TCD Alum Germain Mavah helping to improve wildlife conservation and food security in the Republic of the Congo

Germain Mavah has long been interested in the inter-relationships between wildlife, protected areas, rural people livelihoods, and natural resource governance in the Congo.  Working with Dr. Brian Child from UF’s Geography Dept. and the Center for African Studies, Germain received his PhD degree in Interdisciplinary Ecology (SNRE) and a TCD graduate certificate in 2015.  His dissertation examined the effectiveness of community-based wildlife management for sustaining natural resources in the Republic of Congo. He returned to his country and immediately continued his work with Wildlife Conservation Society. Recognizing the importance of his work, Germain was asked to coordinate the international Sustainable Wildlife Management Programme efforts for the Republic of the Congo (Wildlife Conservation Society). SWM aims to improve sustainable management of hunting for wild meat as a mechanism to improve wildlife conservation and food security. Germain’s work was recently highlighted in a European Union article where he explains “Discouraging wild meat consumption in towns and cities, where it is not a dietary necessity, and improving the availability of sustainably-farmed alternative meat or fish products are key”. You can access the full article here: https://tinyurl.com/m2kc6f4h