Iroro Tanshi Wins Goldman Prize: Community-led, data-driven conservation protects critical forest habitat

| By Adora Onyile

Ten years ago, Dr. Iroro Tanshi and her team documented a lost species at Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary. The species had not been seen in the wild for 45 years and was assumed to be extinct. It was the Short-tailed roundleaf bat, a tiny insect-eating bat weighing about 7 grams and characterized by its distinct leaf-shaped nose.

Iroro with the endangered Short-tailed roundleaf bat ©Etinosa Yvonne

What should have been a moment of celebration quickly turned catastrophic. Shortly after the discovery, a wildfire broke out where she had just rediscovered the rare bat. What initially appeared as a distant plume crossed the mountain within a few hours, moving with a speed that leveled old-growth trees and charred the forest canopy. Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary holds one of the last two remaining patches of unlogged forest in Nigeria, teeming with rich biodiversity and undocumented species. The fire only took hours to reach neighbouring communities, but continued to burn for weeks.

Wildfire in Afi, 2016

Devastated, but undeterred, Iroro and her team created a Wildfire Prevention and Response Model, driven by data and led by the communities surrounding Afi Mountain, to fire-proof the wildfire-prone habitat against a changing climate. Today, Dr. Iroro Tanshi, bat biologist and co-founder of the Small Mammal Conservation Organization (SMACON), has been named as one of the 2026 winners of the Goldman Environmental Prize for protecting one of Nigeria’s last remaining primary forests from wildfires!

Juvenile Short-tailed roundleaf bat at the entrance of a cave ©SMACON

Each year, the Goldman Environmental Prize, often referred to as the "Green Nobel," honors one individual from each of the six inhabited continental regions for their sustained efforts to protect the natural world. By awarding Iroro the 2026 Prize for Africa, the global community is recognizing the importance of the collaborative conservation work happening across West Africa.

Iroro’s win is a first for bat conservation and grassroots science in Nigeria. It’s a milestone that shows that "small mammals" like bats, often overlooked but ecologically vital, are finally getting the global attention they deserve.

Iroro at a cave entrance, about a meter from the endangered Short-tailed roundleaf bat

Since co-founding SMACON in 2016 alongside Dr. Benneth Obitte, the organization has worked with various partners to address wildfires, conserve at-risk species, and restore fire-damaged habitats. This work remains community-anchored and driven by data.

As an interdisciplinary community ecologist with over a decade of experience in natural history science, her scientific contributions, alongside her collaborators, are well documented. Through the Bats of Nigeria Project, the team has added 10 new bat species to Nigeria’s bat record since 2013, and confirmed 100 distinct bat species, which makes nearly a third of African bat diversity.

The rediscovery catalyzed the conservation program that now protects the species, as well as other at-risk species like the upland horseshoe bat and pangolins across their range in West Africa.

The Wildfire Prevention and Response Model, which protects approximately 10,000 hectares of the rare bat’s only known primary habitat, has kept it free from wildfires for five consecutive dry seasons since 2022. The prominent cause of wildfires is uncontrolled farm fires from communities surrounding Afi Mountain. The landscape supports endangered species such as great apes, bats, pangolins, and drill monkeys. By protecting this critical habitat, the livelihoods of local communities, who are mostly farmers, are safeguarded as well. Following the success of the model, the program has expanded to include an additional 400,000 hectares of forest plagued by life-threatening wildfires. It is now working to support other organizations in the region, monitoring climate change, and building predictive data models.

Community, Forest Guardians putting out a farm fire ©SMACON

Whether as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Washington or a lecturer at the University of Benin, Iroro has always asked: “What do we actually know about the mammals sharing our forests, and what are we missing?” The answer, proven by her work, is that there are still so many ecologically vital species left to protect, if we are willing to do the work.

This award reflects the combined efforts of communities, partners, donors, and the SMACON team. We are incredibly proud of Iroro, but more than that, we are motivated to continue the work with the long-term goal of protecting the biodiversity of our region. 

Previous Nigerian winners of the Goldman Environmental Prize include the late Playwright and environmentalist, Ken Saro-Wiwa, Cross River-based environmentalist Odiga Odigha, and Environmental activist and lawyer, Chima Williams. This makes Iroro the first Nigerian woman to win this prestigious prize.