Emmanuela Mbangale is originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and holds a master’s degree in biodiversity management and sustainable forest management from the University of Kisangani (UNIKIS) since 2018. She has worked for the provincial Ministry of the Environment, the national tourism office and the Congolese Organization of Ecologists and Friends of Nature (OCEAN) on wildlife inventory projects and forest reserve inventory studies in Tshopo province). At present, she coordinates the development of alternative activities targeting hunters and wildmeat traders in the Yangambi landscape, including business model development, capacity building in entrepreneurship, technical backstopping and market development.

Today, Emmanuela has begun the PhD program in Ecology and Sustainable Management of Wildlife at the University of Kisangani (UNIKIS).