Dr. Ali Mahamane represents Niger on the WASCAL Governing Board. He holds a PhD in Applied Biological Sciences with a major in Plant Biology and Ecology, a PhD in Agricultural Sciences and Biological Engineering, and a diploma in Water and Forest Engineering, specialising in Tropical Rural Forestry and Forest Management.

Currently a CAMES University Professor, Dr. Mahamane has held various academic and administrative roles, including Rector of Diffa University, Vice-Rector and Dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology at Dan Dicko Dan Koulodo University, Maradi (Niger), and Dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology at the University of Maradi. He has coordinated Niger’s participation in the Master’s degree programme in Biodiversity and Natural Resource Management, a collaboration between the University of Abomey-Calavi (Benin), Abdou Moumouni University (Niger), Free University of Brussels (Belgium), Faculty of Agronomic Sciences of Gembloux (Belgium), and the University of Liège (Belgium).

Dr. Mahamane also served as Coordinator for Niger on the UNDESERT Project (Understanding and Combating Desertification to Mitigate its Impact on Ecosystem Services).

An expert in environmental monitoring of ecosystems, he specialises in environmental impact studies of rural development projects, forest conservation, forest ecology, forest landscape management, landscape ecology, forest inventory and dendrochronology, natural forest development, rangeland and protected area management, natural resource management and conservation, plant ecology and phytosociology, protected area management evaluation, rangeland ecology, pastoral rangeland development, restoration ecology, agroforestry, biodiversity conservation, biodiversity assessment and monitoring, climate change biology, and conservation biology ecological modelling.