Mariana Catapani

Co-Lead, Latin America WG

Coexistence scientist and practitioner passionate about unravelling the social, psychological, and symbolic dimensions of human–wildlife relationships. She specialises in applying this knowledge to design integrative, evidence-based strategies that promote coexistence. She holds a PhD in Environmental Science (USP), with research experience at Bangor University (UK), and was a Conservation Fellow at Chester Zoo (UK) and an Emerging Wildlife Conservation Leaders fellow.
Currently, she coordinates the Social Research and Human–Wildlife Coexistence department at the Wild Animal Conservation Institute (ICAS) in Brazil. Her work focuses on designing and monitoring projects to promote coexistence across diverse interfaces, such as beekeeping and armadillos, road ecology, and domestic-wildlife interactions. She also leads the Human–Wildlife Conflict and Coexistence Committee of the Brazilian Society of Mammalogy.