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At 5 a.m., Professor Herbert Covert sits silently in the Vietnamese jungle, waiting for the morning calls of the yellow-cheeked crested gibbon, an endangered primate. In three other 鈥渓istening posts鈥� two kilometers apart, pairs of Covert鈥檚 Vietnamese colleagues also wait and listen.
Their goal is to count the tree-dwelling gibbons in this protected forest, then ultimately to establish and implement a conservation plan. Gibbons are among the world鈥檚 most endangered primates.
Covert is professor and chair of the Department of Anthropology at the 麻豆免费版下载. His work in Vietnam, funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other agencies, has a more 鈥減rofound鈥� effect than other work he could do, he says. For years, Covert has been helping to train Vietnamese scientists in conservation techniques. The listening-post survey vivified the lessons the scientists had learned in classrooms. In the classroom, students might say, 鈥淥h, that鈥檚 interesting, and I understand that.鈥� But in the field, their experience was more visceral, Covert says. Rather than just studying sheets of data, the scientists excitedly described hearing gibbons from different vantage points. Covert says it is gratifying to watch the transformation from 鈥減eople looking at data sheets to people really being energized by the experience.鈥�
Gibbons need 鈥渋mmediate conservation action鈥� in southern China, Indochina, India, Indonesia and Malaysia, he adds. Vietnam is home to five of the 25 most endangered primates. The country, about the size of Colorado, is also home to 90 million people. Biodiversity is particularly at risk there, Covert says.
鈥淚t鈥檚 now or never for Vietnam in terms of conservation,鈥� Covert says. Because Vietnam has the political will to support conservation and beginning to get economic means to do so, he is eager to lend a hand.
Covert was awarded [a] Fulbright in 2008-09 to work with SIE. One of their joint activities was another week-long training to the scientists in the MacArthur program he had worked with during their second training course.
Covert and the young scientists reviewed material they鈥檇 previously discussed and explored emerging technologies. Also that year, they graduated from the training course. Each of the trainers gave a 15-minute presentation on what the training had meant to them.
鈥淚n many respects, it would be like getting a master鈥檚 degree in protected-area management. These people had skills now that were better than people in most protected areas in Southeast Asia. Plus, they were a network of 15 (scientists), and they could always reach out and talk to one another.鈥�
Covert found these collaborations particularly rewarding. 鈥淚t resonated with me as a 鈥榯eaching scholar鈥� where it allowed me to do teaching and training, which I really enjoy, and allowed me to do scholarship, which I really enjoy, and also allowed me to be involved with what I would consider to be service鈥攚here we go beyond the ivory towers of the university.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 something that I consider to be outreach that I鈥檓 really proud of. I鈥檓 confident that I鈥檓 making a difference for the environment and for conservation in a way that鈥檚 much more profound than when I publish a peer-reviewed article which is read by some people,鈥� he said, adding, 鈥淭his is not demeaning peer-reviewed articles, of course.鈥�
The current project in Vietnam, funded by the Great Ape Conservation Fund of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, will conclude in 2015.