Project Title: Gauging community interest in Protected Area establishment for the threatened turtles of South Sudan (2018-2019)
Project Summary:
The Nubian flapshell turtle Cyclanorbis elegans (Tryonichidae) is one a Critically Endangered freshwater species with no surviving individual in captivity. According to (Baker et., 2016) state that less than ten (10) individuals of the Nubian flapshell turtle (Cyclanorbis elegans) was observed in the wild during the last 50 years. The Nubian flapshell turtle is the fifth most threatened chelonian species in the world (Turtle Conservation Coalition, 2018). This species has been searched for decades along its historical range of occurrence in large rivers of the Saheko-Sudanese belt from the Mole River in northern Ghana to the Sobat River Basin of South Sudan. Information on its ecology and natural history is very scanty, and summarized in Baker et al. (2015). However, this freshwater turtle species was rediscovered in 2017 along the White Nile between Juba and Mangalla, South Sudan by the lead researcher from Institute of Ecology, Conservation, Development and Cooperation, and collaborator researcher from University of Juba and collaborator researcher from Alliance for Environment and Rural Development
Project Goal and Objective
The specific objective of this project aims
1) To determine the current distribution of Cyclanorbis elegans in South Sudan.
2) To investigate the abundance of Cyclanorbis elegans in the wild in the few presences known sites so far in South Sudan.
3) To conduct awareness raising campaigns with local communities and government agencies in order to enhance the local protection of this endangered freshwater turtle species in South Sudan.