I am a conservationist interested in human-wildlife coexistence. My background is in conservation biology with a B.Sc. in biodiversity and ecology and a M.Sc. in international nature conservation. Before my undergraduate studies, I worked with the African Alliance for Developmental Action in Cameroon helping to implement a variety of projects promoting environmentally and socially sustainable livelihoods in rural communities. Later, as part of my MSc, I conducted an internship and data collection for my thesis in collaboration with the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation in Iran. Here I studied patterns of law enforcement and poaching in protected areas and helped in the development and implementation of projects to conserve Asiatic cheetahs and their habitats. During this time, I learnt the importance of working with all local stakeholder groups and of considering the interests and conflicts involved.
Hoping to contribute to the mitigation and resolution of conservation conflicts and to increase awareness of the importance, within conservation, of understanding people is what drew me to ConHuB. More broadly, I am interested in baseline ecological research, both on land and in marine environments, especially on endangered mammal species, spatial analyses and social research where there is an applied benefit for species conservation. My particular interest is in protected area management.
There are few things more encouraging than to see people braving challenges such as political or economic limitations to study and protect endangered species, inspire respect for nature in their communities, support their community members to achieve higher well-being and co-create models of sustainable habitat conservation and coexistence of people and wildlife.
Ultimately, I aim to help dedicated, local conservationists thrive and succeed in these challenging efforts.