Valere Kolawole SALAKO My name is SALAKO Kolawolé Valère, Beninese, 28-years old, an agronomist and forester with special interest in Forestry, Ecology, Ethnobotany and Conservation Biology. I hold a Master of Science degree in the field of Management of Natural Resources and Biodiversity (2012) and currently registered as PhD student in Plant Ecology and Conservation at the University of Abomey-Calavi in Benin. I am also working as assistant researcher at the Laboratory of Applied Ecology of the same University, giving classes and directing practices sessions in Ecology, Forest mensuration, Biostatistics, and Ethnobotany. My PhD research focuses on Ethnobotany, Ecology and Demography of the wild palm Borassus aethiopum in Benin. My scientific research since 2011 up to now has yielded eight scientific publications of which five in peer-reviewed journals with ISI impact factor [Acta Botanica Gallica (2), Southern Forests (1), African Journal of Ecology (1), Genetic Resources & Crop Evolution (1)] and three in indexed peer-reviewed journal (International Journal of Applied Mathematics & Statistics, International Journal of Biodiversity Science, Ecosystem Services & Management, Journal of Animal & Plant Sciences). Since 2011, I have attended five scientific conferences of which the Students Conference on Conservation Science-SCCS at Cambridge (2013) and the conference on Applied Statistics for Development in Africa-SADA and seven training workshops. To date, I have been granted two research grants including IFS (International Foundation for Science, 2013, Research Grant N° D/5448-1) and the Belgium-West Africa masters’ program-RESBIO (2012) for M.Sc. research. I have also been granted three fellowships including (i) University of Abomey-Calavi Ph.D. research fellowship in Ethnobotany, Ecology and demography of the wild palm Borassus aethiopum Mart. in Benin (2013), (ii) Belgian-West African countries master program-RESBIO fellowship for M.Sc. studies in Management of Natural Resources and Biodiversity (2011) and (iii) Benin national state fellowship for agricultural engineer and forester studies (2006). I have been granted two scientific conferences grants including (i) Conservation Science Group grant to attend the Student Conference on Conservation Science and a short course on data mining using R-Software at the University of Cambridge (2013) and (ii) SADA (Applied Statistics for Development in Africa) grant to attend the 2nd edition of the SADA Conference (2013). Up to now I have received three prizes including (i) IRD-CIRAD Prize for the best scientific poster of the year 2013, (ii) Belgium-West Africa master’s program-RESBIO Prize for the Best M.Sc. Dissertation of year 2012 and (iii) “Africa Scientific Rebirth” Prize for the best Engineer Dissertation of the academic year 2009-2010. I have been involved in several consultancies as associated consultant (e.g. National strategy of valorization of Non-Timber Forest Products of Benin, fifth report on the national state of Biodiversity in Benin). I am member of the Society for Economic Botany and the Society for Conservation Biology. I am also member of a volunteer association where I am assisting the head of the project department and in charge of the follow-up of projects (www.cerclesocial.org). Native French speaker with very good command of English, I master ArcGIS, Distance, Microsoft Office, SAS, R and Minitab.