Lilian Pintea

Lilian Pintea is Director of Conservation Science at the Jane Goodall Institute.

"Lilian Pintea brings 15 years of experience in applying satellite imagery and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to the job of conserving chimpanzees and their vanishing habitats in Africa.

"Clearing of forests and woodlands for timber, firewood/charcoal, agriculture and settlements are leaving chimpanzees all over Africa in isolated, small populations that face edge effects, genetic isolation, and ultimately extinction. Because most of the wild chimpanzees are located in remote, difficult to access areas, satellite images and GIS are often the only sources of information on chimpanzee distribution, habitat status and threats.

"Dr. Pintea is using the latest geospatial technologies to map forests and predict potential distribution of chimpanzees in western Tanzania, monitor forest change around Gombe National Park and support participatory village land-use plans to benefit both chimpanzees and people.

"Dr. Pintea is available to speak on this work as well as chimpanzee conservation, applied conservation science, and bridging the gap between science and conservation in practice.

"Lilian holds a PhD in Conservation Biology from the University of Minnesota and degrees from the University of Bucharest, Romania, and Moscow State University, Russia. He was a MacArthur Scholar at the MacArthur Interdisciplinary Program on Global Change, Sustainability and Social Justice at the University of Minnesota and Fulbright Scholar at the Center for Remote Sensing, University of Delaware, and has been a consultant to the Word Bank. He also is currently seconded to the Nature Conservancy to facilitate JGI-TNC partnership in Africa...

"Dr. Pintea is working in collaboration with the geospatial technology industry (ESRI, DigitalGlobe, MDA Federal, NCDC), government institutions (USGS), and NGOs (UNEP-GRASP, IUCN/SSC/PSG, The Nature Conservancy, Wildlife Conservation Society, Frankfurt Zoological Society, and Woods Hole Research Center)."