The field of wildlife management has often been male-dominated, but there are many leading women who are making significant contributions to the field. One of these women is Lorie Thomas, a wildlife biologist dedicated to sustainable forest management. As a leader in her field, Thomas has helped shape policies and practices that promote biodiversity and conservation. In this article, we will get to know Lorie Thomas and learn about her experiences working in sustainable wildlife management.
Lorie Ann Thomas, a 34-year-old Macushi woman from the village of Yupukari in the North Rupununi of Guyana, is a dedicated caretaker and monitor of the yellow-spotted river turtle. Over the past three years, she has taken on responsibilities such as monitoring the beaches at 3 am and paddling with her husband for water lilies and duckweed, which are the favourite foods of the yellow-spotted river turtle.
Yupukari began a turtle conservation project twelve years ago with support from various non-governmental organizations. Funding eventually dried up, but the residents, including Lorie and her husband Marcellus, have sustained this initiative through volunteer work. In 2019, with support from the Sustainable Wildlife Management (SWM) Programme, the village was once again able to pay community members for this work and began to upscale its river turtle conservation efforts by increasing hatching facilities and monitoring.
The SWM Programme aims to put people’s rights at the centre of wildlife management while seeking an optimal balance between conservation needs and the use of wildlife for food security. Communities on the ground inform strategies and activities to achieve conservation goals, with technical support from SWM. The programme has also developed and integrated social safeguard strategies, such as gender mainstreaming, to ensure all rights holders, especially women and youth, are involved in its community engagement.
Lorie loves her job and truly enjoys caring for the turtles. Her mission is to involve schoolchildren more, as she recognizes the importance of teaching children natural resource management and conservation from an early age. Lorie and her monitoring team recently invited a group of 15 young wildlife club members on one of their monitoring missions, during which they had to rescue eggs when the beaches began to flood due to rising waters. Wildlife clubs and activities like this help to instil conservation values in the next generation, while also fostering their personal and social development, as children develop environmental stewardship skills – all while having fun.
Lorie believes that this project has benefited not only the turtles, but also the villagers, by promoting unity in the community and creating a sense of pride among the villagers for their contribution to the preservation of their environment and wildlife. She hopes the success of Yupukari’s turtle conservation efforts will inspire other communities to get on board. “Already you see many more turtles basking in the lakes than before,” she said. “I hope the younger generation will continue this conservation work, so that we can all enjoy what we have today.”
The SWM Programme in Guyana is part of a major international Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States initiative, funded by the European Union, with co-funding from the French Facility for Global Environment and the French Development Agency. The aim is to improve food security and the conservation and sustainable use of wildlife in forest, savannah, and wetland environments in 15 countries.
