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Mapping the Profession of Daniela Linero: GIS and Knowledge Evaluation Specialist

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    Daniela Linero’s journey towards her ardour began very early. Her dad and mom took her on journeys as a baby and at this time, she believes that this frequent contact with nature began her path in direction of changing into a biologist. Nobody in her household was a scientist, nor was there any specific curiosity in her changing into one at that younger age. The map of her profession trajectory was drawn little by little and naturally, with out realizing the future that awaited her. “As a baby, like most individuals, what me most was taking part in. I actually favored going out to the parks and climbing on something like a monkey”.

    As we speak, the 27-year-old Colombian specialist in information evaluation and GIS for Audubon Americas appears on the map of her skilled life and acknowledges some vital cardinal factors. The primary milestone takes us to these final years of highschool that mark the border between school and selecting a profession path. “I knew I wished to dedicate myself to conservation after I was ending highschool and began to develop into extra knowledgeable about environmental issues and the seriousness of those points not just for the survival of humankind however for different animals, vegetation, and so on. I felt I needed to do my half. Since then, I’ve had the duty—self-imposed—to work for biodiversity conservation in the easiest way doable, together with making choices knowledgeable by high quality science.”

    After she graduated with honors in Biology and Ecology from the Javeriana College in Bogotá, she instantly started working on the Colombian Primatological Affiliation.  There she carried out the primary classification of vegetation cowl and the primary evaluation of deforestation in two rural cities in Colombia, in addition to taking part in biodiversity monitoring at these websites, all in partnership with native communities. As well as, she led environmental training workshops for primate conservation, concentrating on each city and rural communities.

    On the finish of 2019, her life took a brand new course. This time, the coordinates on the map marked the UK, the place she arrived to do a grasp’s diploma in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation at Imperial School London, from which she graduated with Distinction in 2020. As we speak, Daniela recollects what impacted her most about that new and numerous panorama: “Past the place itself, what caught out to me most was with the ability to overcome the problem of residing in a very completely different setting, with unfamiliar folks and a language I didn’t have totally mastered.”  Daniela’s “migration” lasted a yr. Upon returning to Colombia, she joined Audubon as a GIS and information evaluation specialist for Latin America and the Caribbean as a part of the Audubon Americas staff.

    In these three years, Daniela Linero’s scientific contributions have earned her extra recognition, reminiscent of receiving the second place within the GBIF Ebbe Nielsen Problem, because of her work figuring out potential Key Biodiversity Areas (KBA). This world award is given yearly to these consultants who obtain modern purposes of open biodiversity information. The competitors receives submissions from scientists, pc scientists, information modelers, cartographers, and others.

    True to her objective of providing high quality science that contributes to biodiversity conservation, Daniela explains the scope of the work for which she obtained the Ebbe Nielsen award: “The award is useful for Colombia as a result of it is among the most biodiverse international locations on the planet. The code helps to find, via a really automated and agile course of, these websites with higher vulnerability and the challenges associated to biodiversity legal guidelines, elevated deforestation, and different tendencies that have an effect on biodiversity. This permits customers to analyze and do higher analysis on extra of these websites and decide in the event that they meet the factors to be KBAs (Key Biodiversity Areas) and be nominated as conservation websites.”

    Her information administration abilities and her calm disposition for teamwork additionally introduced her one other triumph, this time for the advantage of 33 Bahamian shorebirds. Daniela compiled right into a single database all the info from varied sources collected over 10 years to get world recognition of three websites within the Bahamas as KBAs and precedence websites for the endangered Piping Plover, amongst different species. In March 2022, the popularity was formally introduced.

    Recalculating…

    Right here we must always pause to ask her, just like the well-known GPS voice, if, at any level in her profession as a scientist, she has wished to rethink her course or has felt held again or restricted as a lady devoted to science. “STEM analysis stays a male-dominated area. It’s rarer to see girls in conservation management positions and being acknowledged in essential tutorial areas. As well as, the work of individuals from the International North is commonly extra acknowledged, and the views and research of individuals, for instance, from Latin America, are largely omitted. That’s the reason we have to establish and handle the boundaries of various areas so that girls who’re or wish to be concerned in scientific work within the International South have the identical alternatives as white males from North America and Europe. In spite of everything, we want that range and inclusion to achieve success in conservation,” she states with nice readability.

    Let’s transfer a bit of additional into this territory. Do you suppose there may be gender discrimination within the scientific group?

    “I do not imagine there may be an inherent distinction in scientists of various genders. Nevertheless, I imagine there are boundaries to girls doing science when it comes to their work being made seen and being acknowledged as a lot as their male counterparts.”

    In your expertise, is there something that distinguishes girls in science?

    “For my part, there is no such thing as a unique strategy that we ladies can present as a gaggle, however I really feel that essentially the most invaluable factor is that in our range, we carry numerous distinctive approaches and voices that may assist discover the perfect answer to an issue.” Particularly, feeling that she just isn’t listened to or cannot give her opinion is among the few issues that makes her uncomfortable, she confesses.

    Different latitudes

    Daniela may be very clear about the place she stands. And even higher, she has the Audubon Americas staff very properly positioned. Jorge Velásquez,Audubon’s scientific director for Latin America and the Caribbean, is aware of properly the work she does. “Daniela is on the coronary heart of the operation and improvement of all our GIS purposes, from a dashboard of indicators for monitoring program efficiency to internet purposes for displaying precedence areas for the Conserva Aves initiative to cellular purposes utilized by our area employees to seize hen information.” In brief, Daniela has the present of ubiquity.

    Gloria Lentijo, director of regenerative agriculture for Audubon Americas, states that, “For our tasks, Daniela’s contribution is important to spatialize the data, see on a map the locations the place we work, analyze the perfect alternatives for conservation in productive landscapes, see the place we will analyze these websites with the perfect return on funding and thus, with these prioritizations we will discover allies and other people to work with. This provides us a greater concept of the place we must always go to knock on doorways in favor of conservation like in productive landscapes in Valle del Cauca, Colombia”. Her analyses have additionally contributed to spatializing the data of the watersheds the place the Colombia staff works, serving to design methodologies for hen monitoring and acquiring the baseline to measure the affect of the implementation of the  undertaking’s actions. 

    Earlier than ending this tour, we’ve an essential query: you began finding out monkeys, why did you permit them?

    “Birds are some of the studied taxonomic teams on the planet as a result of so many amateurs and consultants who love to look at and analyze them. This makes for prime information availability to conduct analysis, opposite to what occurs with many different species. As well as, birds are excellent ‘umbrella’ organisms, which signifies that by conserving them and their habitats, we’re preserving many different species concurrently,” explains Daniela.

    If each map assumes a vacation spot and units factors of connection, which one are you drawing for your self?

    “My dream as a scientist, maybe a bit of extra private, is to determine a community of nature reserves in Colombia the place completely different conservation instruments may be examined and evaluated.” It is only a matter of time and a few extra information earlier than she reaches her desired vacation spot.

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