Milcíades Chicomo (2021)
Alumni Diploma Students
I grew up in Capelongo, a small village located in the southeast of Huila province, Angola. Recently I finished a master’s degree in Natural Resources Management at the Namibia University of Science and Technology. I hold a BSc in Teaching Biology from the High Institute of Educational Science of Huila (ISCED-HUĺLA), Angola.
I started working with conservation in 2017 inventorying museum specimens from an old collection of mammals and birds under the care of the Herbário LUBA at ISCED-Huila. This was an activity I developed under SASSCAL project Task 209: Animal biodiversity and conservation. At the same time, I was involved in an ethnoveterinary project assessing the use of local plants on the treatment of diseases on livestock and we built a guide for use by the livestock holders. Since 2017 I have been working as an assistant on the project Rediscovering Angolan Biodiversity, an initiative from the Research Centre in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources (CIBIO/InBIO), University of Porto, focused on camera trapping and genetic sampling through scat detection. My role on this project has been camera trap maintenance, image classification, and scat collection. For my MSc carried out under the SCIONA Project I implemented camera trapping to assess the abundance and selected characteristics of Hartmann’s mountain zebra population in Iona National Park, Angola. I have also participated in other projects such as annual game count and wildlife collaring in Namibia, gaining insight into other techniques and understand the effort that must be done to protect and conserve the fragile biodiversity.
I heard about WildCRU only last year through one of my mentors Dr Raquel Godinho. I am looking forward to improve my knowledge and understanding of conservation. The knowledge and skills gained from this course will help me to contribute actively to the wildlife conservation initiatives taking place in Angola.