Mário A. Calane da Silva

Mário A. Calane da Silva was born on 30 July 1943 in the then city of Lourenço Marques, now Maputo, where he completed his primary and secondary schooling. In 1968 he worked as an employee for the Department of Finances. He reinitiated his studies in 1977 in the Faculty of Biology at the Eduardo Mondlane University, where he began his new duties as a Technical Assistant in Plant Taxonomy at the LMU Herbarium of the same University.

He successfully completed his courses in Biology in 1981 and became Curator of the LMA Herbarium at the Instituto Nacional de Investigação Agronómica (INIA) in February 1982.

In 1985/6 he completed postgraduate studies in "Rural and Land Ecology Survey" in Holland at the International Institute for Aerospace Survey and Earth Sciences (ITC). On returning to Mozambique he was nominated to be Head of the Department of Botany at INIA and Chairman of the National Plant Genetic Resources Committee.

When the SABONET Project was launched in 1996 he was identified to become the National Coordinator for the Project in Mozambique.

He played soccer in the Junior category for the 1º de Maio Club where he was Vice-Captain and Captain in 1960 and 1961.

In his spare time he enjoys listening to music, reading, and working in the garden.

SABONET News 4.3: 176