ever-more critical in helping protect the frogs we know should populate certain areas as well as the ones we don't yet know exist. This research is helping to guide conservation strategies all across the tropics.
Tropical China
Researchers from FIU’s International Center for Tropical Botany are investigating the impacts of climate change on rare and threatened species, how to conserve heavily exploited plant species, and the role of biotic interactions in population persistence and expansion. Their work is conducted in tropical communities around the world including the mountainous terrain of southern China. They are also working on rare plant restoration of endangered orchids and serve as part of the IUCN SSC Orchid Specialist Group and the wild orchid trade subgroup. These researchers are also investigating violations of CITES protection for wild orchids in Asia and fighting to close policy gaps that only prioritize animals. Their research continues to inform conservation strategies and management of some of the world’s rarest plants.