If Derek Pomeroy mentioned to satisfy him at 7am, you have been anticipated to be there by precisely 7am—not a minute later. Punctuality was not only a desire; it was a precept. Whether or not in a zoology lab, a birdwatching area station, or over tea at Makerere College, order and self-discipline mattered. Behind that exacting normal, nonetheless, was a deeper devotion: to science, to Uganda’s biodiversity, and above all, to the generations of African conservationists he helped practice and form.

Pomeroy arrived in Uganda in 1969 to check marabou storks. He stayed for many of his life. What started as ornithological curiosity turned a lifelong venture of institution-building, mentoring, and record-keeping. His area notes on birds, gathered throughout a long time, turned the spine of the Chicken Atlas of Uganda and the Nationwide Biodiversity Knowledge Financial institution. He performed a pivotal position in founding the Makerere College Institute of Atmosphere and Pure Sources (MUIENR), a middle that now shapes the nation’s environmental coverage and analysis.

By means of civil unrest, political transitions, and world shifts in conservation priorities, Pomeroy remained a relentless. He skilled lots of of scholars—a lot of whom now lead main conservation efforts in Uganda and past. His best legacy might not lie in peer-reviewed journals or world assessments, however within the lives he formed. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, considered one of Uganda’s main wildlife veterinarians, remembered him as a mentor who inspired her earliest efforts and celebrated her success. Edward Okot Omoya, now a professor, put it merely: “He was greater than a supervisor. He was a father determine.” Others recall how he secured funding for dozens of scholars who would possibly by no means have studied conservation in any other case. From senior professors to area biologists simply beginning out, the story was the identical: a demanding, beneficiant, and completely dedicated trainer.

He printed extensively, together with on chook inhabitants dynamics, wetland ecology, and biodiversity indicators, typically forward of world traits. His analysis illuminated the consequences of agriculture on wildlife lengthy earlier than “sustainable landscapes” turned a buzzword. A member of the IUCN’s Stork, Ibis, and Spoonbill Specialist Group, he noticed native information as very important to world conservation.

Even in his ultimate years, his curiosity by no means waned. At 88, he was nonetheless within the area, counting vultures in Murchison Falls Nationwide Park. He was engaged on a number of papers when he died.

“He by no means stopped being serious about life,” wrote Andrew Plumptre, Head of the Key Biodiversity Areas (KBA) Secretariat.

Pomeroy returned to the UK solely in 2023. He died, fittingly, together with his work unfinished however well-laid for others to proceed.

In a area the place experience was as soon as exported, he helped root it firmly in place. For a lot of, Derek Pomeroy didn’t simply train the research of birds. He taught them to remain, to construct, and to present again.

Header picture: By Andrew Plumptre