Qiang Zhuo
2025年4月22日
April 22, 2025 marked Earth Day. The weather in Nairobi was overcast but dry, creating ideal conditions for our morning hike through Oloolua Forest, a key urban forest located in the Lang’ata area. As an integral part of Nairobi’s ecological system, the forest boasts remarkable biodiversity and serves as an important site for scientific research and environmental education.
On this day, accompanied by my assistant Nevil Agesa, I visited the Kenya Institute of Primate Research (KIPRE) (https://primateresearch.org), where we held an official meeting with Dr. Gichuhi Mwethera, Director of the Institute, and Dr. Stanislaus Kivai, Head of the Department of Conservation Biology. During the meeting, we formally signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Habitat Watchers Foundation and KIPRE, establishing a long-term framework for collaboration in scientific research, education, and wildlife conservation.
Our discussions focused on the following five priority areas of cooperation:
1. Joint establishment of field-based ecological research and training centers;
2. Collaborative research on primate behavioral ecology and conservation genetics;
3. Development of internship and exchange platforms for young scholars and students;
4. Co-design of community education programs and citizen science initiatives;
5. Cross-institutional collaboration on conservation policy and ecological modeling.
Prior to the signing ceremony, I also held a strategic conversation with Dr. Ruiliang Pan, Founder of the International Centre for Biodiversity and Primate Conservation (ICBPC) (https://www.icbpc.org). I reiterated at the meeting our shared intention to facilitate formal collaboration between ICBPC and KIPRE, aiming to integrate resources, share platforms, and build a global scientific network centered on primate and ecosystem conservation.
Following the meeting, we toured KIPRE’s Department of Animal Sciences and held a brief exchange with the department head, Dr. Daniel Chai Chivatsi, to learn about recent developments in laboratory animal management, animal welfare ethics, and biomedical research.
Later, we visited the Kenya Snakebite Research & Intervention Center (KSRIC), located within the institute grounds (https://www.ksric-asrg.org). The center’s Director, Dr. George Oluoch, engaged us in constructive discussions on the following key topics:
1. Establishment of regional collaborative mechanisms for snake ecology research;
2. Development of a comprehensive snakebite incident database and high-risk area mapping system;
3. Advancement of educational and public health interventions for high-risk communities;
4. Exploration of integrated field-based emergency response systems involving multidisciplinary teams.
5. Promote public education to foster harmonious coexistence between humans and snakes.
Both parties concurred that snakebite envenomation, as a major issue at the intersection of public health and ecological security, requires a coordinated response encompassing scientific research, medical response, and community mobilization. We reached a consensus to deepen future cooperation and to jointly develop a multi-tiered collaborative framework encompassing research, education, and field intervention, with the goal of serving ecological and public health outcomes in Kenya and the broader East African region.
We have only one Earth, and it is the shared home of all humanity and wildlife. Today, climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental pollution pose severe global challenges that threaten every nation and every individual. No country can remain immune or act in isolation. Only by building a borderless system of collaboration—one that sets aside differences in nationality, religion, ideology, and culture—can we effectively address these existential threats to our shared future.