Empowering the Conservation Leaders of Tomorrow.

In 2019 Ernestine was awarded a scholarship from ERAIFT, with support from WWF, to pursue a PhD in Integrated Planning and Management of Tropical Forests and Lands.

Ernestine has worked in conservation for more than six years, in both DR Congo and Cameroon, with a focus on building capacities and supporting the resilience of rural communities to climate change.

Passionate about inclusion

She received a Master of Geography, Management, and Environment from the University of Dschang (Cameroon) and a Master 2 in Integrated Planning and Management of Tropical Forests and Lands from ERAIFT (DRC). Ernestine is currently a Forest and Environment programs officer at the Delegation of European Union to DR Congo. In this role, she develops policies and monitors and evaluates programs, partnering with numerous national and regional government partners, international technical collaborators, and local communities.

In her previous roles, Ernestine developed community-specific, stakeholder-centered training programs on reducing emission from deforestation and forest degradation in the Luki Biosphere Reserve (DRC); and provided technical assistance to field studies of the potential for domestication of native wood species.

She has skills in a wide range of areas, especially field experience in community conservation, protected area management, agro-forestry, agro-ecology, livelihoods, and gender and youth inclusion.

Finding the food of tomorrow

As a passionate about social impact and leadership, she has volunteered during many years with various non-profits organizations in Cameroon to promote sustainable farming, ecotourism, and renewable energy.

Today, she continues to develop mentorship opportunities and support networks for young conservationists.

Ernestine is also pursuing a PhD in Integrated Planning and Management of Tropical Forests and Lands from ERAIFT (DRC).

As the world’s population is predicted to exceed 9 billion in 2050, there is a high risk that the problems of biodiversity loss and food security be exacerbated, mainly in developing countries. Therefore, there is a need to find and promote alternative pathways to food and nutrition. This can be offered by ecosystems, such as forests where many non-timber forest products such as edible caterpillars are available.

With support from the EU, Justin was awarded a scholarship in October 2020 and graduated from ERAIFT in June 2023 with a master’s degree in integrated planning and management of Tropical Forests and Lands.

Ernestine has worked in conservation for more than six years, in both DR Congo and Cameroon, with a focus on building capacities and supporting the resilience of rural communities to climate change.

Ecologist by training

Prior to studying at ERAIFT, he has worked for a year at an NGO called Benin Environment and Education Society, focusing on climate advocacy, mangrove ecosystems restoration, and eco-disaster risk reduction implementation in local communities in southern Benin.

In 2019, he received a Bachelor degree in Natural Resources Management from the University of Parakou in Benin.

Justin has developed skills in conflict management, community building, environmental governance, management of relationships between protected areas and local communities, and wildlife conservation.

He is currently developing a pilot program focused on the Kordofan giraffe in the Bouba Njidda National Park (BNNP) in Cameroon, with support from the Rufford Foundation, a UK registered charity funding nature conservation projects across the developing world.

Saving the Giraffe

An ecologically, genetically unique species, the Kordofan giraffe is classified as Critically Endangered on the red list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Their numbers have drastically plummeted across Africa (DRC, Chad, Cameroon).

In Cameroon in particular, there have been very few efforts to monitor the monitoring of the Kordofan giraffe in the last twenty years. The world risks losing the giraffe if nothing is done urgently to know its status at the local level in the different habitats, i.e., where these species are found in isolation, to improve their conservation.

Justin’s project intends to describe the status of the Kordofan giraffe population in the BNNP (number, distribution). It will provide ecological indicators, useful to construct a biomonitoring plan for the critically endangered subspecies of giraffe, identify what the giraffe represents for the local population on a social and cultural level around the BNNP and the aspects related to potential conflicts.