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Richard Malonga
Congo Country Director
Richard started working for WCS Congo in 1995 as a volunteer research assistant. He helped with the study of the ecology of Bongo antelope in Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park. He was part of the team which initiated the Partnership between WCS, a forestry company (CIB) and the Government of Congo to extend conservation actions to the periphery of the Park. Richard completed his MSc in Conservation Biology at the University of Minnesota and a BSc in Tropical Forest Management at the Marien Ngouabi University. Richard was appointed Director of the Plateau Bateke Landscape Project, then Director of Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park. Since 2019, Richard is the WCS Congo Country Director.
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Alexis Obiang
Technical Assistant : LEM
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Emma J Stokes
Vice President, Field Conservation
Emma has over 15 years experience of conservation science and management in tropical forests, with a focus on large mammal ecology and population status. She has conducted fieldwork on apes in Indonesia, Uganda and Republic of Congo, and coordinated landscape-scale implementation of conservation assessment and wildlife monitoring programs for apes and elephants in Northern Congo and for tigers across South-East Asia. She played an instrumental role in the first regional conservation action plan for chimpanzees and gorillas in West Equatorial Africa in 2005 and documented new ape populations in Northern Congo in 2006 that revised the global estimate for western lowland gorillas. Her skills include scientific design and application of management-focused biodiversity monitoring programs and strategic evaluation of conservation outcomes, with a focus on law enforcement effectiveness. She holds a degree in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University and a PhD in cognitive ecology from the University of St Andrews. She has worked for the Wildlife Conservation Society since 1999. Emma is currently based in Gabon as a regional advisor on conservation effectiveness for WCS programs in Africa, and on law enforcement monitoring for WCS globally.
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Gaspard Abitsi
Country Program Director
Born in Mounana (south-east Gabon, Central Africa) in 1976, Gaspard studied biology at the Université de Sciences et Techniques de Masuku (Gabon) and Université Claude Bernard de Lyon (France). He also attended the International Seminar on Protected Area Management with University of Montana and US Forest Service in 2009.
Gaspard is particularly interested in understanding how various land use strategies, such as logging, mining, palm plantation and protected area management, differentially impact wildlife, habitats and livelihoods of forest-dependent people. He also strengths in building consensus between local communities and conservationists on sustainable management of natural resources and; human and elephant conflict mitigation strategies.
Gaspard ABITSI has worked for WCS in Gabon for ten years and he is now the Country Director for WCS programme in Gabon. |
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Godefroy de Bruyne
Technical Assistant : Community Fishing
Godefroy first came to Gabon in 2012, as a two-year international solidarity volunteer (VSI) with WCS Gabon. He was based at the Mayumba project in southern Gabon in the Nyanga Province, and worked on sustainable management approaches for traditional fishing, in collaboration with the local national and international fishermen, as well as the local authorities. Prior to this, he conducted several studies for aquatic systems management in France, both for the private and public sector. Following five years of academic studies he gained a Masters in Water and Aquatic Systems Management from the University of Marseilles in 2010. Since 2013, he officially joined the WCS team, as technical assistant on traditional fishing, and is still based in Mayumba. As part of this, he has more recently been focusing on shark and ray conservation.
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Morgane Cournarie
Congo Technical Director
Morgane is the WCS Congo Technical Director since 2020. Agronomist by training, she completed her MSc in Ecosystem Management and Tropical Forestry in 2015. She then worked for the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) in Laos, supporting the development, implementation and evaluation of projects related to agroecology. She also worked on ecosystem conservation through integrated landscape management in the Nam Kading National Protected Area. Morgane joined WCS in 2019 as Site Coordinator for the Sustainable Wildlife Management (SWM) program in Makira Natural Park in northern Madagascar, a comprehensive program combining livelihoods activities, social marketing, ecological survey and institutional support.
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Quevain Makaya Pambou
Technical Assistant : Mammal monitoring
Quevain MAKAYA PAMBOU is a Gabonese conservationist who has been working with WCS since 2005. A journalist by profession, Quevain worked at radio ALS (African Language Station) in South Africa and at RPN (Radio Pointe-Noire, Congo) as a trainee, after graduating in Journalism at Witwatersrand University South Africa. He also worked as English and French teacher at the MOHOTHES private school, Gamba, Gabon. Quevain also assisted the famous South African explorer Kingsley HOLGATE in his “AFRICA Outside Edge Expedition” in Gabon as principle translator, and worked as an educational assistant for the awareness of Malaria. Quevain has now been with WCS for seven years work, mostly at Mayumba National Park, during which time he was promoted from Night Guard, to Eco Guard, to Eco Guard Team Leader, and eventually to Site Manager. He was trained in mammal monitoring by Fiona Maisels, and carried out annual monitoring at Mayumba.
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Sandra Nse Esseng
Director : Administration
Christine Sandra NSE ESSENG, is an economist specialized in Planning, Organization Management, Economic Policy and Project Analysis. She was first employed by WCS Gabon in January 2008 as a Conservation Agent on Sustainable Development and Environmental Awareness programs. She carried out higher education at a National School in Dakar, Senegal, where she obtained an Diploma followed by a Masters at the University of Cheikh Anta Diop. Starting with WCS was her first professional experience. In October 2009, she was promoted to WCS Project Director for the Plateaux Bateke Landscape in the Province of Haut Ogooué (south east of the country) where her main responsibilities were the coordination of all project activities, ensuring leadership of field efforts and the promotion of public relations with local authorities and administrative services. Since July 2013, she serves as Administrative Director of WCS Gabon Program at headquarters in Libreville. Her objectives are: the organization of the administrative program documentation, insurance management and associated services, and co-responsibility for the administration of the program with other members of senior management.
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Tim Collins
QWIO Scientific Director
Tim Collins is a British marine biologist with extensive experience of marine mammal research and conservation in Africa and the Middle East. His research interests include coastal cetaceans, threatened small populations and looking for both in wayward places. Of particular interest is the development of simple methods that inform robust analyses with meaningful conservation outcomes. Projects have included humpback whale research in Oman, South Africa, Madagascar, Gabon and Angola as well many smaller projects targeting coastal cetaceans. Tim is a member of the International Whaling Commission Scientific Committee, the IUCN SSC Cetacean Specialist Group and a researcher with the Environmental Society of Oman. He has led the WCS Gulf of Guinea Marine Mammal project since 2003 and is a Masters graduate of the University of St Andrews.
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Ursula Pena
Gabon Marine Mammal Coordinator
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