Ewango is a Congolese environmentalist, and was responsible for the Okapi Faunal Reserve's botany program in the Democratic Republic of Congo from 1996 to 2003.
He was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2005[1] for his efforts to protect the Okapi Wildlife Reserve in the Ituri Rainforest during the Congo Civil War.
[2][3][4] Ewango has recounted his growing interest in nature as follows: “Congo, my country, has the largest forest in Africa, maybe the second-largest in the world.
He stayed there throughout the conflict, hiding the reserve's rare herbarium collection, its computers, books, records, and other items in trees and protecting the animals and plants from vandals, poachers, and illegal miners and loggers.
Consequently, in August 2003 he was awarded a Christiansen Fund fellowship to study in the Department of Biology at the University of Missouri at St. Louis.
He is an excellent scientist and dedicated conservationist—few people can legitimately claim that they have put their lives on the line for conservation, but Corneille is one of these people.”[2] Ewango later attended Wageningen University in the Netherlands, where he engaged in research about 300 different types of lianas and was awarded a doctoral degree in November 2010.
He also belongs to a group that was designated by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature to develop an ecosystem management plan for the Congo.
[2][7] On winning the Goldman Prize, Ewango told the BBC, apropos of his efforts to save the reserve: “It's my contribution to advance science.
For a long time, we have been working in the shadows, but now we see it coming into the light.”[5] In 2011 Ewango won the Future for Nature Award, which recognizes outstanding international species protection efforts and includes a prize of €50,000 (about $73,000).
Professor Frans Bongers of Wageningen University accepted the prize on behalf of Ewango, who for “administrative reasons” was unable to secure a visa to the Netherlands.