Cover Conservationist and 2026 Rolex Awards Laureate Rachel Ikemeh (Photo: courtesy of Rolex)
Conservationist and 2026 Rolex Awards Laureate Rachel Ikemeh (Photo: courtesy of Rolex)
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Nigerian conservationist Rachel Ikemeh is one of the five Laureates named in the 50th edition of the Rolex Awards, recognised for a community-led project that has protected 13 threatened species across Nigeria’s Niger Delta
In recognition of her two decades of community-led conservation work that has protected more than 10,000 hectares of forest across the Niger Delta and brought the critically endangered Niger Delta red colobus monkey back from near extinction, Nigerian conservationist Rachel Ikemeh has been named one of the five laureates of the 2026 Rolex Awards.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the programme, previously called the Rolex Awards for Enterprise. It was launched in 1976, 50 years after Rolex released the Oyster, the first waterproof wristwatch. To mark the anniversary, Rolex has renamed the programme the Rolex Awards. It is part of the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative, which funds individuals working to protect habitats and species.
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Above Foropa from above, a region in the Niger Delta where Ikemeh is working (Photo: courtesy of Rolex)
Foropa from above, a region in the Niger Delta where Ikemeh is working (Photo: courtesy of Rolex)
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Ikemeh’s work is set in the Niger Delta, part of the Guinean Forests of West Africa and an internationally recognised biodiversity hotspot. The delta, which is home to the world’s third-largest mangrove forest and Africa’s second-largest swamp forest, supports thousands of plant and animal species. It also provides natural flood control and groundwater recharge for the surrounding region.
The delta is also among the most degraded environments in the world. The oil-rich region is central to Nigeria’s oil industry, and has also absorbed thousands of oil spills. Polluted waterways have pushed local fishing communities towards the logging industry instead, adding further pressure to an already damaged habitat.
Ikemeh founded the South- West/Niger Delta Forest Project (SWNDFP) to address this directly. She began in Apoi, an Ijaw fishing settlement in Bayelsa State, within the delta. The village borders the Apoi Creek Forest Reserve, a wetland of nearly 30,000 hectares protected under the international Ramsar Convention, a global treaty that safeguards wetlands of ecological importance. The reserve is one of the last habitats of the Niger Delta red colobus monkey, known locally as the epieni. In 2021, after years of negotiation with local stakeholders, she established a 1,000-hectare conservation area policed by the Apoi community. The project now protects at least 12 threatened species beyond the red colobus, including the grey parrot, Home’s hinge-back tortoise, West African dwarf crocodile, white-bellied pangolin, Anambra waxbill, red-capped mangabey, Nigerian white-throated monkey, and sitatunga, an antelope. The programme has also resulted in recovered fishery stocks in the mangrove habitat.
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Above A colobus monkey, pictured in Nigeria’s Niger Delta. Conservationist Rachel Ikemeh is credited with saving the red colobus monkey from extinction by identifying the last area the species is found in the wild, and protecting it (Photo: courtesy of Rolex)
A colobus monkey, pictured in Nigeria’s Niger Delta. Conservationist Rachel Ikemeh is credited with saving the red colobus monkey from extinction by identifying the last area the species is found in the wild, and protecting it (Photo: courtesy of Rolex)
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The Apoi community has gained from the project too, through jobs, education and alternative livelihood schemes. Ikemeh has since replicated the model elsewhere in the delta: SWNDFP now runs four conservation areas covering more than 10,000 hectares and has engaged more than 18,000 people in conservation education.
With Rolex’s backing, Ikemeh plans to set up four more community conservation areas, as well as a training hub offering courses in project development, habitat management and sustainable livelihoods. One new site marks new territory for her: a locally managed marine protected area in Foropa, on the delta’s coast, the region’s first such area.
Ikemah has noted a shift in attitudes since she began the project 21 years ago. “Girls were not doing what I was doing. Nigerians weren’t doing what I was doing,” she says. But recently, she says, as in the press release from Rolex, “One of my team members asked a young boy from the community what he wanted to be when he grew up. He pointed at me.” Ikemeh joins the 165 Laureates supported by the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative since its 2019 launch, across more than 30 partners working in oceans, landscapes, and science, health and technology. They include Sylvia Earle, Cristina Mittermeier and Paul Nicklen in ocean conservation, and Rewilding Argentina and Rewilding Chile in landscape restoration.
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As the Regional Editor for Watches and Jewellery and Editorial Content Lead for Tatler GMT, Amrita Katara specialises in luxury watch and jewellery coverage across Asia, with expertise in editorial strategy, feature writing and interviews with industry leaders. Her past roles span luxury lifestyle media and client partnerships. Based in Mumbai, Amrita’s work bridges global trends and Asian market insights.
