Meet 13 women making waves in conservation
© Norby Arboleda
Scientists have an innate curiosity. They seek to understand not only how things work, but why. They search for answers relentlessly and strive to improve the world through knowledge, evidence, and discovery. For conservation scientists, the natural world supplies an endless amount of questions they often dedicate their lives to exploring. There are many challenges, particularly for women, in this field, that include lack of funding, limited resources, and dangerous working conditions. But still they persist.
To celebrate this dedication, we invited women scientists from around the world to share thoughts on their field and what drives them to push through challenging circumstances. This list is by no means exhaustive and represents only a fraction of the amazing women conducting critical science and research for our planet. There are many more out there working at various capacities to advance conservation at all levels. Today, and every day, we acknowledge their contributions and celebrate their successes.
Central America
YasmÍn Quintana
Country: Guatemala
Ecologist
“Science is a pillar in our society and has helped us pursue unimaginable things, such as going to space, curing diseases, using technology to communicate, having energy and transportation, among so many other things. We interact with science every day without even thinking about it. Ecology, for example, is helping us better understand our ecosystems and biodiversity, and gain awareness of how human decisions can be harmful to our environment. This field is now key to changing the path of the planet, being more sustainable, and preventing species extinction.”
YasmÍn is pursuing a doctorate in Ecology and Conservation Biology from Texas A&M University. Her research focuses on the impact of the invasive armored catfish on native fish assemblages and trophic relationships in the Usumacinta River, the largest river in Mesoamerica. The goal is to identify how this invasion is transforming biodiversity patterns and if native species are being displaced.
Nicole Auil Gomez
Country: Belize
Country Director
“Science is important as it provides evidence needed to make or advocate for informed decision-making. In the field of conservation, this would be in the best interest of the natural world, while doing no harm to people.”
As country director for an international non-governmental organization, Nicole works with a great team of local conservationists and international experts to build programs that help to understand biodiversity status, how best to use research findings to improve policies and protection of landscapes and seascapes, and to build relationships and benefits for communities that rely on these systems.
South America
Xime Velez-Liendo
Country: Bolivia
Conservation Scientist
“The beauty of science is the constant wondering about nature, the universe, and how things work. It makes you think. It makes you observe beyond the tip of your nose, and it makes you wonder: why?”
Xime is the leader of the Andean Carnivore Conservation Program, a UK-Bolivian conservation initiative focused on reducing human-carnivore conflict, protecting bears, jaguars, and pumas, whilest restoring the critically endangered Inter-Andean dry forest. Besides monitoring carnivore populations in a non-protected area, her work is to provide the economic value of conservation through coexistence with people.
SofÍa Macarena Green
Country: Ecuador
Marine Biologist
“Being a marine biologist doesn’t necessarily mean you get to be in the ocean all the time. Though field work is the most exciting aspect of my work, I learned early on that there is also a lot of time spent in the office doing data analysis, fundraising, and writing grant proposals.”
SofÍa studies whale sharks, specifically the adult female whale shark population that ventures to the Galápagos Islands each year. Her team runs ultrasounds to see if the females are pregnant, tags them to follow their path, studies their diving behavior, and takes blood samples to ensure the research has no negative impact. The goal is to protect areas of the ocean that are important for this species and by doing so, protect other endangered species—sharks, rays, turtles— that share the ocean with them.
Angela M Maldonado
Country: Colombia
Primatologist
“In many countries where women are not allowed to study or where they are expected to get married at an early age, studying could be against the wishes of their societies. This was my situation. My family and friends did not understand why a woman of my age preferred to go with rubber boots to look for monkeys in the forest where illegal armed groups dominated the area, rather than establishing a family. Nonetheless, I maintained my goals over the years. It is hard to swim against the current, but once you are on the other side, life can be an open door.”
Angela is a Colombian conservationist, director, and founder of Fundación Entropika, a grass-roots organization located in Leticia, Colombia. She has dedicated her life to reducing the illegal wildlife trade in the Colombian and Peruvian Amazon. Her efforts have resulted in hunting bans on night monkeys and open investigation into this illegal market, dramatically reducing the trafficking of night monkeys captured and sold for use in laboratory experiments.
Juliana Vélez Gómez
Country: Colombia
Conservation Scientist
“Women’s opinions are typically underestimated by some sort of cultural inertia. To girls who want to be scientists, my advice is to stand up for your opinions, find good advisors that care about your career development, and support the work of other girls and women in science whenever you can. We need to support each other and expand our work together. The work of women is powerful because women are powerful.”
To improve human-wildlife-livestock coexistence in multi-functional landscapes, Juliana is studying how humans, wildlife, and domestic animals interact in the Colombian Orinoquia region for her doctoral dissertation. She is analyzing these interactions and the effectiveness of management interventions by applying cutting-edge statistical methods to gain complementary insights from camera trap and acoustic data. This multimodal approach lets her evaluate how wildlife responds to human disturbances, such as poaching and cattle grazing.
Africa
Caroline Lumosi
Country: Kenya
Fisheries Specialist
“The natural resource management field is dynamic. There is always something to learn and complex problems to solve. It’s both challenging and interesting, and it keeps me going. I also like how multifaceted the conservation world is; no one solution works. There’s a greater need for concerted, diverse approaches to address conservation challenges.”
Caroline works as a fisheries specialist for The Nature Conservancy (TNC), providing technical and scientific support to implement their Africa Fisheries Strategy. TNC uses a science-based approach to address conservation challenges. Through science, Caroline gains a greater understanding of what to conserve, how to conserve it, and how to measure the impact of conservation efforts overall.
Christy Achtone Nkollo-Kema Kema
Country: Gabon
Biogeographer
“The best part of research is the thrill you get when you manage to confirm an initial hypothesis. From the moment of the formulation of the hypothesis to the final results, it can take more than three years between the search for funding, the sampling in the field, the processing and the analysis of the data. Moreover, the scientific field is not a linear path. The difficulties encountered are legion to the point that it is necessary to have a certain psychological musculature not to give up.”
Christy is a temporary teaching and research attaché at the Laboratory of Geomatics, Applied Research and Consulting within the Department of Geographical, Environmental and Marine Sciences at Omar Bongo University in Libreville.
Emilia Inman
Country: Namibia
Restoration Ecologist
“At the start of my career, I wish I had been exposed to the human dimensions of ecological societies earlier. If I had been fundamentally exposed to this earlier on, I would have taken up a few social science courses because now, as an ecologist, I cannot solely do research without considering people; there is always a social aspect to my research. The environment is the people too. Perhaps the most life-changing moment in my career was truly realizing that people’s lives can be changed through my research. One cannot ignore the human dimension in ecology, and thus ecology should be studied alongside human interactions.”
Emilia is a researcher in the Multidisciplinary Research unit at the University of Namibia where she leads the biodiversity and restoration ecology program. Her research focuses on land degradation, ecological restoration, nature-based approaches to climate change, and biodiversity assessment.
Angelina Martins
Country: Mozambique
Environmental Scientist
“As part of my job, I’ve had the opportunity to work in different pristine natural ecosystems throughout my country. I really enjoy the beauty of these areas and the feeling of peacefulness it gives me. It’s a privilege to be able to do work in these wonderful places.”
Angelina’s research focuses on the interconnection between ecological systems and social/human systems. Her research interests include non-timber forest products use, ecosystem services, plant ecology, and ethnobotany. She is currently studying the distribution, abundance, population structure and threats of an endangered cycads species (Encephalartos lebomboensis) in southern Mozambique.
Asia
Estradivari
Country: Indonesia
Marine scientist
“When I need a little inspiration, I look to my Indonesian fore great-grandmothers. I grew up listening to the popular Indonesian children folk song, “My Ancestors/Nenek Moyangku.” The lyrics are literally translated as, “My fore great-grandmothers are sailors, happy to wade through the ocean, crashing the waves are not afraid, taking a storm is normal…” These lyrics carry a bold message: women play important roles in Indonesia’s maritime history and culture. My fore great-grandmothers proved that women could make changes, even when facing the rough seas.”
After 15+ years of professional experience working to optimize marine conservation in Indonesia and globally at several national/international organizations, Estradivari took a new challenge to become a researcher at Leibniz Center for Tropical Marine Research and enrolled as a PhD candidate at the University of Bremen. Her primary research is to understand the turf algae and herbivory patterns and explore the management options of turbid reefs.
Thu Zar Aung
Country: Myanmar
Water Resources Engineer
“Growing up beside a stream, water was always an enjoyable and pleasant sight for me. Every rainy season, we would have water run through our small town. During my childhood, flooding was not such a serious issue but due to catastrophic deforestation and gold mining in the region, flooding became increasingly more serious and life threatening as time went on. Seeing this unfold before my eyes made me want to find a solution, so I became a water resources engineer.”
Thu Zar’s research at Hydraulics and Geotechnics institute at KU Leuven focuses on quantitative prediction of sediment particle motion in aquatic bodies such as rivers, estuaries and coastal areas. This research will help to better understand sediment behavior in wetlands, causes of wetlands degradation, its responses to climate change and direct human interventions.
Sabita Gurung
Country: Nepal
Wildlife Biologist
“I grew up in a remote village in Nepal where I had an opportunity to feel nature from up close. As such the Gurung ethnic community, to which my family belongs, worships nature as God. I believe that it was this setting that ignited my passion towards nature and wildlife. Working as a wildlife biologist gives me a feeling of being at a present moment and living with a purpose for conserving the earth for the present and future generation. Science is all about developing a deeper understanding of all the things and processes around us that we take for granted, and this is what I like about it.”
Sabita works for Himalayan Wolves Project as a project officer. The project works to build the scientific basis for Himalayan wolves and coexisting carnivores, their prey, and the associated habitats in the Himalayas.
The scientists featured on this page are alumna of WWF’s Russell E. Train Education for Nature Program.