African Wildlife & Environment Issue 81

ECO HERO

Ed’s legacy in science and conservation is immense. He discovered fundamental concepts that have become the foundation of entirely new fields: including (among others), Sociobiology, and Island Biogeography - the latter of which formalized the only true law in ecology and provided a theoretical basis for the field of conservation biology.

Greg Carr, President of the Gorongosa Project, accompanies Ed on an ant collecting mission in Gorongosa National Park (Photo by Marc Stalmans)

Along with his friend Thomas Lovejoy, he introduced the world to the term 'biodiversity', which is now a household word.

nature and the human condition, and to preserving the biological diversity that he so cherished. It was this critical mission of nature conservation that first brought him 8,000 miles from Cambridge, Massachusetts to Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique in 2011, at the age of 82! Ed visited Gorongosa three times between 2011 and 2014 and became a guiding light for the Gorongosa Restoration Project. In addition to conducting his own field research on insects (especially his beloved ants) in the Park, Ed advised our science and conservation teams as they developed restoration objectives and plans. “ProfessorWilson amplified his scientific understanding of life into a love of all living creatures and a respect for the dignity of all human beings. He taught all of us that self- awareness is a blessed wonder, the variety of living forms miraculous, and the worship of Nature is a spiritual activity.” -Greg Carr, President of the Gorongosa Project He consulted with us on the creation of our science laboratory, which we named after him: The E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Laboratory. Not merely a place to conduct biological research in a remote African wilderness, the lab is a place

For decades, Ed was one of the world’s leading and most eloquent voices for biodiversity protection. In his 1992 book, The Diversity of Life , Ed tells the story of how life evolved on this planet, how the species of the world became diverse, and how that diversity is now threatened with large-scale extinction. In his 1993 book, coining the term 'Biophilia' in the title, he explored the innate connection that we humans feel to all other life on earth. "Gorongosa is one of the great stories, it's inspirational. It's a fine, shining example of what to do with all our parks…We need a world of Gorongosas.” - E.O.Wilson Beloved by students throughout the world and especially at Harvard University, Ed was also an advisor to many of the world’s pre-eminent scientific and conservation organizations. All of this would be enough for 100 successful scientific careers. But what is most astonishing and admirable is that he did not stop with these achievements. In his later years, Ed continued to devote himself to educating the world about human

58 | African Wildlife & Environment | Issue 81 (2022)