SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana
Events | Photos of Ghana's frogs & toads | Threats to Ghana's frogs
Help create the Atewa Hills National Park | The Eight Point Plan
KNUST Chapter | T-shirts| In The News | Contact us
Email us: ghana@savethefrogs.com
"The difference between success and failure in saving Ghana's frogs will come down to how much support the outside world provides."
--SAVE THE FROGS! Founder Dr. Kerry Kriger
Introduction
SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana is West Africa's first nonprofit organization dedicated exclusively to amphibian conservation, and is the first international branch of USA-based nonprofit SAVE THE FROGS!. The mission of SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana is to protect Ghana's amphibian populations and to promote a society that respects and appreciates nature and wildlife.
Africa is fraught with both social and environmental problems, and Ghana is an excellent location from which to initiate SAVE THE FROGS! programs that we plan to spread far and wide across the African continent. Over 80% of Ghana's original rainforests have been cleared and a third of the country's amphibians are under threat, yet Ghana has only two professional amphibian biologists (SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana Executive Director Gilbert Adum and Caleb Ofori). In Ghana, there exists only a single copy of the Field Guide to West Africa's Amphibians, the only guide to Ghana's amphibians -- a book that is no longer in print.
With your support, SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana can exponentially grow the number of Ghanaian amphibian biologists; create a new national park in the biodiverse Atewa Hills, which is currently under threat from diamond, gold and bauxite mining; institute programs to replace the frog meat trade and illegal logging with sustainabale, environmentally-friendly sources of income; and produce an up-to-date field guide and other educational materials that will go to every high school in the country. Plus a whole lot more!
Please donate to SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana
SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana was founded in September 2011: we need your financial support to kick the organization into high gear, and spread the SAVE THE FROGS! message across the country...and outwards across the African continent. Please place a tax-deductible contribution to SAVE THE FROGS! USA and then send a note to contact@savethefrogs.com asking us to direct the donation towards SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana. Our estimated budget for the first year of SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana is 22,000 cedis (US$14,300). That would fund the entire Ghanaian frog movement for a year...fantastic value for the dollar! Please help us make it a reality. Thanks!
The Eight-Point Plan for Saving Ghana's Frogs
(1) Inspire youth and students to pursue environmental careers.
--Motivate and engage pre-existent university and high school environmental groups to take part in STF! campaigns; if no such groups exist and/or if we find dedicated students', have them start a STF! Chapter. Chapter organizes campus STF Day event and holds a frogging field trip for students each semester; organizes frog presentations every couple months.
--Get frog education into elementary, middle and high schools.
--Create an up-to-date field guide to Ghana frogs
--Provide 100cedi awards to assist undergrad frog projects
(2) Create a new National Park at Atewa Hills.
The Atewa Range Forest Reserve is a hotspot of biodiversity and is home to the endangered Togo Slippery Frog (Conraua derooi). Unfortunately, the reserve is under constant threat from mining interests and illegal logging, and is not managed as a wildlife reserve. We aim to have the land permanently protected as the Atewa Hills National Park, which would be Ghana's sixth national park. This will benefit both the frogs and the local people, whose livelihoods will improve both from having intact ecosystems nearby and by having the long-term economic benefit of the ecotourism that the Atewa Hills National Park will attract (rather than the short-term benefits that come from unsustainable mining and logging -- most of which accrue to outsiders anyway).
(3) Reduce the consumption of frog legs
In particular, we will focus on communities that regularly eat Pyxicephalus edulis, Hoplobatrachus occipitalis and Conraua derooi.
(4) Educate mining, logging and cocoa companies and see that legislation is enforced
-Provide companies a list of recommendations.
-Work with government agencies to improve enforcement of regulations.
-Logging companies should increase re-planting; fill in potholes, which serve as death traps for tadpoles; maintain proper distance from riparian areas; implement erosion control; avoid endangered frog areas
-Mining: keeping heavy metals out of the water
-Cocoa farms: pesticide use and reducing the percentage that is monoculture.
(5) Institute an Endangered Species Act for Ghana
Ghana currently lacks legislation that explicitly protects endangered wildlife.
(6) Hold annual Save The Frogs Day event(s) and seek legal recognition of the day.
(7) Reduce pesticide use surrounding critical frog habitat.
--Acquire information, which is currently lacking in Ghana's scientific community, e.g. does Ghana government maintain records of amounts of each pesticide imported into the country annually?
--Get Atrazine banned.
--Educate farmers about the hazards of pesticides and alternatives.
8) Create electronic resources such that savethefrogs.com/ghana is the primary source of amphibious information throughout West Africa, and use communications technology to build a large movement of people interested in protecting amphibians.
"I think it's a great thing you guys have going on."
-- Jennifer Lillibridge
Help us create the Atewa Hills National Park
The Atewa Range Forest Reserve is Ghana's most biodiverse -- and most threatened -- wilderness area. There is wide consensus among scientists and NGO's that the reserve should be protected as Ghana's 6th national park: the Atewa Hills National Park. Located near Kibi, halfway between Accra and Kumasi, the Atewa Range Forest Reserve is home to the critically endangered Togo Slippery Frog (Conraua derooi and numerous other amphibian species, as well as a diverse non-amphibious flora and fauna live in the reserve. Mountaintop removal mining, illegal logging and collection of frogs for food threaten the forest's amphibians, so we are working to turn the land into Ghana's sixth National Park: the Atewa Hills National Park. Learn more and find out how you can help!
Photos of Ghana's Frogs & Toads
Ghana is home to 84 known amphibian species: 78 frogs, 5 toads and a caecilian. We've got photos of 18 species up on our Frogs & Toads of Ghana page. Check them out!
"You have my support. Congratulations for this excellent work you are doing in West Africa and in particular in Ghana! Best wishes."
--Dr. N'goran Germain Kouame, Ivory Coast
SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana T-Shirts
These awesome shirts are 100% organic, all proceeds go to SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana, and we can ship them internationally. Order them here.
Events
September 9th, 2011
SAVE THE FROGS! Founder Dr. Kerry Kriger spoke at Kpetoe Middle School (east of Ho in the Volta Region near the Togo border), a rural middle school on September 9th.
September 19th, 2011
I delivered an hour-long presentation on frog conservation to the 200 undergraduates in the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology's Faculty of Renewable Natural Resources. SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana was officially introduced to the public for the first time (to loud applause!) and we announced the formation of a SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana chapter at the university.
Gilbert told the students about the status of amphibian research in Ghana:
We had an enthusiastic question & answer session:
I knew the students were excited about SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana because they REALLY wanted SAVE THE FROGS! wristbands after the talk:
A note from a student who attended my presentation:
"Hi Mr. Kriger, I want to personally express my appreciation to you for the good job you are doing to save humanity and more importantly our environment. I have now an in-depth knowledge about our activities that have the potential to affective other lives around us. I would be glad to play any advocacy role in championing the cause of safe environmental practices that will not endanger any species on planet earth. It takes people like you and your partners to awaken in us the very existence of our being and the crucial role other species play to make our lives worth living. Although I have not yet registered as a member of the Ghana branch of Save The Frogs International, I can proudly say I am a member already! I wish you safe journey every where you go. Once again, congratulations.
Sincerely yours,
Christopher Yaw Dumevi
Department of Silviculture and Forest Management, Faculty of Renewable Natural Resources, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology"
September 22nd, 2011
Logging -- both legal and illegal -- is one of the primary threats to Ghana's wildlife. On September 22nd, Dr. Kriger delivered a presentation on frog conservation to 40 scientists at the Forestry Institute of Ghana (FORIG), the government's largest scientific research organization.
"Hello Kerry, That was a brilliant and informative presentation!"
--Bright Kankam, Head of Wildlife, FORIG
September 25th, 2011 - Kibi, Ghana
SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana Founders Kerry Kriger and Gilbert Adum spoke about the importance of frog conservation to the members of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana in Kibi. Kibi sits at the base of the Atewa Hills, Ghana's most biologically diverse -- and threatened -- wilderness area. The members were very pleased to hear about our plans to create a new national park in their backyard, and train them in new job skills such as beekeeping and mushroom farming, so as to increase their access to food and reduce their need to illegally log the forest and eat the critically endangered Togo Slippery Frogs.
September 29th, 2011 - Kumasi
SAVE THE FROGS! Founder Dr. Kerry Kriger will give a presentation on frog conservation from 12p-1p. The inaugural meeting of the SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana KNUST Chapter will be held from 1p-2pm. Refreshments will be served. All students and professors are welcome to attend. Location: Faculty of Renewable Natural Resources Auditorium
In The News
SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana on Kumasi Radio 94.3FM
On the evening of September 19th, Gilbert and Kerry went to the campus radio station Focus 94.3FM and got interviewed about SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana. At the end of the interview Gilbert gave his phone number to listeners so they could call him if they had questions or wanted to help out: 40 people called in the first 24 hours! You can download an mp3 of the interview here.
SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana in Mongabay
Thanks to Jeremy Hance of Mongabay.com for featuring SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana in his article "Saving Ghana's vanishing frogs".
SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana in FrogLog
Please read this article about SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana written by Gilbert Adum. The article appeared in the November 2011 issue of FrogLog, the newsletter of the Amphibian Specialist Group. Left-click the article to get the PDF.
Threats to Ghana's Frogs
The most significant threats to Ghana's amphibians come from large scale mining and logging, which have contributed to Ghana losing over 80% of its primary forest in the last century. Over-harvesting of frogs for food and fishing bait is a problem in the northern region, and unregulated pesticide use is a problem throughout the country. Public perceptions are also a problem, as frogs are associated with snakes and thus are not generally appreciated. On a positive note, the Ghanaian people are extremely receptive to the SAVE THE FROGS! message, so we are certain that with your support we can diminish many of these threats.
Logging in Ghana
The Upper Guinea Rainforest once covered about 50% of Ghana (the northern half of the country is savannah). The vast majority of Ghana's virgin rainforest is gone now, having been destroyed by large-scale logging beginning in the mid 20th century. Of the 256 forest reserves in Ghana, over 80% currently have logging activity. Only 10-20% of Ghana's primary rainforest remains, and thus significant tracts of frog habitat have disappeared.
Ghana lacks proper regulations to protect riparian corridors (the important frog habitat nearby to streams). As the riparian habitat gets destroyed, frogs lose their homes, and soil erosion degrades the water quality and destroys the habitats of tadpoles, fish and benthic macroinvertebrates (e.g. mayflies and caddisflies). Logging companies often destroy tracts of forest and then leave without re-planting trees to replace what they have taken ("cut-and-run"). We seek money to buy seedlings and involve the local schools in helping to plant trees surrounding critical frog habitat that has been degraded by irresponsible logging. While Ghana does have some logging regulations and guidelines in place, there is an extreme lack of enforcement. To make matters worse, corruption is rampant and many officials look the other way if the price is right.
On top of legal logging by multi-national corporations, there exists a logging mafia in Ghana: organized crime paying villagers to remove timber from nearby forests. Small mills are set up in the forests and people paid to walk out of the forest carrying chopped timber on their heads. The timber then gets sent away to Accra and beyond.
Atrazine in Ghana
If you like endocrine disruptors, then you'll absolutely LOVE Atrazine!
Atrazine not strong enough for you? Try new and improved Atrazila!
Yes, even in Ghana you can purchase Atrazine on the street. SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana will be working to get Atrazine off the market in Ghana, just as SAVE THE FROGS! is working towards a federal ban in the United States. Atrazine is not the only problem pesticide in Ghana: Glyphosate (the harmful ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup) is heavily advertised in Kumasi, which is home to many pesticide shops.
Dissections in Ghana
University biology students dissect frogs and toads in Ghana. As there are no biological suppliers in the country, each student is required to go out and catch their own frog or toad. Thus virtually all dissection specimens in the country are wild-caught and the catch is completely unregulated. Learn all about the problems with frog dissections here.
SAVE THE FROGS! Soccer (Football) Teams in Ghana
Soccer is huge in Ghana...HUGE! If someone is watching TV, it's probably a soccer game. In communities surrounding critical frog habitat, we hope to fund SAVE THE FROGS! soccer teams: all we need to do is pay for the jerseys (which would bear the awesome logo on the right), shin guards and balls, and pay a minimal stipend for a coach. This is one of the best ways to raise awareness and appreciation for frogs in the communities of highest importance to our frog conservation efforts. We can get these soccer teams created for less than a few hundred dollars; if you can help fund one, please contact us or place a donation. Thanks!
Undergraduate Research Awards
Every undergraduate student in the Department of Renewable Natural Resources at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology is required to complete a semester long research project in order to graduate. SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana has committed to awarding a minimum of three awards each semester to talented undergraduates conducting amphibian research projects. The projects will be supervised by STF! Ghana Executive Director Gilbert Adum and will help train the student in amphibian conservation techniques, while gathering important data that STF! Ghana seeks. Awards will be in the amount of 100 cedis ($66), which pays the undergraduate's stipend and associated research costs. Your financial support would be great, please contact us if you would like to sponsor a student!
Recycling in Ghana
Many of us in the western world take recycling for granted: if we care enough to recycle, we can usually find a recycling bin. In Ghana, recycling -- and indeed the entire reduce, re-use, recycle philosophy -- is virtually non-existent. Paper and aluminum get thrown into the trash, fueling the need for more logging and more mountain-top removal bauxite mining. Plastic bags and bottles get tossed onto the side of the road or burnt in roadside piles that pollute the air with unhealthy black smoke, contributing to global warming and unhealthy air pollution. This drives the need for new plastic bags and bottles, which are created from oil, much of which comes from the Nigeria's Delta state, which has been laid to waste by oil companies. SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana's university chapters will be working with their universities to build the infrastructure for recycling (e.g. recycling containers, removal and transportation to the recycling depot), and will be educating students about the importance of recycling.
SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana's KNUST Chapter
SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana's KNUST Chapter is the world's first official student chapter of SAVE THE FROGS!. Based at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi, Ghana, the chapter's mission is to protect the campus' twelve amphibian species and to support the nationwide efforts of SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana. The chapter's inaugural meeting will be held September 29th, 2011. Learn more here.
Frog Art by Kwaku Boakye
Kwaku Boakye is a young artist in Kumasi who recently graduated from the University, majoring in art. He makes really amazing African art on cloth/acrylic. I suggested he attempt some frog art; the picture below is the first round he came up with. I have commissioned him to draw 30 Ghanaian frog images and we will sell for these for $35 (plus standard shipping) to raise funds for SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana. Every piece is 100% unique, with no reprints in existence. Please pre-order your art today, and it will ship in late October.
Kids
These kids deserve a world with cool frogs...please donate to SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana and we'll make sure that world exists.
Materials Needed for SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana
Ghana's scientists and conservationists lack many of the standard tools (techonology and materials) used on a regular basis by their counterparts in developed countries. What they do have is often severely outdated or falling apart. If you can donate your used goods or purchase new items, and ship them to SAVE THE FROGS! Headquarters in California, we can ship them to Ghana. View our Wish List here.
Press Releases
Please help us spread the word by sending our press releases to any interested journalists you know.
September 23rd, 2011: New NGO 'Save The Frogs! Ghana' Formed To Protect Ghana's Disappearing Frogs
Meet Gilbert Adum - Executive Director
Gilbert Adum is the Executive Director and Chief Ecologist of SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana. Through his work with SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana, Gilbert aims to not only prevent the extinction of Ghana's endangered frogs, but also to spread the message of frog conservation and environmental protection across the entire African continent. Learn more about Gilbert here. You can email Gilbert at gilbert@savethefrogs.com.
Spread The Word
Please post any of the icons on this page on your website, linked to http://savethefrogs.com/ghana - Thanks!
SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana as a model for other countries
Being the first international branch of SAVE THE FROGS!, we hope that SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana serves as a model and as inspiration for amphibian conservationists throughout the world to develop their home country's internal frog saving capacities, with an eventual goal of having SAVE THE FROGS! branches throughout the world. We know the ball is rolling already:
"Hi Kerry, I have checked your photos of activities in Ghana. I appreciate your hard and energetic working capacity. I think it is an important achievement for us to raise the voice of amphibian conservation. As like Ghana, I wish to get you in Bangladesh to gear up the amphibian conservation education in Bangladesh. That's why I wish to collaborate with Save The Frogs and submit some grant proposal for funding. I am awaiting your positive response and dreams to create a new era in amphibian conservation education program in Bangladesh.
Thanks, Nurul Islam -- Coordinator of World Animal Day"
"Dear Mr. Gilbert, I am Mr. Ignas Safari, a beginning herpetologist from Dodoma University, Tanzania. I have received good news from Dr. Kerry Kriger of the initiative that you are taking to enhancing the conservation of amphibians in Ghana. I commend your efforts and wish you all the best of luck in your endeavours to save these amazing creatures that are rapidly disappearing. We need to create awareness to our people and governments to value and conserve frogs so that we can curb or rather reduce their rate of extinction. I hope SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana will provide a good lesson to other countries in Africa to value and conserve amphibians. With the kindest regards, Safari Ignas"
"Congratulations for having International Chapters of the "Save the Frogs" in Ghana. We wish that we have one such in India."
-- Professor Krishan Kumar Sharma; Head of Department of Zoology
MDS University in Ajmer, India
"Felicitations Dr Kriger. I am an avid fan of your Save The Frogs campaigns, and have continuously been a recipient of your mails. I read of your campaign in Ghana and was impressed with your global initiative. Ghana just like some West African countries like Nigeria, which is my country, need much awareness on the campaigns which you and your distinguished team are carrying. I am asking that you come to Nigeria so that the ignorant killing of frogs through environmental degradation and agricultural exploitation will be adequately handled.I am looking forward to hearing from you."
--
Oniso-Okonikumen Sampson, Port Harcourt, Nigeria
The history of SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana
SAVE THE FROGS! Founder Dr. Kerry Kriger travelled to Ghana in September 2011 to implement SAVE THE FROGS! programs in the country. Upon meeting Gilbert Adum, it quickly became clear that there was a huge need for SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana, and that the timing was perfect for forming the new organization. Within a week, SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana was officially announced, a Board formed, a plan of action devised and a new era of amphibian conservation in Africa had arisen. We've started the job of saving Ghana's frogs, now we need your help to ensure a safe future for them!
Dr. Kerry Kriger crossing from Ghana (right bank) to Ivory Coast (left bank). With your help SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana's message will spread and take hold in Ivory Coast and across the entire African continent.
SAVE THE FROGS! Vice President Jonathan Tourzan in Kumasi, Ghana February 2012 with SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana Executive Director Gilbert Adum (far left); KNUST Chapter President Henry Howard (2nd from right) and other frog lovers.
"I'm very happy to have come across your website, it's nice to see
people in the world still trying to work towards conservation! Expect some support from me in the near future!"
--Jordan Donini, Crocodile Biologist, Florida Gulf Coast University
Contact us
Email us at:
ghana@savethefrogs.com
Or you can send postal mail to:
SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana
KS 15924
Adum Kumasi
GHANA
Together we can SAVE GHANA'S FROGS!
Website design, photos & content by Kerry Kriger unless otherwise noted.
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