TBA NewsletterIssue no. 17August 2014

In this issue

TAAG’s new structure and Ghana Conference

Ecosystems Services Course

Teaching for the TBA

Life on a TBA course

Life after TBA

Alumni achievers

Alumni groups

About us

The Tropical Biology Association (TBA) helps to safeguard nature in Africa and Madagascar by building expertise among conservationists to manage their natural resources sustainably, for the benefit of both people and wildlife. We are creating a critical mass of well-trained people who are committed to making a long-term positive change in their natural environments.

Contact uswww.tropical-biology.org

African officeThe Tropical Biology AssociationPO BOX 4448600100 – Nairobi, Kenya tba-africa@tropical-biology.org

European officeThe Tropical Biology AssociationDepartment of ZoologyDowning Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UKtba@tropical-biology.org

Check out our blogtbaalumniblog.wordpress.com/

Welcome to our Newsletter 2014. This marks the TBA’s 20th year of running courses and building the capacity of passionate, committed and ambitious conservationists. Our alumni are serving as a growing voice for conservation around the world. To celebrate, we would like to share with you 20 particular successes from the past 20 years. The TBA has...

Welcome Dr Rosie TrevelyanTBA Director, UK

Amani 2013

1 Trained over 1800 conservation biologists from 60 countries

2 Run 69 international field courses in East Africa, Madagascar and Borneo

3 Held 31 specialist training courses for 371 conservation professionals

4 Had contact with 97% of all participants from the past 20 years

5 Supported 8 tropical field stations6 Supervised over 620 mini-research

projects carried out on our courses7 Stimulated the publication of over

50 papers on research carried out on our field courses

8 Formed partnerships with 18 African universities, NGOs and government departments

9 Benefited from 255 experts from 136 institutions volunteering their time to teach for the TBA

10 Delivered training in scientific writing, leading to the publication of over 100 papers

11 Nurtured 14 African alumni groups and an Africa-wide alumni group

12 Helped the African Alumni Group run the first ever student-led conservation conference in Africa

13 Awarded 34 MSc scholarships and 15 research grants to African conservationists and TBA alumni groups

14 Established an online Bulletin Board of conservation resources used by over 50,000 people globally each year

15 Written 12 field guides and training manuals, used by biologists around the world

16 Jointly founded the Cambridge Conservation Initiative

17 Co-organised ten Student Conferences on Conservation Science in Cambridge

18 Signed up over 45 university members from 13 European countries, the USA and Australia

19 Discovered a new species of snake in Madagascar

20 Received a Society for Conservation Biology Distinguished Achievement Award

Dr Rosie Trevelyan, Director

Ghana Conference 2015John Abraham, PhD Chair, Local Organising CommitteeCountry Coordinator, Ghana TBA Alumni Group

“Conserving biological diversity for a sustainable future: The African challenge” – The African Alumni Group (TAAG) Students’ Conference in Conservation is here again!

In June 2015 about 200 students, conservation biologists and practitioners and decision makers will come to the School of Biological Sciences, University of Ghana.

Delegates will share ideas and experiences that will contribute to solving the growing threats in Africa and

beyond, attend workshops to enhance their skills and knowledge and listen to renowned biologists, conservationists and policy makers from across Africa, Europe and North America.

The local organising committee and Ghana TBA Alumni Group extend a warm invitation to YOU. Come to share and gain knowledge, make new contacts, and experience the wonderful culture and beauty of Ghana’s natural forests and wildlife. Even before you arrive, we say AKWAABA!

Ghana Crossword

TAAGThe African Alumni Group gives us an update.

Brand new structure201 3 saw the TBA African Alumni Group (TAAG)

orga nise the first ever student led conservation con ference in Africa. Since then TAAG has

intr oduced a new structure (diagram belo w), with the positions filled by

volu n teer alumni across Africa. For more information visit the TBA website.

Check your answers on our blog at the beginning of October.

Across

3 Lake ____, the largest artificial lake in the world by surface area, located in Ghana. 54 National park, a former game reserve in the isolated northern region of Ghana. 46 The oldest protected area in Ghana, located in the Brong-Ahafo Region. 57 ____ bobirensis, type of endangered frog endemic to Ghana. 1010 Ghana’s President since 2012. 4, 7, 612 Currency of Ghana. 413 Country, borders Ghana in the east. 4

Down

1 Type of tree with very hard, reddish-brown wood extensively cut down in Ghana’s Kakum National Park before 1989 (scientific name). 5, 9

2 Ghanaian diplomat and former Secretary-General of the United Nations. 4, 55 The only country that produces more cocoa beans than Ghana per year. 5, 58 Industrial port town in Ghana through which the Prime Meridian passes. 49 Cercopithecus ____, notable endangered species found in Ghana’s Kakum National

Park. Named after a goddess. 511 Ferdi Ato ____, Ghanaian who set a world record by running 100 metres backwards

in 13.6 seconds. 6

Ecosystems services short course

Madagascar

Cameroon

Ghana

Lalao AigretteBlue Ventures, Madagascar

Patrick MbossoMinistry of Environment, Protection of Nature and Sustainable Development, Cameroon

Jacqueline Sapaoma KumadohA Rocha, Ghana

The knowledge that I gained from TBA’s TESSA training allowed me to develop practical conservation skills. By providing tangible measures of ecosystem values I am able to contribute in the long-run to the protection of the threatened mangrove eco-region in Madagascar. The training also improved the knowledge of my colleagues, community members and other conservation organisations in Madagascar as I was able to pass on my skills to them. TESSA will soon allow the development of Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) schemes at other locations throughout Madagascar. Finally, the TBA workshop enabled participants to create a communications network where we can share knowledge, communicate ideas, and disseminate best practices across research sites, as well as collaborate in presenting information to the global community.

TESSA training offered a vibrant, pragmatic and interactive series of talks and exercises that enabled me to network with others, as well as to learn a new way to measure and communicate ecosystem services.

Only one month after attending the initial training workshop, I have received a small grant and successfully carried out an ecosystem services assessment at a high biodiversity site using TESSA, and acted as a trainer in the field. Since then, I have been appointed the Chief of Service in charge of the Monitoring of Environment and Social Management in the most forested region of Cameroon. I have influenced some community-based organisation leaders who are now integrating the concept of ecosystem services assessment into their various projects.

As a beneficiary of DRECA and TESSA, I can confidently say that I have the springboard that makes the sky my beginning. As a young female conservation scientist, I always aspire to develop myself in the conservation field and be a role model to my fellow young ladies as very few are currently in conservation in Ghana. My experience with TBA has kept this dream alive, and also enhanced my conservation horizons. Through TESSA, my community engagement has improved and the communities I work with are more receptive to conservation messages.

I use this platform to make a passionate appeal to friends and donors of TBA not to relent in their efforts to support TBA. Long live TBA as they keep the dream of young conservation scientists alive!

The course aimed to build capacity among conservation managers in measuring ecosystem services and using a toolkit for site-based assessments (TESSA). This was the first time the TESSA toolkit has been used in Africa.

About the course

TESSA takes a step-by-step approach to assess and value selected ecosystem services at the site scale. The data gathered facilitates payment for ecosystems services (PES) schemes, which give local people direct monetary benefits, incentivising them to conserve habitats, as well as increasing livelihood security.

Case studyDriefontein Important Bird Area

Following TBA training on TESSA, Togarasei Fakarayi from BirdLife Zimbabwe applied the skills learned to measure ecosystem services in Driefontein IBA. He assessed three ecosystem services (cultivated goods, harvested wild goods and water services). Plans are in place to continue using TESSA to collect more ecosystem services data in other priority conservation sites around Zimbabwe, and to use results to influence policy surrounding biodiversity conservation.

Teaching for the TBA

One of life’s best experiences

Brian MossUniversity of Liverpool, UKVeteran five TBA courses with the sixth coming up

Driving up the winding mountain road to Amani for the first time was a somewhat anxiety-inducing experience, but not because of the fading light or slippery mud – it was my first view of what sorts of streams I might expect at the top. They were pretty polluted around the village at the lower levels, and too rocky and fast-flowing half way up to risk life and limb in a pair of Wellington boots. Yet eventually streams that would be usable appeared, and plenty of them. I could relax. With a suitable habitat there is much that can be done. And that is the challenge of TBA courses. Teachers must think on their feet. We must rapidly assess this year’s situation, then quickly sort out the equipment and work out a plan. Detailed manuals and protocols for procedure are no help. An overnight rainstorm can wreck plans for stream sampling for the next few days, electricity may fail at which time carefully prepared Powerpoint presentations have to lie unused... It can be worrying, disappointing and frustrating, and yet it’s the best sort of teaching we ever do. There is no burden of syllabuses or examinations that now sullies most education. It’s just us and Mother Nature, and it teaches the lesson of relying on oneself.

Students on TBA courses are generally the best, intelligent and very motivated. The pressure among you comes not from the award of a diploma, nor from a grade, but from the approval of people whom you have got to know well, shared confidences with in the candlelit darkness of late evening discussions – your fellow students. That is exceptionally powerful. There is tension in the final stages of projects but enormous delight when things work out well.

It is a long time, a month, for many teachers to take out of their pressured lives back home, but I never refuse when asked to teach a TBA course. Once the course is underway there is time to think, and to work on one’s own projects. During courses I have done experiments of my own that got published, written parts of books, drawn and painted. This August I am planning to revive an interest in mosses and liverworts that started over fifty years ago. The opportunities are great if you divest yourself of the shackles of too orderly a life, too much dependence on the internet and the mobile phone.

To teach a TBA course is one of life’s best experiences.

Baobab survey, Kirindy 2013 I haven’t ever danced so much as I did in Amani and I miss my ‘dance buddies’ so very much.

DanceChaona Phiri, ZambiaAmani 2013

Life on a TBA courseOur newest alumni tell us about their experiences last year.

The hidden world Philip Taylor, UKKirindy 2013

I was always going to seem odd. I’d arrived in Madagascar, a country renowned for fluffy lemurs, but my main interest? Invertebrates. Beyond the dancing butterflies and termite citadels the invertebrate world of Kirindy Forest is not immediately obvious. Yet while I was there I encountered sapphire blue cuckoo wasps, sand-firing Ant Lion larva, tent-like spider webs and so much more. When you begin any excursion be sure to look down, peer under rocks, and generally BE CURIOUS. After all, there’s more to life than lemurs.

2013 field coursesJune – JulyAmani Nature Reserve, Tanzania

SeptemberSegera Ranch, Kenya

November – DecemberKirindy Forest, Madagascar

The poop group Cecilia Hermansson, SwedenSegera 2013

The excursion to Handei forest, the search for Hornbills, the dancing nights, the R statistics class, the epiphyte project, the Chameleon search nights, the football match and the oh-so-many rainy days. I loved every bit of it.

As part of the poop group I’ll never forget the excitement of finding fresh dung when walking a transect through the bushes. Eventually we found all the dung we needed and, after many dizzying hours hunched over the microscope, we managed to identify a couple of the parasites we had found. Although the smell of baboon shit will leave my clothes the friendships and memories will last forever!

The TBA course helps people with different cultures and ideas to co-exist for the betterment of biodiversity conservation worldwide. “Amani”, is the Swahili word which means peace. Whenever there is peace you will find interesting things.

At the start of the program I couldn’t bear the thought of having all kinds of animals coming close to the sleeping tents and even visiting our rooms. But as time went on I got used to them, and as our evenings were spiced with the cries of the birds and lemurs around the camp I began to appreciate the lives of forest dwellers.

One of the highlights was the football match that we played against the Amani locals. Some of us hadn’t trained in the art of soccer in ages – however, we managed to whip up a team that competed really well (though we lost). Saying goodbye to fellow course-mates felt like being torn from family. We have kept in constant communication ever since.

I shall never forget the research project that I carried out with my partner “chérie” Huyam and our supervisor “judoka” Prof. Jeremy! It was so amazing to design a research project collaboratively, and to discover that ants shape the aerial architecture of Acacia drepanolobium. For a young researcher, this one month field course imbues a feeling of expertise, a sense that (s)he can attain and obtain whatever (s)he wants. This is undeniably the best vibrating and magnetic one-month tropical ecology and conservation field course in Africa!

Night-time visitorsJennifer Ama Saah Konadu, GhanaKirindy 2013

Peace Kelvin Ngongolo, TanzaniaAmani 2013

Ants and expertise Patrick Mbosso, CameroonSegera 2013Football

Every bit of it

Mark Marvin Kadigo, UgandaAmani 2013

Iveren Abiem, Nigeria Amani 2013

Cont.

Amani 2013

Life on a TBA course

Life after TBA

2004Faith Milkah Muniale, Kenya, Kibale 2004TBA gave me an experience that shaped my career to date. Today, I am raising protégés of my own. I work for Environmental Research Mapping and Information Systems in Africa, co-ordinating projects and programmes round the country. Thanks to personalised support from TBA I was awarded a fellowship by African Women in Agricultural Research and Development in 2013, and in 2014 received the prestigious Kinship fellowship on Environmental Leadership. TBA is the big brother that holds my hands and guides me to the future in my career in conservation.

2005 Dwi Susanto, Indonesia, Danum 2005Training organised by TBA is one of the experiences that has most affected my current career. I experienced working with multinational participants from Europe, America, Asia, and Papua New Guinea. Today I work as an Environmental Consultant at Jacobs Engineering as part of a virtual team with employees around the world.

2007Joris Buis, The Netherlands, Amani 2007The encounters I had on my TBA course really made tangible some of the extremely complex challenges – and solutions – of nature conservation. Now, being a university teacher myself, I see the importance of such an experience even more clearly.

Lucha Fonyikeh-Bomboh, Cameroon, Kibale 2007I feel proud to be recognised as the 1,000th TBA course participant. I am currently working as an assistant lecturer at the University of Dschang, Cameroon and writing my PhD thesis. Today I benefit from TBA’s mentorship scheme and I am a member of the TBA’s African Alumni Group (TAAG).

Coker, Oluwakayode Michael, Nigeria, Amani 2008After meeting Prof. Mike Majerus, a geneticist from Cambridge, on the TBA course I decided to go into the field of wildlife genetics for my PhD. Presently, I am an Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Wildlife and Ecotourism in the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, where I both teach and carry out research in genetics.

2008

2010Sogbanmu, Temitope Olawunmi , Nigeria, DRECA 2010Four years after my TBA course I have received grants for my Doctoral Research which I am undertaking at King’s College London. I have about seven publications in international journals and have presented at several conferences. My TBA experience was one of the most impactful on my academic career so far. Kudos to TBA.

Edward Debrah Wiafe, Ghana, DRECA 2010 – 2012My TBA course helped me to win a grant to conduct research on the status of Roloway monkeys in Ghana. After further TBA training I have been able to publish 12 peer-reviewed journal articles. TBA has also helped me in my teaching; my students praise my methods and their performance has improved. I still enjoy networking with my fellow participants, and have learned a lot from them.

As we celebrate 20 years of capacity building, our alumni reflect on the TBA’s impact on their lives.

Stump Tail Chameleon, Kirindy 2013

Alumni achievers

Alex Johnson Tamba, Liberia, Amani 2011TBA helped me tremendously in my work back home by developing the skills in conservation biology necessary for the benefit of my country, colleagues, university students and Forest Guards in the Gola National Forest. The TBA course made me whole. Many thanks to the TBA sponsors who made available the resources for such training opportunities, the professors and the TBA staff. You are all wonderful indeed.

Małgorzata Gazda, Poland, Kirindy 2011In 2012 I went to Madagascar and spent the best month of my life exploring the Malagasy tropical forest. Last year I defended my Masters thesis and this year I started work as a research assistant at the Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences. I am now involved in a project on avian host-parasite systems in New Caledonia.

2011

2012 Flávio André Gomes Oliveira, Portugal, Amani 2012Thanks to the training I’ve received I was able to participate in a project in the Amazon this year, where I worked with small mammals for three months. The TBA field courses are truly a dream experience.

After his TBA course in 2005 Ben went on to PhD fieldwork in the tropical forests of Ghana. He is now working as a Postdoc at the University of Cambridge. Since 2005 I have been extremely lucky to have been able to continue working in the tropics, primarily in West Africa. My PhD research was on birds and trees in Ghana, and showed that there are some serious limitations to wildlife-friendly agroforestry and other farming methods for conserving the unique species of Upper Guinea. I currently work on understanding the impact of agriculture on wild species, and how we can produce food with the least possible impact on biodiversity.

I chose to focus on agriculture because it’s through the food we eat that we have the greatest impact on other species, and I believe passionately that we have a responsibility to pass on to future generations a planet as rich in life as it was when we were born into it. The paper I am most proud of is not my most high-profile publication, but a piece in Food Policy which brought together a lot of thinking on how agriculture and conservation could be reconciled. Those few weeks in the Ugandan rainforest with the TBA were an important step on my journey.

My professional career started with a quest to contribute to Liberia’s post-war reconstruction of its devastated forests. After my BSc I returned home and took up a position as Park Manager of a proposed Protected Area, the Lake Piso Reserve. The challenges of this role motivated my application to the TBA to acquire practical field experience. The TBA course marked a new stage of my professional career, allowing me to confidently lead several field research activities which in turn led to the Lake Piso reserve becoming a fully protected area. After this I gained a Masters scholarship from the TBA, leading to an MSc from the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Thanks to the TBA I became essential in revamping the natural resources sector of Liberia. Having served as a Park Manager within Liberia’s Forestry Development Authority and Natural Resources Management Specialist within the Economic Growth Office of USAID Liberia, I was recently appointed by the President of Liberia to be Deputy Managing Director for Operations/Technical Services of Liberia’s Forestry Development Authority.

I am very confident that with the training and support provided by the TBA over the years I will continue to make an even greater impact in the forestry reform process of Liberia.

Cont.

Ben Phalan Darlington TuagbenU.K., Kibale 2005 Liberia, Amani 2009

Here we profile two of our many high-achieving alumni in more detail.

Life after TBA

Alumni groupsWe now have 14 alumni groups across Africa. Here’s what

just a few have been up to.

Welcome Burundi!

The Burundi TBA Alumni group is excited to announce that it has finally been launched!

We are expecting the group to be a framework for enriching our careers and to serve as a link between our members and regional and international organisations. The group plans to organise training on conservation status in Burundi, conduct collaborative research and alert students to training opportunities, including those offered by TBA. We are also supporting a group of students who plan to launch a students’ club for Environment and Biodiversity Conservation.

TBA courses have been a milestone in our individual careers as biologists and we look forward to support from TBA to help organise training and to carry out research projects in future.

Stories from Benin

Although we would love to write about every member of our growing group, we have decided to focus on two.

“I owe my scientific career to TBA.”

Dr Kowiyou Yessoufou was the first Benin national to attend a TBA course (Kibale 2002). He completed his MSc in forestry in 2005, fully funded by the TBA, and his PhD in Phylogenetic Ecology at the University of Johannesburg in 2012. Since then he has published over 20 papers in top journals. He is now a Postdoc Fellow at the University of South Africa, working on climate change, extinction risk and invasion ecology. He is also a research associate at the University of Johannesburg.

“My grant applications benefitted strongly from what I learned on the TBA course.”

Mr Jean Didier Akpona atended the TBA’s Kibale 2010 field course. Since then he has completed his MSc degree in Belgium, and is currently a PhD student at the University of Abomey Calavi in Benin. This year, Mr Akpona was awarded the 2014 Rufford Grant for Nature Conservation, as well as an ITTO fellowship. The findings of the two projects these grants supported will inform reforestation programmes in Benin. In the near future, he intends to work on pollination to help fill a knowledge gap in Benin.

Challenges and solutions in Sudan

Since Sudan’s civil war our fragile ecosystems have been deteriorating rapidly as the communities affected adjust to new socio-economic conditions. The region is now witnessing unprecedented land degradation, desertification and declining biological diversity because of overgrazing, poaching and the felling of trees. Our growing conservation challenges demand new solutions, particularly the creation of public awareness about the importance of improved land-use practices. This is why TBA and its training are so valuable; the knowledge we gained on our courses has helped us, as a group and as individuals, to raise public consciousness of conservation. Most of the Sudanese TBA alumni are now either educators or researchers in institutes of excellence. They are working effectively to pass on their experiences and skills to new generations.

Kirindy 2013

Amani 2013

The TBA is hugely grateful for the support of our members, partner organisations and supporters.

Thank you

AustraliaSchool of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Melbourne School of Environmental & Rural Sciences, University of New England, New South Wales

AustriaInstitute of Zoology, Karl-Franzens University, Graz Institute of Ecology, University of Innsbruck Organismal Biology, Paris-Lodron University, Salzburg Center for Organismal Systems Biology, University of Vienna

FranceInstitut Ecologie et Environnement, CNRS

GermanyInstitute for Environmental Sciences, University of Koblenz-Landau

IrelandDepartment of Botany, National University of Ireland, Galway Applied Ecology Unit, National University of Ireland, Galway School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin

MalaysiaSchool of Science, Sunway Campus, Monash University

The NetherlandsCentre for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies, University of Groningen Institute of Biology, University of Leiden Resource Ecology Group, Wageningen University and Research Centre

PolandInstitute of Environmental Sciences, Jagiellonian University, Cracow

SwedenDepartment of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Gothenburg University Department of Biology, Lund University

SwitzerlandSwiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel Department of Integrative Biology, University of Basel Department of Biology, University of Bern Department of Biology, University of Fribourg Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne Institute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zürich Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zürich

United KingdomSchool of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen School of Biological Sciences, Queen’s University, Belfast Department of Life Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh Faculty of Biological Sciences Graduate School, University of Leeds Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London Department of Environmental and Geographical Sciences, University of Northampton School of Biology, University of Nottingham School of Environment and Life Sciences, Salford University School of Biology, University of St Andrews

United States of AmericaFaculty of Arts and Sciences, Yale University

Members

Supporters

The TBA is proud to work closely with partners in Kenya, Madagascar, Tanzania and Uganda. These partners include universities, NGOs and government departments. To find out more about our partners and the work we do with them, visit the TBA website.

Partners