The New Georgia monkey-faced bat, which was previously thought to be extinct, has been rediscovered on Kolombangara Island!

With support from the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) through our investment in the East Melanesian Islands biodiversity hotspot, the University of Queensland (UQ) is assessing the distribution and conservation status of the most threatened endemic terrestrial vertebrates at key biodiversity areas on Gatokae, Vangunu, Kolombangara, Makira and Ghizo islands.

UQ is also drafting management plans to conserve confirmed populations and their habitats in collaboration with customary landowners, and preparing a textbook on terrestrial biodiversity of the Solomon Islands and its conservation, plus identification guides to mammals and amphibians.

Learn more about the recent discovery.

Established in 2000, the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) is a global leader in enabling civil society to participate in and influence the conservation of some of the world's most critical ecosystems. CEPF is a joint initiative of l'Agence Française de Développement (AFD), Conservation International, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the Government of Japan, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the World Bank. CEPF is unique among funding mechanisms in that it focuses on high-priority biological areas rather than political boundaries and examines conservation threats on a landscape scale. From this perspective, CEPF seeks to identify and support a regional, rather than a national, approach to achieving conservation outcomes and engages a wide range of public and private institutions to address conservation needs through coordinated regional efforts.