Oct 5, 2026 |
The four new chameleon species described this year in the mountains of northern Mozambique are being assessed for inclusion on the IUCN Red List and thus strengthen their protection.
The species, reported by KAMBAKU in April, were found during expeditions carried out on Mounts Ribáuè, Namuli, Inago and Chiperone, each one confined to a single mountain. The study describing them was published in April in the journal Vertebrate Zoology..
Herpetologist Krystal Tolley, of the University of Johannesburg, co-author of the scientific description of the species, expects all four to be classified in threatened categories, owing to the speed at which they are losing habitat, according to an article published in the scientific journal Nature..
Also according to the publication, a comparison between old and recent satellite images indicates that some of these forests have lost between 50% and 90% of their extent, mainly to agriculture. Christopher Anderson, co-chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission's chameleon specialist group, reminded the publication that Red List assessments take time, because experts must first gather and analyse the necessary data. "Range-restricted species become highly vulnerable when their habitat is fragmented and declining," he said. The mountains where the chameleons live are already recognised as Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs), and Tolley argued, in statements gathered by Nature Africa, that formal description is a condition for strengthening that protection. "If we do not name species, we cannot use them to motivate for KBA status or other types of protection".
On a neighbouring mountain, protection has already taken legal form. Mount Mabu, home to another species of the same genus, N. baylissi, classified as Near Threatened according to the Reptile Database, has become a conservation area. According to BIOFUND, the Government approved the creation of the Mount Mabu Community Conservation Area through Ministerial Diploma No. 69/2026 of the Ministry of Agriculture, Environment and Fisheries, published in the Boletim da República on 24 August. The area covers around 9,341 hectares of tropical forest in Lugela district, Zambézia, on a mountain close to 1,700 metres high that holds one of the largest continuous blocks of mid-altitude forest in southern Africa.
The creation of the area was the main expected outcome of the Mount Mabu conservation and community development project, part of the PROMOVE Biodiversidade programme, funded by the European Union and implemented by BIOFUND in coordination with the National Administration of Conservation Areas (ANAC).
Nature Africa cites Mabu as an example of a forest that community-based conservation has helped to protect, and botanist Iain Darbyshire, of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, stressed to the publication that protecting these mountains requires involving and benefiting those who live around them. On Mabu, this model now has defined rules. According to Lusa news agency, the diploma hands management to a Community Management Council, provides for the drawing up of a participatory management plan to define zones and rules for the use of natural resources, and makes their exploitation subject to licensing.
Photo: Krystal Tolley
