Biography:
I am a second year masters Student in Environmental Management at Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies where I am concentrating in Biodiversity Conservation and protected areas management. Before attending Yale, I received a BSC in Conservation Ecology from the University of Kisangani in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with emphasis on the plant taxonomy. Following my Undergraduate degree in 1993, I started working in 1994 with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) to protect key species and their habitats in the D.R.Congo for 12 years through monitoring and research and capacity building program. I have participated in several biological surveys and inventories organized by WCS in Africa and participated in the establishment of the WCS/ Smithsonian large permanent plots in the Ituri forest in the North-Est of the R.D.Congo formerly Zaire to study the dynamic of the forest. In 2000 I was based in Libreville, Gabon through WCS and have been involved in the development of the CITES/ MIKE (Monitoring of Illegal Killing of Elephant) pilot program in Central Africa for one year. From spring 2002 to mid 2005, I was pointed as WCS project Director in the Kahuzi-Biega National Park and work to preserve and protect the lowland eastern gorilla and their habitat. This position allows me to attend to several training and workshop seminars in Africa, Europe and the United States.

Research Focus:
There are few sites where the potential for conservation of great apes is juxtaposed with the major challenges and uncertainty as in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Kahuzi-Biega National Park (KBNP). My current research is to evaluate the impact of the habitats loss due to the invasive liana species in the long-term survival of the eastern lowland gorilla's (Gorilla berengei graueri) population in the Kahuzi-Biega National Park, DRC. This study will contribute to the formulation of appropriate conservation strategies that efficiently respond to that invasion.