On April 20, 2026, Nigerian conservation ecologist Iroro Tanshi received the Goldman Environmental Prize for her work preventing wildfires and protecting endangered species in southeastern Nigeria. Her efforts center on the Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary, a 24,700-acre rainforest established in 2000, and the adjacent Afi River Forest Reserve, which host endangered gorillas, chimpanzees, drill monkeys, and rare bat species. In 2016, Tanshi co-founded the Small Mammal Conservation Organisation (SMACON), where she serves as co-executive director, and that same year rediscovered the short-tailed roundleaf bat in Nigeria after 45 years. The species, with fewer than 1,500 individuals believed to remain globally, had not been documented anywhere for five years before her team's discovery in Cross River caves. Two weeks after confirming the bat's presence, a massive wildfire swept through the sanctuary, destroying thousands of acres and forcing Tanshi and her team to flee. She described feeling shame and loss over the potential destruction of the bat's only known habitat. Raised in Warri, Delta State, Tanshi developed an early interest in wildlife through documentaries, later studying environmental science and focusing on the impacts of oil exploration. To prevent future fires, she studied U.S. fire-monitoring systems, received training linked to the U.S. Forest Service, and introduced firefighting tools to 16 rural communities near the sanctuary, home to about 27,000 people. Many of these communities practice controlled bush burning for cassava, cocoa, and plantain farming, but climate change has disrupted traditional timing, turning small fires into uncontrollable blazes. Tanshi worked with locals to adapt burning practices to shifting weather patterns, emphasizing community-led solutions. "Just tell us the best time to burn," one woman said. "The weather has changed."
Iroro Tanshi built a conservation mission around saving bats, only to realise the survival of people and forests depended on changing human behaviour, not just protecting species. Her work shows that climate impacts are already distorting traditional farming knowledge in Cross River's 16 communities. When a woman asked for guidance on when to burn, it revealed how deeply local livelihoods are now entangled with ecological collapse. Solutions imposed from outside failed, but listening to farmers turned survival into shared purpose.
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