The researchers from CESAM/Dbio Eduardo Ferreira, João Carvalho, Rita Tinoco Torres and Ana Figueiredo, in collaboration with faculty members and researchers from the Pedagogical University of Maputo and the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, participated in the coordination, preparation and implementation of a course dedicated to the monitoring of wildlife.
The training focused on the application of non-invasive methodologies — such as camera trapping and non-invasive genetic sampling — and the use of GIS tools in the ecological, genetic and health monitoring of animal populations. Particular emphasis was placed on the interactions and coexistence between wildlife, domestic animals and human populations.
Within the framework of the CAPMOZ project (Capacity building towards the implementation of an EcoHealth framework in Northern Mozambique), funded by the FCT-AKDN programme, the first edition of the course “Techniques applied to ecological and health monitoring in the context of One Health” took place between June and July this year. The course aimed at training Mozambican students, with the goal of strengthening skills in wildlife, biodiversity and health monitoring, in the context of One Health.
The training included one month of theoretical and practical classes, delivered via videoconference, and one and a half weeks of practical training held in Limpopo National Park and in the laboratories of the Pedagogical University of Maputo, between 20 and 29 July.
The implementation of this mission, and of the first course under the CAPMOZ project – which also includes the Complutense University of Madrid and the Wildlife Conservation Society Mozambique as partners – represents an important step in the collaboration between the partner institutions, aiming at collaborative research and knowledge sharing as a way of addressing the challenges of nature conservation and human–wildlife coexistence, in the context of profound global changes that affect the quality of life of human populations, particularly in developing countries such as Mozambique.
