A monument of Science in Central Africa

For some he is a hero, a dead fighter with a weapon in his hand, for others he is rightly a monument, a baobab, of science in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Engaged very young at the Institute for Scientific Research in Central Africa, ex IRSAC Lwiro, the current Center for Research in Natural Sciences of Lwiro, Prof. Baluku Bajope has worked in the Department of Biology as a specialist in Malacology (study of Molluscs and associated diseases) since 1978.

The resumption of collaborative relations with the Museum of Tervuren, the National Botanical Garden of Meise in Belgium, cooperation Japanese and others, testify to his desire to resume cooperative relations with various local, regional and international institutions.

He has attended and contributed to the various changes that have characterized the institution as the transition from Institute for Scientific Research in Central Africa, at the Research Center in Natural Sciences of Lwiro in 1982.

To the departments of Nutrition, Biology, Documentation & Education, Geophysics and Environment in operation since the creation of the center in 1947, it adds the Unique Health department in 2021. This last department will deal with health issues arising from the close interdependence between humans, animals and natural ecosystems.

He directed the center as a good father in a difficult economic and political situation, marked by the wars in Kivu and the political instability in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Notwithstanding, DG Bajope knew how to mobilize around him all the staff of the departments in the service of the community for the conservation of biodiversity.

According to Bajope, a real scientist must step out of the laboratory, his comfort zone, and into the field to feel reality before publishing science that is useful to the community. According to him, the purpose of scientific research is to contribute to solving social problems such as health, nutrition, education, the prevention of natural disasters, the conservation of cultural heritage bequeathed by past generations, etc..

Its multidisciplinary approach, among other things, consists of combining and enhancing expertise (of the intellectual elite with the non-elite) for sustainable development. He died honourably during his mandate on January 28, 2022 in Bukavu, South Kivu.