National Moth Week welcomes Abdou Zakou as the country coordinator for the West Africa nation of the Republic of the Niger. He writes this about himself:
“I hold a degree in Forestry Techniques from the Faculty of Agronomy of Abdou Moumouni University in Niger. The theme of my thesis of the engineering cycle was on the ‘Characterization of agroforestry parks with Neocarya macrophylla in the south-west of Niger.’ Thus in 2014, I was recruited at the ‘Ministry of the Environment and the Fight against Desertification’ in my country. I accomplished several missions, among others:
- Head of the Anti-Poaching Mission (LAB / Niger Fauna-Corridor Project);
- Site manager of degraded land restoration activities. My responsibilities included the collection of statistical data about the environment; the monitoring and protection of forest, wildlife, fish resources and specific ecosystems; the development of micro-projects for the restoration of the environment. In addition, my mission is to promote the new techniques and technologies for the biodiversity conservation.
“The accomplishment of its missions gives me the taste to strengthen my capacity in the field of the conservation of biodiversity. Thus, I got a master of science in biodiversity informatics at the Faculty of Agriculture Sciences of Abomey-Calavi’s University in Benin. This training has forged my interest in virtual biodiversity databases and the citizen science.”