Experts

Francesco Rovero is a zoologist and biodiversity conservation scientist who has been involved with research and conservation in East Africa, especially Tanzania, since 2000. He trained for his MSc in Natural Sciences from 1989 to 1995 at the University of Florence, Italy, and then moved to Bangor, UK, for his PhD in Animal Ecology.

In 2002, Francesco began working in the Udzungwa Mountains of Tanzania, one of the most outstanding areas for biodiversity conservation in Africa. It contains the largest blocks of moist forest of the Eastern Arc Mountains, one of the areas on Earth with the highest density of biological endemism. Since 2003, he has been a researcher with Italy's Trento Museum of Natural Sciences and is currently responsible for coordinating activities in Tanzania that represent a long-term, integrated program combining research, monitoring, and community education work.

He collaborates with several national and international organizations working on biodiversity conservation in the Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania to implement biodiversity assessment and monitoring projects (including projects funded by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund-CEPF). In particular, he coordinated a CEPF-funded project on the assessment of biodiversity corridors and the potential for improved management in the National Park and adjacent areas. From 2004 to 2007 he conducted research for a post-doctorate funded by Trento Autonomous Province through Trento Museum, aimed at raising knowledge on ecological adaptations and conservation strategies of endangered primates and forest antelopes in the Udzungwa Mountains. In the course of this research he discovered a new species of giant elephant-shrew and led the team that worked on the description and publication of the new mammal in the Journal of Zoology in February 2008. His scientific work in the Udzungwa Mountains has been published in 15 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters.

Through funding from Conservation International’s Margot Marsh Biodiversity Fund and Trento Museum, and in partnership with Tanzania National Parks, he coordinated the establishment of the Udzungwa Ecological Monitoring Centre in the Udzungwa Mountains National Park in November 2006, a facility that he has directed since its establishment. The Centre is dedicated to enhancing ecological monitoring and providing training for capacity building of local ecologists and rangers. This field station is in the process of becoming the first site in Africa of the Tropical Ecology Assessment and Monitoring initiative (TEAM) – run by Conservation International – aimed at monitoring long-term trends in biodiversity through a network of tropical field stations.