Yolarnie Amepou

[2] She studied at the University of Papua New Guinea and graduated in 2011 with a Bachelor of Science with a focus on marine biology.

[3] After graduation from her BSc, during her honours year of study, she volunteered for the “Piku” project, a Canberra University research and conservation program to protect the endangered Papuan softshell turtle - Carettochelys insculpta.

[3][4] In 2019 she was appointed Director of the Piku Biodiversity Network Inc., which emerged from the previous conservation programme.

[5][6] Human harvesting of the turtles is the major threat they face in Papua New Guinea, and Amepou's work encourages communities to self-impose no-harvest zones and to monitor turtle numbers to try to build sustainable populations.

[10] In June 2019, she co-authored an article appeared on the status of the chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis), which is pathogenic in numerous amphibians.