At this time of the year, many frog species are largely out of sight. There was a time when the monsoon in the mid-hills used to arrive with rain and sound. At dusk, croaking used to rise from the paddy fields, flooded furrows, and every marsh's edge in the lowlands. A chorus so constant, it felt like the voice of the season. I used to get annoyed by their sound while sleeping, but now I am desperate to hear it.
Their absence raises a question in my mind: what if some of these species disappeared from our sight, not just for this year, but forever?
A Silent Crisis
The Second Global Amphibian Assessment revealed that extinction threatens 40% of all amphibian species, and globally, amphibian populations have declined by an estimated 40% since the 1970s (Luedtke et al., 2023; Stuart et al., 2004). Amphibians are at the forefront of this decline because of habitat loss combined with agricultural expansion, haphazard urbanization that fragments populations and isolates groups, changing monsoon patterns, heavy pesticide use in rice fields, and river pollution, contamination, and fungal disease. In Nepal, this threat is even higher, as habitat loss is compounded by the consumption of bush-meat for some species, like the paha (Shrestha & Gurung, 2019). Among all these physical threats, there is a social one: the near-total absence of public awareness, where these losses continue without documentation and without getting noticed. It feels like frogs are becoming invisible victims, and we are ill-equipped to help them.
Do We Need to Protect Frogs Too?
A few months back, while I was facilitating an amphibian conservation workshop, I came across a situation where participants were confused about why people were pleading to save species like frogs — ordinary, familiar animals, unlike the tigers, rhinos, and elephants they'd heard needed conserving. Frogs simply didn't register as something to protect.
When I asked grade 8 students at Dulaleshwor English Secondary School when they had last heard a frog croaking, they said they had not heard it. Some smiled uncertainly; others shrugged. For many of them, frogs were simply not creatures they noticed — not special enough to warrant protection, just background presence, quietly carrying the weight of their own decline.
One student asked, half-laughing, "Do we need to protect frogs too?"
It was an honest question and perhaps the most important one asked that day. Our primary school textbooks dedicate entire chapters to the life cycle, morphology, and habitat requirements of frogs. In grade 11, students still dissect frogs as part of the annual curriculum. And yet, through a conservation lens, frogs remain overlooked and invisible in our communities — a gap that points to the need for greater awareness and education about their conservation.
What We Owe the Frogs
We are just strands in the complex fabric of nature, not its rulers. Every species that walks, swims, or flies beside us has an equal right to exist and matters equally to this world. Each species is unique and has its own role in the ecosystem, and frogs are no exception, even though we know very little about them. They:
- Are indicators of a healthy river
- Act as natural pest controllers
- Serve as a farmer's unpaid ally in the lowlands of the Terai and mid-hills, reducing dependence on chemical pesticides
- Serve as a critical food source for snakes, birds, and other wildlife — an integral part of the food web at multiple levels
There is still much we don't know about the advantages these magnificent creatures offer us.
What Conservation Could Look Like
There could be different conservation approaches for different issues, but what truly matters is working to save species from extinction. The consequences in the mid-hills are not abstract. We can still root for amphibian conservation through environmental education that goes beyond the dissection table; education that can change how students see frogs, as living beings rather than laboratory equipment. As conservation gains space in textbooks, including a Save the Frogs program would play a pivotal role. Schools could incorporate amphibian conservation activities on Fridays, and programs like Save the Frogs Day can make that learning tangible, memorable, and locally rooted.
While geneticists work tirelessly in their labs, others could contribute policy feedback to shape proper conservation plans. Researchers could map the dimensions of the problem and seek ways to solve it. Others could focus on community engagement, building local conservation awareness.
In the community, increased awareness about conservation, ecological chains, and reduced pesticide use will let soil and amphibians breathe. Infrastructure development projects should factor in wetland conservation and species well-being — we can all coexist in this place.
Not Just for Scientists
Next year, when I stand in that classroom again for Save the Frogs Day, I want to tell those students who once asked, "Do we need to protect frogs too?" — yes, we must! Not because frogs are special, charismatic, or celebrated, but because our ecosystem cannot afford to lose them.
Conserving a species is not work done only by scientists and conservationists. It is a collaborative effort — from students choosing not to throw pebbles at frogs, to something as small as putting plastic in a dustbin. It belongs to farmers who share their fields with frogs and benefit from them, and to each person who has ever heard the croaking sound on a monsoon night.
Acknowledgments
I am sincerely thankful to Save The Frogs! for financially supporting this conservation work through the 2026 Save The Frogs Day Grant. I would also like to thank WILD Care Nepal for technical guidance and session facilitation. My sincere thanks go to Melamchi Community Secondary English School and Shree Saraswati Secondary School in Sindhupalchok District, and Bal Jyoti English School and Shree Dulaleshwor Secondary School in Kavrepalanchok District, for permission to conduct conservation awareness sessions. I would also like to thank Sushma Gosai, Prakash Poudel, and Dr. Kerry Kriger for their valuable support throughout this conservation work.
References
Luedtke, J. A., Chanson, J., Neam, K., Hobin, L., Maciel, A. O., Catenazzi, A., ... & Stuart, S. N. (2023). Ongoing declines for the world's amphibians in the face of emerging threats. Nature, 622(7982), 308-314.
Shrestha, B., & Gurung, M. B. (2019). Ethnoherpetological notes regarding the paha frogs and conservation implication in Manaslu Conservation Area, Gorkha District, Nepal. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, 15(1), 23.
Stuart, S. N., Chanson, J. S., Cox, N. A., Young, B. E., Rodrigues, A. S., Fischman, D. L., & Waller, R. W. (2004). Status and trends of amphibian declines and extinctions worldwide. Science, 306(5702), 1783-1786.