The President of Mozambique, Filipe Jacinto Nyusi, awarded this Friday, September 25th, Dr. Carlos Manuel Cipriano Lopes Pereira, with the “Environment Merit Medal”, in recognition of the role that he plays in rehabilitation and development conservation areas, namely, in studies and processes for reintroducing animals in National Parks and Reserves, mitigating the conflict between human and wildlife, as well as combating poaching and trafficking in wildlife products.
At the age of 65, Carlos Lopes Pereira has 39 years of professional experience, 15 of which working in conservation areas. He contributed significantly to the reduction of poaching in general in the period between 2014 and 2020 and played a leading role in the fight against poaching of the Elephant in the Niassa Special Reserve, which for the second consecutive year does not register the killing of elephants by commercial poachers.
In the last few years, Carlos Lopes Pereira had a relevant contribution to the process that resulted in the improvement of the legal framework related to the conservation of biodiversity, in the elaboration of the strategy to prevent and combat poaching and in the institutional coordination that involves the Public Ministry, the Judiciary, the various branches of the Police, including SERNIC and other key institutions in the fight against trafficking in wildlife products.