Kevin Njabo: How we can stop Africa's scientific brain drain
Kevin Njabo: Come fermare la fuga di cervelli dall'Africa
Kevin Njabo is coordinating the development of UCLA's newly established Congo Basin Institute (CBI) in Yaoundé, Cameroon. Full bio
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about sustainable development
si interessano di sviluppo sostenibile
strettamente personali.
and rich biodiversity,
con una ricca biodiversità,
environmental destruction, and poverty.
distruzione ambientale e povertà.
in sub-Saharan Africa today,
dell'Africa sub-sahariana odierna,
die from malaria every year,
muoiono di malaria ogni anno,
in sub-Saharan Africa.
dall'Africa sub-sahariana.
educational opportunities.
opportunità educative.
just one university in Cameroon,
c'era una sola università,
offered some opportunities
ai camerunensi di estrazione inglese
to be trained in various fields.
as an ecologist in Nigeria,
conseguita in Nigeria,
una borsa di studio
to Boston University for my PhD.
per il dottorato di ricerca.
in Africa as a continent,
che abbiamo nel continente africano,
a risolvere i nostri problemi
from the West for short stays,
per brevi periodi
and brightest out of Africa,
più brillanti fuori dall'Africa,
in perpetual need of handouts.
in perenne bisogno di carità.
alla Boston University
della University of California,
and Sustainability
per l'Ambiente e la Sostenibilità,
for groundbreaking research
di ricerca all'avanguardia
of policies and programs
of millions of people the world over,
di persone in tutto il mondo,
che torna a casa,
that returns home,
nei settori formali e informali.
in the formal and informal sectors.
to build a sustainable Africa together,
un'Africa sostenibile,
to develop the Congo Basin Institute,
per dare vita al Congo Basin Institute,
with international researchers,
con ricercatori internazionali,
to their own problems.
ai loro problemi.
approach to show how universities,
per mostrare come università,
allo sviluppo internazionale.
from the West for short stays,
occidentali per brevi periodi,
presence in Africa,
permanente in Africa,
di progetti collaborativi
and international researchers.
training in Africa.
di alto livello in Africa.
nei nostri laboratori
of climate change on insects, for his PhD,
dei cambiamenti climatici sugli insetti
his post-doctorate fellowship
una borsa di studio post-dottorato
to stay on the continent.
di rimanere nel continente.
di aiuto locale, inoltre,
a young Nigerian scientist,
un giovane scienziato nigeriano,
for Professional Development
per lo Sviluppo Professionale
in South Africa
in Sudafrica
contemporaneamente,
at the same time,
of climate variability and change
di variabilità e cambiamenti climatici
developing models
sta sviluppando dei modelli
as an early warning system
come un sistema di pre-allarme
della malaria in Africa.
our best and brightest out of Africa,
le nostre menti migliori,
local talent in Africa.
il talento locale in Africa.
si è formato negli Stati Uniti.
but couldn't secure the necessary grants,
a ottenere i sussidi necessari
the science he knew he could.
le sue conoscenze scientifiche.
of returning to the US.
negli Stati Uniti.
to start collaborating
a iniziare a collaborare
has over half a dozen collaborative grants
quasi una dozzina di sussidi collaborativi
nine of them women,
nove dei quali donne,
sulla biodiversità,
under climate change,
of Africa taking handouts,
di un'Africa che riceve la carità altrui,
interdisciplinary approach
approccio interdisciplinare
to find their own solutions.
di trovare le proprie soluzioni.
with local communities and students,
con studenti e comunità locali,
scienziati americani e africani
the iconic African hardwood.
sostenibile dell'ebano,
are exploited for timber,
è sfruttato per il legname,
about their ecology,
80 to 200 years.
dagli 80 ai 200 anni.
impegnata nei nostri laboratori
rivelatosi davvero all'avanguardia.
some cutting-edge tissue culture work.
entirely from tissues.
ottenuto interamente da tessuti.
produce African timber
di poter produrre legname africano
them from seeds,
the varieties of ebony
le varietà di ebano
to co-produce ebony
per co-produrre ebano
in their various farms
nelle loro fattorie
they want in their farms.
da piantare nelle loro fattorie.
dagli agricoltori stessi
choose themselves
con le nostre moderne tecniche
using our modern techniques
di utilizzo del suolo,
their land-use systems,
from these products
di questi prodotti
15,000 ebony trees in Cameroon,
15.000 alberi di ebano
from the middle of a pristine forest.
da una foresta incontaminata.
for our African hardwoods,
per la produzione legni duri africani
to include sapele and bubinga,
anche per sapele e bubinga,
when I was 18,
quando io avevo 18 anni,
by the Congo Basin Institute,
del Congo Basin Institute,
universities in the world,
delle migliori università del mondo,
e a vivere in Africa.
powerful and empowering approach.
che permetta una maggiore emancipazione.
universities and NGOs as partners.
di università e ONG come partner.
on our existing laboratory space
al nostro laboratorio attuale
and conference facilities
per alloggi e conferenze,
disciplinary approach.
disciplinare a lungo termine.
to young African scholars,
abbiano più opportunità
la rete già esistente
of Tropical Agriculture's existing network
di Agricoltura Tropicale
sparsi nell'Africa sub-sahariana.
across sub-Saharan Africa.
for private-sector investment.
gli investimenti del settore privato.
to African scholars,
agli studiosi africani
will stay on this continent
rimarranno in questo continente
del Congo Basin Institute.
like the Congo Basin Institute,
to solving Africa's problems.
per risolvere i propri problemi.
someone will be giving a TED Talk
che qualcuno terrà una conferenza TED
of Westerners leaving your homes
occidentali in fuga dai propri paesi
e a vivere in Africa.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Kevin Njabo - Conservation biologistKevin Njabo is coordinating the development of UCLA's newly established Congo Basin Institute (CBI) in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
Why you should listen
Dr. Kevin Yana Njabo is the Associate Director and the Africa Director for the Center for Tropical Research (CTR), a part of the University of California, Los Angeles’ (UCLA) Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. He also holds a joint Assistant Professor appointment at both Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, and the Department of Environmental Health Sciences. He is responsible for supervising CTR’s research teams in Africa and coordinating the development of UCLA’s newly established Congo Basin Institute (CBI) in Yaoundé, Cameroon. Dr. Njabo also serves as a Visiting Professor at the National University of Rwanda and the Higher Institute of Environmental Sciences, Yaoundé, Cameroon.
His research interests are examining the link between biodiversity and human health where he attempts to address the underlying causes of this emergence and how they relate to changes in biodiversity. His area of research focuses on Africa as a platform for case studies of these relationships with the hope that this work will help develop new interdisciplinary tools and methods to forecast and mitigate risks to biodiversity and health, creating sound strategies to enhance the societal benefits of conserving biodiversity. He serves on several professional bodies including the Board of Governors and Global Vice President of the Society for Conservation Biology; Council Member of the Pan African Ornithological Congress Committee and member of the editorial board for Austin Environmental Sciences, a newly initiated peer-reviewed open access journal with an aim to develop a platform for innovative researchers working in the areas of Environmental Sciences.
Kevin Njabo | Speaker | TED.com