Nigeria’s Rachel Ikemeh wins Rolex Award for efforts to save rare red monkey

Nigerian conservationist Rachel Ikemeh has won the 2026 Rolex Award for her work protecting the Niger Delta red colobus monkey, known locally as epieni, whose population crashed from roughly 10,000 in 1993 to just hundreds by 2013.

Working with communities in Apoi, Ikemeh helped establish a 1,010-hectare community-protected area in 2021; by 2024 the local population had roughly doubled, and neighboring communities have since set up their own conservation zones.

The $123,000 prize will fund four new community conservation areas, including the region's first locally managed marine zone, plus a mobile education program. Ikemeh notes the monkey's total range remains tiny and vulnerable to disease, unrest, oil pollution, logging, and sand mining, and that funding for the work remains tied to short-term grants.

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