Africa Chapter 2019 Nominations

Dr. Edu O. Effiom

Dr. Edu Effiom is a community Ecologist with interest in addressing global change impacts and policy reforms. Dr. Effiom is a research Fellow with the Biodiversity Unit, Lund University, Sweden where she earned a PhD degree in Animal Ecology in 2013. Dr. Effiom is a visiting Lecturer at A. P. Leventis Ornithological Research Institute, University of Jos, Nigeria where she earned a Master’s degree in Conservation Biology. Dr Effiom is deeply passionate about translating sciences into practice on ground. She does this by facilitating opportunities for capacity building for African scientists and students, strengthening institutional governance and policy frameworks to promote biodiversity conservation. She served as a Lead Author for IPBES (Intergovernmental Science-Policy platform on biodiversity and ecosystem services), Africa regional assessment from 2014-2017, State delegate, Governors Climate and Forest Taskforce (2015-2017). She has over 10 years professional and managerial experience in linking research-based sustainable natural resource and climate management strategies with local, state, national and global green growth development policies that result in eco-friendly livelihoods-oriented development in Nigeria and Africa. Dr. Effiom is a Director of Forestry at Cross River State Forestry Commission, Nigeria, where she coordinated the State REDD+ Program readiness (2014-2018), and currently the UNDP-GEF assisted Sustainable fuelwood management Project. She is also an ATBC councillor and the Interim Coordinator, ATBC Africa Chapter.

Dr. Onja H. Razafindratsima

Dr. Onja Razafindratsima is a Malagasy tropical ecologist, currently working as an Assistant Professor at South Dakota State University in USA. She has  been conducting research in Madagascar’s biodiverse rainforests for more than a decade. She has contributed by increasing the professional capacities of Malagasy tropical ecologists and conservation biologists through numerous workshops and field courses. She joined ATBC after attending the eye-opening annual meeting for the first time in Arusha, Tanzania in 2011. This was the first ATBC meeting on the continent, and her interest helped shape her involvement in the second ATBC meeting in Africa, this year’s meeting in Madagascar. As a tropical ecologist who has lived and conducted all her research and promoted conservation initiatives in the tropical forests of Madagascar, the Association’s mission resonates well with her own mission. Ever since 2011, she has been actively involved in several activities within ATBC, as a volunteer during early ATBC annual meetings, to being an officer in the Student and Early Career SCIentist (SECSCI) Chapter, a mentor for ATBC’s mentoring program, a Council member chairing the capacity building committee, and an Advisory Board member for the organization of ATBC annual meeting in Madagascar. She has also ben active in the establishment of the Africa Chapter and served on the Chapter’s interim board. She would like to help further the mission of ATBC, especially in Africa. Being part of ATBC has opened windows of opportunity for her to grow personally and professionally, especially as a graduate student, during which time she interacted with brilliant and dedicated scientists who gave her feedback on her research. As a member of the Africa Chapter Board, she would like to promote more opportunities for capacity building for students and early career scientists from Africa, and to contribute in increasing the diversity of members within ATBC.

Dr. Beth Kaplin

Dr. Beth Kaplin is a Professor in Ecology and Conservation Science and Director of the Center of Excellence in Biodiversity and Natural Resource Management at University of Rwanda (Kigali). She is affiliated to the Environmental Studies Department. at Antioch University (New England, USA). Biodiversity is her passion, and her research interests include forest ecological processes and restoration, primate ecology and conservation, protected areas conservation and management, human-wildlife interactions, ecosystem services and agricultural biodiversity. She has focused her career on building capacity for biodiversity conservation, research and natural resource management in Africa. She is always on the lookout for collaborative research opportunities that bring together scientists and practitioners for evidence-based management of natural resources. Some of her projects involve buffer zones and biodiversity conservation, chimpanzee ecology and conservation, and mobilizing biodiversity data for effective policy-making and climate change adaptation. She has been an active member of the ATBC community for a long time.

Dr. James Watuwa

Dr. James Watuwa is a wildlife veterinarian who grew up in Uganda. He holds a Masters Degree in Wildlife Health Management and Conservation of Makerere University Uganda. He has volunteered for the Uganda Wildlife Conservation Education Centre (Entebbe -ZOO) helping to diagnose, treat, and medicate all zoo animals suffering from disease and injury, and served as wildlife Veterinarian at Conservation Through Public Health in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park where he worked with endangered mountain gorillas. In his role, he contributed to gorilla and other wildlife health monitoring, disease surveillance studies, setting up veterinary programs and developing a policy framework for wildlife conservation to support the timely and efficient delivery of veterinary services. Dr. Watuwa was involved in leading the mountain gorilla census working with the governments of Rwanda, Uganda and Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Dr. Watuwa was the first African student to earn a Veterinary-track scholarship under the Wildlife Conservation Network Scholarship Program. He is the founder and chief executive officer of Elgon Wildlife Conservation Organization (www.elgonwildlifeconservation.org) which promotes biodiversity and wildlife conservation through community engagement, recognizing the importance of engaging people in protecting wildlife, while supporting sustainable development using a holistic and multi-disciplinary approach both of which are critical for the conservation of wildlife. Dr. Watuwa is also dedicated to the conservation of all reptiles and amphibian diversity in Uganda.

Dr. Biplang G. Yadok

Dr. Biplang G. Yadok was born and raised in Nigeria. He obtained his Bachelor of science (Zoology) and Master of Science (Conservation Biology) degrees at the University of Jos, Nigeria. He further proceeded to the University of Canterbury for his doctorate degree in Ecology at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. Biplang has worked with the A. P. Leventis Ornithological Research Institute (APLORI) in Jos (Nigeria) as a research associate and the Nigerian Montane Forest Project in Taraba State (Nigeria) as a science coordinator. His broad research areas include species distribution, animal behaviour, seed dispersal and control of invasive species. Biplang has been a member of ATBC since 2017.

Dr. Kate Abernethy

Dr. Kate Abernethy is Professor of Tropical Ecology in the Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK and an Associated Researcher at the Institute of Tropical Ecology Research in Gabon. She received her PhD from the University of Edinburgh (1994) on the introduction of Sika deer to Scotland. She went to Gabon in 1993 as a postdoctoral researcher and became Director of the Station d’Etudes des Gorilles et Chimpanzés (SEGC) in Lopé National Park, in 2000, a post she held until 2007. She has dual Gabonese and British nationality. Kate spent several years studying ape ecology before pioneering research into the ecology of mandrills and supervising several PhDs on large mammal ecology and conservation. She then went on to establish the CEDAMM training centre, a community outreach project, an Eco-museum and a mandrill tourism project in collaboration with the Wildlife Conservation Society programme in Gabon. Currently she works on doctoral supervision and environmental policy, through several high-profile projects including the National Strategies for Bushmeat Management and for NTFP Management and carbon balance research. She has published over 50 scientific articles on Central African ecology and conservation, including work on hunting selected by F1000Prime as being of special significance in its field and supervising award-winning student publications on tropical phenology. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology and a member of the IUCN Species Survival Commission, the ATBC, the Society for Tropical Ecology and the British Ecological Society Tropical Ecology Group.

Dr. David Kenfack

Dr. David Kenfack is a plant taxonomist at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC. He received his PhD in Ecology, Evolution and Systematics at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, USA (2008), has a Thesis of 3ème cycle in Plant Systematics (1995), and a Master in Science (1988) from the University of Yaoundé, Cameroon. He coordinates the Africa program of the Smithsonian’s Forest Global Earth Observatory (ForestGEO), a global network of large census plots aimed at understanding the mechanisms that underlie forest change both in tropical and temperate forests. The ForestGEO Africa program includes partner institutions long-term monitoring plots in Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Kenya and Nigeria. His personal research focuses on plant systematics and evolution. He uses a combination of morphological, molecular, ecological and spatial data for testing species boundaries and cryptic speciation in African plant groups with challenging taxonomy, as well as understanding their evolutionary history and biogeography.  He was instrumental in the establishment of the forest dynamics plot in Cameroon’s Korup National Park in 1996 and as ForestGEO Africa program coordinator, he is heavily involved in capacity building (both in vegetation plots, field taxonomy as scientific infrastructure and in training students and professionals) in Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Kenya and Nigeria.

Dr. Hajanirina Rakotomanana

Dr. Hajanirina F. Rakotomanana obtained his PhD from Kyoto University, Japan in 1998. He is currently a Professor of Zoology at the University of Antananarivo, and ATBC 2019 Chairman.  From 2004-2011, he was among the scientific committee of Pan African Ornithological Congress.  In 2005, he has received Beahrs Environmental Leadership courses, University of California, at Berkeley, USA.  He has written several scientific papers and books on Malagasy birds.  Since 2014, he has become a President of the Malagasy full professors. Also, he is a member of teachers of Tropical Biology Association, Visiting Professor of Kyoto University since 2010.

Dr. Seheno Andriantsaralaza

Dr. Seheno Andriantsaralaza is a Malagasy Tropical Ecologist and Conservation Biologist who uses her skills to contribute to the conservation of Madagascar’s imperiled biodiversity through research, education, volunteering, and conservation initiatives. She earned a Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of Antananarivo in collaboration with the French Agricultural Research and International Cooperation Organization. Her research focus spans a wide range of topics, with particular interests in the seed dispersal and persistence of orphan trees, such as baobabs. After her PhD, Seheno has worked as a scientific coordinator at the NGO Reniala - Lemur Rescue Center in the southeastern of Madagascar. Her involvement in the missions of the NGO drove Seheno to become even more passionate about conservation, and particularly an advocate for the conservation of lemurs in their natural habitats. She currently works as a Coordinator of Lemur Conservation Network and as in-country director of the Madagascar branch of NGO Lemur Love, an US non-profit organization. She also works as an independent researcher to pursue her research interests on seed dispersal in Madagascar. Seheno has been involved in coordinating and implementing various capacity building activities for the advancement of conservation science in Madagascar. In 2016, Seheno created, with her colleagues, an association gathering baobab specialists and enthusiasts called GSPBM (Groupe des Spécialistes et Passionés de Baobabs de Madagascar). Seheno’s involvement within this association allows her to contribute to the conservation of baobabs while improving the sustainable exploitation of baobab trees. Seheno also volunteers for Ikala STEM, an association aimed at empowering the next generation of Malagasy Women in Science.