TCD Conservation & Development Forum: “Practical Guidance for working with Indigenous communities”

Join us on Thursday, October 13, 2022 from 4:30-6:30 pm in Newins-Ziegler Hall Room 376.

Snacks provided, followed by an informal social at Cypress and Grove Brewery.

Bio: Fernando Li

Mr. Fernando Li hails from Yupukari Village, Region 9, Guyana. He has been working with research, conservation, tourism, and documentary film crews for much of the last 15 years. After 10 years of leading the longest running mark-recapture project on black caiman (Melanosuchus niger) as the manager of Caiman House Research Center, he co-founded the Rupununi Wildlife Research Unit with Dr. Matt Hallett (UF-TCD) and has led projects focused on jaguars, tapirs, anteaters, bush dogs, tortoises, and more. As an experienced researcher with a broad local knowledge, he has also supported a number of visiting researchers with studies focused on giant river otters, sun parakeet, macaws, arapaima, hydrology, and ecosystem services, as well as documentary film crews from ICON films, National Geographic, BBC, and Discovery Channel. The combination of his upbringing in the indigenous Makushi village of Yupukari and years of leading and supporting wildlife research in the most remote stretches of Guyana means that Fernando has a wide breath of experience to share. His knack for providing straight forward and common-sense advice would benefit any graduate student seeking to work with indigenous communities or in remote areas of the tropics. 

Moderator: Dr. Matt Hallett

Dr. Hallett has a joint appointment with the Wildlife Ecology and Conservation Department and the Tropical Conservation and Development Program – a position which is supported through a partnership with the Jacksonville Zoo & Gardens. He joined the Center in 2020 after completing his Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Ecology in the School of Natural Resources & Environment and TCD Certificate at UF in 2017. Dr. Hallett’s research focuses on the effects of habitat, hunting, logging, and livestock on the abundance and distribution of medium and large-bodied Neotropical mammals, as well as the efficacy of approaches that integrate community participation into research, conservation, and management. Much of this work has been conducted in the Rupununi Region of Guyana, where Dr. Hallett joined a group of highly trained local scientists in co-founding the Rupununi Wildlife Research Unit. The RWRU collaborates with indigenous communities, private landowners, government agencies, and NGOs on wildlife monitoring activities across Guyana’s interior.