At the beginning of October, the Amphibian Survival Alliance (ASA) attended the meeting of the African Amphibian Working Group in George, South Africa. It was an incredible and vibrant event, gathering almost 40 researchers from several African and European countries. ASA was represented by its Communications and Partnership Officer, Luis Fernando Marin da Fonte. He gave a talk about our work and took the opportunity to make contacts with potential new partners working with amphibian conservation in the African continent.
Among the 32 talks presented in the meeting, it was great to see several ASA partners presenting the amazing work they conduct in Africa. Joshua Weeber, from Endangered Wildlife Trust, gave an incredible talk about his work with the Critically Endangered Table Mountain Ghost Frog in South Africa. Francis Osei-Gyan and Michael Akrasi represented herp Conservation Ghana. They presented two talks about the fantastic work the group is conducting in Ghana. Mark-Oliver Rödel, from Frogs & Friends, gave a very important talk about the Critically Endangered Nimba Toad, a microendemic and very peculiar amphibian species from West Africa.
During the event, three of our ACRS Future Leaders of Amphibian Conservation had the chance to meet again and to have a nice time together. Besides Luis, Kirsty Jane Kyle and Fortunate Mafeta Phaka (both from South Africa) also attended the meeting and presented talks about their work.
Congratulations to the organizers of this amazing event! We are looking forward to meeting all of you again in Namibia at the next meeting!
Photo © Alan Channing