At RCCN, today, Thursday 20th August 2020 will mark the start of our initiative to have a weekly exchange session with red colobus actors in order to showcase the actions of our members, galvanise and catalyse their engagement to the red colobus course, help members know each other better and promote networking amongst them.
For this week, we invite you to meet Adeola Oluwakemi Ayoola from Nigeria.
- Who is Adeola and on which red colobus taxa is she working on?
Adeola Oluwakemi Ayoola is a research student at the State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology CAS. Her research focuses on the Molecular Ecology and Evolution of Primates in West Africa. She is specifically working on molecular evolution of the family Cercopithecidae. After her studies, she plans to join the SW/Niger Delta Forest Project in order to contribute to the conservation of the Niger Delta Red colobus Monkey.
- How did she find herself working or researching on red colobus monkeys specifically?
Adeola engaged in this course through conservation education, awareness-raising and research (both ecological and molecular) actions. Her engagement is grounded on the fact that she finds it fulfilling each time she is engaged in actions to save an endangered species from extinction like red colobus monkeys.
- Are the red colobus populations in her area facing any threats and how does she foresee the future of these red colobus monkeys if nothing is done?
She confirms that they are heavily threatened as a result of hunting, logging, habitat loss, and other anthropogenic activities. If these threats persist and no proportional response action is taken, Adeola foresees the extinction of the species in the area.
- What could be the key solution to reverse the threat status in her area?
Adeola emphasises that immediate action such as conservation awareness programs, regulation of government policies in favour of species habitat preservation, conservation education and related issues is imperative to reverse the current narrative on the species.
- Why, according to Adeola are red colobus monkeys less known to people compared to other monkeys?
She says they are less known because of their declining population and because they are not widely and uniformly spread across the country (Nigeria).
- Does Adeola have any specific expectations from the Red Colobus Conservation Network (RCCN)
She expects the RCCN and its members to boost/enhance awareness programs on the need for the conservation of the species and catalyse their involvement in influencing government policies and reforms.
That said, Adeola is member of the Education and Awareness task force and is heavily motivated to support all actions to conserve red colobus monkeys and lays lots of hopes on RCCN and the red colobus conservation action plan. That said, she is opened to networking with each and everyone who shares the RCCN vision and committed to reverse the discourse on red colobus monkeys. She can be contacted at Email: adeola@mail.kiz.ac.cn/adeolaayoola90@yahoo.com; Phone no: (+86) 188 0125 7457, +2347031175344
Thank you all for visiting the RCCN webpage and post.
See you next Thursday for a new post on our red colobus actors
Aghomo Florence
Coordinator of the Red Colobus Conservation Network and the Red Colobus Working Group under the IUCN/SSC/PSG and APS
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