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Science Panel for the Amazon members A-G 

Rebecca Abers

Rebecca N. Abers is an American scientist based in Brazil with a Ph.D in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of California, Los Angeles. She is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Brasília, Brazil. Her research focuses on civil society state relations, participatory policy-making, and the role of creative action in policy and institution-building processes. She authored “Inventing Local Democracy: Grassroots Politics in Brazil” (Lynne Rienner, 2000) and “Practical Authority: Agency and institutional change in Brazilian Water Politics” (Oxford, 2013, Margaret E. Keck, co-author), as well as many journal articles and book chapters. She is co-Editor-in-Chief of the Revista Brasileira de Ciência Política.

“The Amazon is not only relevant to climate change, it is a treasure trove of biodiversity and human culture.”

Ricardo Abramovay

Ricardo Abramovay is a Brazilian sociologist. He was a professor at the Department of Economics of the University of São Paulo (Brazil) and is currently in the Environmental Science Program at the same university. He is the author of “Beyond the Green Economy” (Routledge, 2016) and “Amazonia. Por uma economia do conhecimento da natureza” Ed. Elefante, São Paulo). His research touches also the socioenvironmental impacts of the digital revolution.

“The forest is a means to sustainable development, but, due to its socio-biodiversity, it becomes one of the most important ethical values of contemporary societies.”

Ana Luisa Albernaz

Ana Luisa Albernaz is a Brazilian scientist who has been working for the last 30 years in ecology and conservation planning in the Brazilian Amazon. She is interested in understanding the distribution and dynamics of biodiversity, and in combining the best available science with multi-stakeholder participatory processes to develop proposals for the use and conservation of Amazonian environments and species. She is currently a researcher at the Goeldi Museum, in Belém, where she was director between 2018 and 2022.

“The Amazon is biologically, environmentally, socially and culturally important, diverse and complex. The SPA represents an effort to gather as much knowledge as possible to think about the best ways to conserve all of these attributes.”

James Albert

James Albert is an American endowed Professor of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, with a Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Michigan. He has more than 30 years of experience in collecting and documenting tropical fish diversity. To date and with his colleagues, Dr. Albert has 133 peer-reviewed publications (GS >5,000 citations, h-index 38) in the areas of Evolutionary Biology, Biogeography, Systematic Ichthyology, Tropical Aquatic Biodiversity, and Conservation Biology. These publications include descriptions of >50 species and 11 genera new to science. Dr. Albert has supervised 11 PhD, six MSc, and 11 undergraduate honors thesis projects, and served on an additional 23 graduate student committees. Dr. Albert serves on the editorial boards of three scientific journals, has been principal investigator on five multi-investigator projects documenting aquatic Amazonian biodiversity, and has edited three books on the diversity and evolution of Amazonian fishes.

“Effective conservation and management of Amazonian social, biological, hydrological, and mineral resources must be ranked amongst the highest priorities for national and international actions”

Ane Alencar

Ane Alencar is a Brazilian Geographer with a Master’s degree in Remote Sensing and GIS from Boston University and Ph.D. in Forest Resources and Conservation at University of Florida. She is the Science Director at IPAM and part of the coordination of Mapbiomas initiative. For the past 26 years she has coordinated a team dedicated to understand the dynamics of fire, forest degradation and their relationship with land use and climate change, and with conservation policies for Amazon and Cerrado biomes.

“The Amazon is an entity of the Earth System and should be conserved for the all that is and the services provided for the sake of life as a whole. Science has demonstrated that a future without the Amazon is likely to be very unpleasant, but also has indicated paths to be taken in order to protect this world heritage.”

Claudio Almeida

Claudio Almeida is a Brazilian senior technologist at the National Institute for Space Research. He graduated in Agronomy from the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (1992), with a Master’s degree in Remote Sensing from the National Institute for Space Research (2008) and doctorate in Geomatics from the Université de Montpellier – France (2016). Dr. Almeida works with mapping deforestation and land use in tropical forests. Dr. Almeida was Head of the Regional Center of the Amazon between January 2009 and December 2012, when he coordinated the transfer of technology in mapping tropical forests. He acts as Coordinator of the Monitoring Program for the Amazon and Other Biomes, where he is responsible for the PRODES, DETER and TerraClass projects.

“It is not possible to maintain the climatic and environmental balance of the planet, as we know it today, without maintaining the Amazon Forest.”

Angélica Almeyda Zambrano

Angélica is a Peruvian Researcher at the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Florida (UF). She received her doctorate from the Department of Anthropology at Stanford University. She is also co-director of the Spatial Ecology and Conservation Lab at UF. Her research centers on human-environment interactions. In particular, she looks at resilience, land use and land cover change dynamics in the tropics and its relation to economic activities with an emphasis on sustainable tourism and its role as a development and conservation strategy in the tropics.

Lincoln Alves

Lincoln Alves is a Brazilian climate scientist with a Ph.D. in Meteorology from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), Brazil, where he is currently a researcher. He is responsible to provide technical and scientific information quality to guide public policies for mitigation and adaptation to regional environmental changes. He has been a consultant for the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, for the World Bank, the United Nations Development Program, the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, among others, in the areas of environmental studies of global change, climate modeling, impacts and vulnerability. He is Lead Author of the Atlas of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Sixth Assessment Report.

“Everyone should know about Amazon’s natural and cultural diversity and what is, in reality, a highly complex and dynamic environment.”

Diana Alvira

Diana “Tita” Alvira is a Colombian interdisciplinary ecologist who holds a Ph.D. in interdisciplinary ecology with concentrations in tropical conservation and development and farming systems research and extension from the University of Florida. She is currently the Thriving Futures Director of Legado. She has more than 20 years of experience working implementing community‐centered conservation for well‐being programs, and participatory action research methodologies for conserving the cultural and biological diversity in the Andes Amazon region.

“A comprehensive and holistic approach to understand and, make visible the urgent action to maintain and sustain this amazing Bioma and its peoples is needed.”

Cecilia Andreazzi

Cecilia S. Andreazzi is a senior researcher at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), Brazil, with a PhD in Ecology from the University of São Paulo, Brazil. Her interests and experience are focused on the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of species interaction networks and infectious disease dynamics. For that, she combines empirical data, mathematical modeling and tools derived from network science. Her research lies at the intersection of community and ecosystem ecology, evolutionary biology, epidemiology and conservation biology. She is particularly interested in understanding the effects of biodiversity loss and environmental disturbance on community structure, ecosystem function and human health across spatial and temporal scales.

Luiz Aragão

Luiz Aragão is a Brazilian Senior Scientist and Leader of the Tropical Ecosystems and Environmental Sciences Laboratory at the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) of the Brazilian Ministry of Science and Technology since 2013, with a Ph.D. from the National Institute for Space Research. Since 2018, Dr. Aragão has been the Head of the Remote Sensing Division at INPE. He is also the Scientific Committee President of the Large-Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Program in Amazonia. In 2008, Dr. Aragão’s original research on tropical forest degradation through fire was recognized by the UK Natural Environment Research Council, when he earned the prestigious NERC Research Fellowship. Dr. Aragão joined, in 2009, the University of Exeter, College of Life and Environmental Sciences as a Senior Lecturer, leading the Landscape and Ecosystem Dynamics Research group until 2012. His contribution to education of future generations of scientists and professionals was recognized through the Most Supportive Member of Staff Teaching Awards from the University of Exeter (2011). Dr. Aragão has contributed extensively with BBC’s programs and other news vehicles, during the 2019 Amazonian deforestation and fire crisis. His scientific contribution has been recognized at several national and international science academies and conventions, such as the 23rd Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Caroline Arantes

Caroline C. Arantes is a Brazilian Research Associate at the Michigan State University, Center for Global Change and Earth Observations, USA. In this position, Dr. Arantes is working in collaboration with an interdisciplinary team to understand effects of hydropower development on aquatic systems, fish ecology and fisheries in the Amazon and to provide solutions for challenges confronting Food-Energy-Water systems. Dr. Arantes earned her PhD in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences from Texas A&M University (USA), her Masters in Applied Zoology (UESC, Brazil), and Bachelors in Oceanography (UERJ, Brazil). Dr. Arantes has 17 years of experience working with conservation problems in the Amazon. In general, her research examines the ecology and management of fish and fisheries in relation to environmental changes processes affecting freshwater ecosystems, including ecosystem alteration and fishing pressure. Dr. Arantes research applies a range of interdisciplinary approaches with the aim to advancing scientific knowledge that offers solutions to fish and fisheries conservation problems at local, regional and global levels.

“Freshwater ecosystems that sustain important biodiversity, aquatic production, and livelihoods of thousands of people are threatened by deforestation, dams, pollution”.

Paulo Artaxo

Paulo Artaxo is a Brazilian expert in the links between Amazonia and climate change, with a Ph.D. in Environmental Physics from the University of São Paulo. Dr. Artaxo has dedicated 40 years studying the effects of deforestation on carbon and hydrological cycles and in the functioning of the Amazonian ecosystem. He worked at NASA, Lund, Stockholm and Harvard Universities. Prof. Artaxo published more than 400 papers, 26 of them in the Science and Nature group. He is one of the most cited Brazilian researchers with an h-index of Google Scholar of 104, and 81 in the Web of Science. Vice director of the São Paulo Academy of Science, and member of the The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’ (IPCC) being one of the leading authors from AR4, AR5 and AR6 and in the IPCc Land and climate special report. He is the coordinator of the FAPESP Climate Change Program.

Marliz Arteaga Gómez-García

Marliz, is a social environmental scientist, who has made significant contributions to academia, teaching, and mentoring. With a focus on sustainable development initiatives in the Amazon Region, she has served as a professor and project coordinator in NGOs, specializing in political ecology, environmental governance, and social ecological systems. Engaging in transdisciplinary participatory research, Marliz collaborates across diverse networks and projects. Her dedication to promoting sustainable development extends beyond her academic endeavors. Marliz’s impact expands to her roles in esteemed organizations such as the Sustainable Development Solution Network Bolivia and various women in science networks, including 500 Mujeres Cientificas, the Organization for Women in Science in the Developing World, the Women in Conservation of Latin America and the Caribbean Network, the Tu Beca Bolivia Initiative, and the International Water Association. Marliz is committed to promoting sustainable development and fostering the advancement of women in science.

“”Wisdom and knowledge are the keys to empowering future generations to shape a sustainable society by bridging social inequities and healing environmental injustices.”

Eduardo Assad

Eduardo D. Assad is a Brazilian researcher, graduated in Rural engineering in 1979 at the Federal University of Viçosa. He had his M.Sc. and Ph.D. from 1982 to 1987 at the hydrology laboratory of the University of Montpellier II, France. From 1993 to 2006 he was the technical and scientific coordinator of the National Agricultural Climate Risks Zoning of the Ministry of Agriculture, head of the National Network of Climate Change and the Agriculture Team in the Science and Technology Ministry, and coordinator of the Vulnerability Impacts group, in the Brazilian Panel on Climate Change. Nowadays, he coordinates several Brazilian projects in the area of climate change and its impacts on agriculture. He is currently a researcher at Embrapa, scientific coordinator of the National Inventory of Greenhouse Gases of the Ministry of Science and Technology, professor of agribusiness at the Getulio Vargas Foundation in São Paulo, member of Low Carbon Agriculture Observatory since 2013 and coordinator of the sub-program Food Security of Food National Institute of Science and Technology- Climate Changes.

Simone Athayde

Simone Athayde is a Brazilian Associate Professor at Florida International University, with a joint appointment in the Department of Global and Sociocultural Studies and the Kimberly Green Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies. Dr. Athayde holds a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Ecology from the University of Florida. Dr. Athayde’s mission is to achieve excellence in the science-policy interface, as well as in science education and communication, towards reconciling social justice, biodiversity conservation and development, locally and globally. As an environmental anthropologist and interdisciplinary ecologist, her research examines the impacts of large infrastructure projects and climate change on indigenous peoples and local communities across the Amazon. Dr. Athayde has worked across the Amazonian region for over 20 years, supporting indigenous peoples and local communities’ self-determination, sustainable livelihoods, and territorial rights.

Tasso Azevedo

Tasso Azevedo coordinates the SEEG Network, a System to Estimate GHG Emissions in Brazil, Peru and India, as well as MAPBIOMAS a platform to produce historical annual land cover and land use maps of Brazil, Amazon Basin and other regions through a multi-institutional collaboration. He is a forestry engineer graduate at University of São Paulo and was founder and director of the Institute of Forest and Agriculture Management and Certification (IMAFLORA). Tasso was Director of the National Forest Program at the Ministry of Environment and general-secretary of the National Forest Commission. He was the first Chief & Director General of the Brazilian Forest Service and one of the key people involved in the design and implementation of the National Plan to Combat Deforestation and the Amazon Fund. Tasso serves as board member on several organizations including the Business Forum on Climate Change, Rainforest Alliance, NEPCon, Imazon, Imaflora and IEMA and teaches at pos-graduate programs on sustainability related issues and is columnist at O Globo newspaper and Epoca Negocios magazine. In 2013 he received the Bright Award, Stanford University’s Global Sustainability Award, was a in TED Global in 2014 and was a climate and forest consultant for the opening ceremony of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

André Baniwa

Nasceu na comunidade de Tucumã-Rupitã, no alto Içana (AM). Logo em seguida, a família mudou-se para a comunidade de Ipadu Ponta, no Rio Negro (próxima à cidade de São Gabriel da Cachoeira), onde permaneceu até meados da década de 1980, quando a comunidade se desfez. De volta a Tucumã, em 1987 André foi estudar em Manaus, onde freqüentou como aluno, até o final de 1991, a Escola Agrícola Rainha dos Apóstolos, dirigida por um ex-padre católico. Novamente em Tucumã, assumiu a função de professor na sua comunidade de origem, como funcionário da prefeitura. Em meados de 1992, foi eleito segundo tesoureiro na fundação da Organização Indígena da Bacia do Içana (Oibi). Em 1996, André foi eleito presidente da Oibi, e reeleito duas vezes, em 2000 e 2004. Foi bolsista da Fundação Ashoka (2001 a 2003) e, desde janeiro de 2005, é vice-presidente da Federação das Organizações Indígenas do Rio Negro (Foirn), com sede na cidade de São Gabriel da Cachoeira, onde mora atualmente com a esposa e cinco filhos. Os Baniwa são hoje mais de 12 mil, e vivem em mais de 200 comunidades situadas na região limítrofe entre Brasil, Colômbia e Venezuela. Born in the community of Tucumã-Rupitã, in the upper Içana (AM), Andre worked as a teacher in his home community. Since January 2005, he has been vice-president of the Federation of Indigenous Organizations of Rio Negro (Foirn).

Jos Barlow

Jos Barlow is the UK principal investigator of NERC-FAPESP funded consortia, a co-founder of The Sustainable Amazon Network (Rede Amazonia Sustentavel) which has produced over 60 papers and policy briefs on human-modified Amazonian landscapes, Executive Editor of Journal of Applied Ecology, Trustee of WWF-UK, and Professor at the University of Lancaster and member of the teaching faculty at the Federal University of Pará, Brazil.

Luana S. Basso

Luana S. Basso is a Brazilian biologist and PhD in Sciences with emphasis on climate change and carbon cycle by the University of São Paulo (USP). She is currently pursuing her second Post-Doctorate at the National Institute for Space Research (INPE). She has over ten years of experience in tropical forest carbon balance, focused on understanding the role of the Amazon in the emission/absorption of greenhouse gases. Her current research activities involve determine the Amazon methane and carbon balance in a period during which the forest is likely to experience a warming and increasingly variable climate, as well as increasing direct human pressure.

Aoife Bennett

Aoife Bennett is an Irish political ecologist who holds a Ph.D. from the University of Oxford. He currently works as a Research Scholar at the Institute of Peruvian Studies in Peru.

“We that have contributed to the SPA urgent action for the Amazon have done so out of passion, love and awe for mother nature, but also because we wanted to create something that communicated our well informed great fear and distress for what will happen to nature if there is not better communication and understanding about the issues and possible solutions. As an author, I can say that the outcome is of much higher quality and impact than I had anticipated, and I am delighted and look forward to keeping up the momentum!”

Luis Donisete Benzi Grupioni

Luis Donisete Benzi Grupioni is a Brazilian anthropologist with a PhD in Anthropology from the University of São Paulo (Brazil). He is the executive coordinator of the Institute for Indigenous Research and Capacity Building – Iepé, and executive secretary of the Amazonian Cooperation Network – RCA. Luis Donisete was associate professor at the State University of Mato Grosso (Unemat) and at the University of São Paulo. He also advised the Brazilian Ministry of Education for the creation of the national policy on Indigenous education.

“It is urgent that we recognize the importance of the visions and ways of being of different Indigenous peoples who have lived for millennia in the Amazon rainforest, caring for and maintaining this heritage”

Erika Berenguer

Erika Berenguer is a Brazilian Senior Researcher Associate at the University of Oxford and Lancaster University. Originally from Brazil, she moved to the United Kingdom to pursue her Ph.D. degree on the degradation of Amazonian forests from Lancaster University. Specifically, she addresses the effects of different types of anthropogenic disturbance on carbon stocks and plant diversity in the Brazilian Amazon. Dr. Berenguer has more than 50 publications on tropical deforestation and its consequences on biodiversity, including recent scientific contributions to the prestigious scientific journals Science and Nature. Dr. Berenguer is also one of the coordinators of the Rede Amazônia Sustentável, a large research network focusing on human-modified landscapes.

“In the middle of an infodemic, it is important to consider when and how to get the most of the media attention and, as a consequence, bring our results to decision makers”

Carla Jaimes Betancourt

Carla Jaimes Betancourt is a Bolivian researcher, with a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Bonn lecturer at the Department for the Anthropology of the Americas, University of Bonn (Germany). In 2017, Carla has been president of the International Meeting of Amazonian Archaeology in Trinidad, Bolivia. Her research focuses on complex societies of the southwest Amazon, expansion and ethnogenesis processes, and heritage. Since 1999 Carla has been investigating monumental sites in the ‘Llanos de Moxos’, Bolivia. She also has experience with archaeological materials from the Ecuadorian, Peruvian and Brazilian Amazon that provide her with a regional view through time and space.

“The knowledge and memories of the past are alive in the people who are still fighting to preserve their culture(s) and defend their territory”

 

Laura Borma

Laura Borma is a Brazilian Researcher at the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), Brazil. Dr. Borma graduated in Civil Engineering from the Federal University of Ouro Preto and holds a Master’s and a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. Dr. Borma is an expert in ecohydrology, soil physics and soil-plant-atmosphere interaction and their role in the prospects of climate change, land use-land cover changes, and climatic extreme events. Member at the Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Project (LBA), she coordinated projects funded by the São Paulo Research Foundation-FAPESP on the role of the ecosystem services on the spatial and temporal rainfall distribution in the Amazon. She published papers, books and book chapters with emphasis on Hydrology and Ecohydrology of Amazon ecosystems. Dr. Borma is also Coordinator of the Laboratory of Ecohydrology at the Earth System Science Centre (LabEcoh CCST/INPE).

“The uncountable ecosystems processes that take in place in the Amazon are still a mystery that the science is continuously devoted to understand.”

André B. Junqueira

André B. Junqueira is a Brazilian ecologist with a PhD from the University of Wageningen, The Netherlands, and is currently based at the Institut de Ciència I Tecnologia Ambientals of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. He is interested in interdisciplinary research on ethnoecology and historical ecology. André has been doing research in Amazonia since 2006, exploring synergies between local and scientific knowledge to understand past, current and future patterns in socio-ecological systems.

“Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities have historically played an important role in the creation and conservation of Amazonian biodiversity and landscapes; in the face of the growing threats towards Amazonia, they are now even more crucial and should be supported by the whole society.”

Pedro H. S. Brancalion

Pedro H. S. Brancalion is a Brazilian scientist who holds a Ph.D. from the University of São Paulo with expertise in ecosystem restoration. He is currently a professor of tropical forestry and restoration ecology at the “Luiz de Queiroz” College of Agriculture, University of São Paulo. He is also vice-coordinator of the Atlantic Forest Restoration Pact and affiliated member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences.

“Amazon is complex and have critical problems to be addressed, science may shed light on the way forward.”

Paulo Brando

Paulo Brando is a Brazilian researcher with a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Ecology from the Florida University and who currently works at Yale University. Dr. Brando’s research explores the vulnerability of terrestrial ecosystems to repeated disturbances and prolonged degradation caused by human activities and extreme climate events. He aims to inform the general public and policy makers about the potential negative influences of climate and land use change on tropical ecosystems. His research combines field manipulation experiments, statistical and dynamic vegetation models, and remote sensing.

“We can only act on what we know and understand.”

Paulette Bynoe

Paulette Bynoe is a Guyanese scientist with a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Sussex, England. She is a Senior Lecturer and the Deputy Dean of the School of Graduate Studies and Research at the University of Guyana. She has 25 years of professional accomplishments as an interdisciplinary trained Environmental Specialist, and teaches different courses to postgraduate students in community disaster risk management, environmental impact assessment, environmental research methods, and environmental resources policy. In 2015, Paulette received the Golden Arrow of Achievement Award for environmental education, awareness and training and for research contribution to natural resource/environment policy making, by His Excellency, The President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana.

“The Amazon plays a critical role in sustaining all life on earth; especially when we consider the goods and services it offers, as well as its contribution to the fight against climate change”.

Emiliano Cabrera Rocha

Born in the Amazon, Emiliano is a PhD candidate in Geography at the University of Cambridge. He researches the construction of the “standing-forest bioeconomy” in the Brazilian Amazon based on fieldwork in Amazonas, Pará and São Paulo. He holds an MPhil in Latin American Studies from the University of Cambridge, where he examined controversial infrastructural projects in the Bolivian Amazon. He was awarded the Gates Cambridge Scholarship for both MPhil and PhD. Broadly, Emiliano is interested in the politics of knowledge and political ecology of land use change and the dynamics between science, economic imagination, and industrial policy.

“To achieve a just and vibrant sociobioeconomy in the Amazon, our work can’t be focused on the Amazon exclusively. Much of what happens in this region is connected to other places. Instead of solely working towards an Amazonian bioeconomy, we should seek to construct “biome-economies” across South America. By strengthening the ‘domestic’ economy of each biome, we can protect livelihoods from excessive exposure to the fluctuations of export-oriented economies.”

Patrick Caron

Patrick Caron is a French geography researcher and specialist on food systems. He holds a Ph.D. in development geography from the Paris Ouest University and was CIRAD Director- General from 2010 to 2016. Currently he is Vice-President of the University of Montpellier, President of Agropolis International, and member of many institutional bodies. He chaired the High Level Panel of Experts of the UN Committee on World Food Security (HLPE/CFS) from 2015 to 2019. Dr. Caron is a member of the French Academies of Agriculture and Technology. He is co-chairing the IV Conference on Global Food Security in 2020 in Montpellier, France, and is a member of the Scientific Committee of the UN Summit on Food Systems (2021).

“Without any voluntary measure and intervention, Amazonian resources are under threat, with catastrophic consequences for Amazonian people and countries and for the world.”

Juan Carillo

Juan Carrillo is a Colombian paleobiologist at the Natural History Museum in Paris. Born in Bogotá, Colombia, he has a bachelor in Biology from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia and a Master’s in Paleontology and a Ph.D. in Evolutionary Biology both from the University of Zurich, Switzerland. In the past, Juan has worked as a researcher in the Smithsonian in Panama, and at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. In 2019, he obtained the Colombian National Award on Natural Sciences from the Alejandro Angel Escobar Foundation. Juan has studied the past diversity of the tropics, using the fossil record for more than 10 years.

“The coordinated work of the scientists, stakeholders and the local communities is fundamental for the preservation of the Amazon forest. We cannot preserve what we do not understand.”

Ana Castro Euler

Ana Euler is a Brazilian forestry engineer who holds a Ph.D. in Environmental and Forestry Sciences from the Graduate School of Environment and Information Science – Yokohama National University, Japan. She has been working in the Amazon for the last 20 years, as project officer, public manager and researcher at Embrapa Amapá.

“There is no single solution for the complexity of the Amazon development. We must struggle to promote science and governance.”

Patrick Chesney

Patrick Chesney is a Guyanese scientist with a Ph.D. in Agroforestry from Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE) in Costa Rica. He has spearheaded the Guiana Shield Facility (GSF) for the promotion and delivery of support to the conservation and sustainable development of the Guiana Shield ecoregion. GSF’s work has been recognized by the Convention on Biological Diversity, the European Parliament and the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO). Dr. Chesney has more than 28 years of scientific and technical leadership experience working in the fields of agriculture, biodiversity conservation, environment and sustainable development. He is a part-time Lecturer at the University of Guyana, and a reviewer for the Agroforestry Science journal.

“The Amazon is more than about forests. It is also about people and their cultures and traditions, other forms of biodiversity, fresh water and other components that make up the web of life.”

Michael Coe

Dr. Michael Coe is an American earth system scientist who holds a Ph.D. in atmospheric sciences from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. He is a senior scientist and director of the tropics program at the Woodwell Climate Research Center.

Sandra Bibiana Correa

Sandra Bibiana Correa brings her expertise on riverine and fish ecology to the Science Panel for the Amazon. She earned a Ph.D. degree from Texas A&M University and a M.S. degree from the University of Florida. She is an Assistant Professor of Aquatic Ecology at the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Aquaculture, Mississippi State University, USA. Her research focuses on understanding the roles of temporal, spatial, and structural environmental heterogeneity on the maintenance of biodiversity and fisheries productivity in large rivers. Drawing on her experience working in the Amazon, Pantanal, and Southeastern USA, she seeks to explore the value of floodplain forests for aquatic biodiversity and fisheries productivity in the Amazon and globally. Findings from her research support floodplain restoration and climate change resilience initiatives.

“Because of the drastic environmental changes that the Amazon region is facing, there is an urgent need to take action.”

Francisco Cuesta

Francisco Cuesta is an Ecuadorian scientist with a Ph.D. in Tropical Ecology from the Universiteit van Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He is currently a senior researcher at the Universidad de las Américas (UDLA), Ecuador, where he directs several research projects focused on studying the relationship of functional diversity in the productivity of tropical mountain ecosystems. Dr. Cuesta directs five master’s theses, co-directs three doctoral dissertations from the Universities of Texas at Austin (USA), Wageningen (The Netherlands) and Diken University (Australia). His research is aimed at understanding the effects of climate change and land-use dynamics on the ecosystems of the Andes. He is the scientific director of the GLORIA-Andes Network.

“The Amazon is responsible for at least 20% of the terrestrial net primary production (NPP) and the richest biome on Earth. Yet, is highly endangered due to anthropogenic drivers of change”.

Nicolas Cuvi

Nicolás Cuvi is an Ecuadorian biologist with a Master in Science Communication, and a Ph.D. in History of Science from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain. He is currently a Professor at the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO Sede Ecuador), where he teaches Ecology, Urban Ecology, Anthropology and the environment, Science and Power, and also does research in Environmental History. Nicolás is Lead Author in one of the chapters of the 6th Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He has received the Isabel Tobar Guarderas Award for best Social Sciences production between 2016 and 2017, the Jorge Mantilla Ortega Award in 2012, and the Prisma Casa de las Ciencias Award in 2006. He was Research Director at the Science Interactive Museum of Quito, and Director of Letras Verdes. Revista Latinoamericana de Estudios Socioambientales. He also dedicates time to agroecology and beekeeping.

“The Amazon is the forest that holds the world together. The SPA Report will help more people understand its importance.”

Liliana Dávalos

Liliana Dávalos is a Colombian scientist with a Ph.D. in Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology from Columbia University, United States. She is a professor of Conservation Biology at Stony Brook University’s Department of Ecology and Evolution. She leads the Tropical Biology group, which studies extinction and survival in deep time, functional genetics in non-model mammals, and deforestation. Among other topics, her lab examines the connections between policies, tropical forest loss, and the growth of agricultural commodities including the illegal coca crop (the raw material to produce cocaine). Her research also involves the range of activities with the greatest impact on the largest number of species to plan and implement conservation, and thereby shape policies for a biologically sustainable future.

“By comprehensively condensing scientific findings from thousands of contributions, the SPA Report will be a benchmark for evidence-based conservation in the Amazon.”

Francisco de Assis Costa

Francisco de Assis Costa is a Brazilian economist with a PhD in Economics from Freie Universität-Berlin (1988), Germany. He is a Full Professor at the Federal University of Pará, in Center for Higher Amazon Studies (NAEA) and in the Post-Graduate Program in Economics. Research productivity fellow at CNPq until 2020, he was a Visiting Fellow at the Center for Brazilian Studies (CBS) at Oxford University (2007). Francisco was Director of the of Regional, Urban and Environmental Studies at IPEA in 2011 and 2012.

Géraldine Derroire

Géraldine Derroire is a French ecologist. She holds a PhD from Bangor University (UK) and SLU (Sweden). She studies forest dynamics and especially forest response to anthropic disturbance and secondary succession. Her research finds applications in forest management, especially selective logging, and restoration. She is a member of the TmFO network and the scientific manager of the research station of Paracou in French Guiana (2017-2024).

Carolina Doria

Carolina R.C. Doria is a Brazilian biologist with a Ph.D. degree in Socio-environmental Science from Pará Federal University (Brazil). She has been a professor at the Rondônia Federal University Biology Department since 1998, coordinating the Ichthyology and Fisheries Laboratory and the Fish Collection. She is also a member of the Ação Ecológica Guaporé (ONG) and the International Research Network on Amazonian Dams. For 20 years, she has worked with environmental conservation and development on the Amazon. Her research interests include ichthyology and fisheries, community-based management of natural resources, dams ‘impacts, citizen science, governance and resilience of socio-ecological systems in the Amazon.

“The Amazon rainforest and its high socio- biodiversity is a bank of ecological services (climate, water, natural resources; potential medicine) for local communities and for the world.”

Amy Duchelle

Amy Duchelle is an American Climate Change Team Leader & Senior Scientist at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) in Bogor, Indonesia. She leads CIFOR’s Global Comparative Study on REDD+, which engages a dynamic network of research partners and stakeholders to produce information, analysis and tools to support tropical forest conservation and sustainable development. Amy was featured as one of “16 Women Restoring the Earth” by the Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) for International Women’s Day 2020. Before moving to Indonesia in 2015, Amy lived in Brazil for many years and has worked in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia.

“This is a critical moment for tropical forests globally. The SPA unites the best science with stakeholder engagement to promote sustainability in the Amazon, something everyone’s future depends on.”

Fabrice Duponchelle

Fabrice Duponchelle is a French scientist with a Ph.D. in biological oceanography from the University Paris 6 – University of Bretagne Occidentale (UBO), France. During his postdoctoral period, he was the Senior Ecologist/Conservation Planner of the Lake Malawi Biodiversity Conservation Project of the Global Environment Facility (GEF). He is a researcher at the French Institute of Research for Development (IRD) and member of the International Mixt Laboratory EDIA (Evolution and Domestication of the Amazonian Ichthyofauna). His research interests focus on fish ecology, evolution and conservation and in particular on the evolution of fish life history strategies in relation to natural and anthropogenic environmental constraints.

“Urgent conservation actions and changes of policies are needed. Releasing the SPA report before the next international convention on climate change and biodiversity might help policy makers understand the urgency.”

Ana María Durán Calisto

Ana María Duran Calisto is an Ecuadorian architect, urban and environmental planner, researcher, academic advisor, and writer. She is a doctoral candidate at UCLA, working on a dissertation on the history of urbanization of Amazonia. In 2010, she received a Loeb Fellowship from Harvard University in order to develop an open research network devoted to investigate the impacts of continental infrastructures, particularly bi-oceanic corridors, in South America. In 2002, she co-founded the design firm Estudio A0, which has received national and international awards. Her essays have been published in numerous books and magazines. She currently teaches at Yale Architecture School.

“The autonomy and self-determination of the inhabitants of Amazonia need to be respected, including their right to choose their own economic model.”

Andres Mauricio Escobar Moreno

Andres Escobar is a Colombian researcher, currently pursuing his PhD at the Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen. He has a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Antioquia in Colombia, and on conflict research and management from the Willy Brandt School of Public Policy in Erfurt. He is a research assistant at the Chair of International Relations and Transnational Politics at the University of Leipzig. His research interests are rural development, land distribution, poverty, peace-building and conflict.

Jhan Carlo Espinoza

Jhan Carlo Espinoza is a Peruvian researcher with a Ph.D. in Environmental Science from the Pierre et Marie Curie University of Paris, France. Currently, he is a researcher at the French Institute of Research for Development (IRD), with experience in research activities in Peru, France, Argentina and Brazil. In 2015, Jhan Carlo was nominated for the Peruvian state to the Science Prize for Innovation, Research and Education, in the theme Disaster Risk Reduction. He was one of authors of IPCC-SRCCL 2019 and he is currently General Coordinator of the Amazon-Andes Connectivity project (AMANECER) of Make Our Planet Great Again program of the French government.

“The Amazon basin includes a wide variety of mountain climates that provide water and nutrients to the lowlands. The Andean-Amazon system interacts in a very fragile equilibrium that we must protect.”

Adriane Esquivel

Adriane Esquivel Muelbert is a Brazilian ecologist aiming to understand the effect of current anthropogenic-related environmental changes on biological systems. Dr. Esquivel-Muelbert started to work in the Amazon during her PhD, when she visited the region for the first time. Since then, Dr. Esquivel-Muelbert has been in love with Amazonia. She investigates how forests respond to different forces and what the implications of these responses are on biodiversity and global biogeochemical cycles. Her work uses field-based data to investigate forest dynamics at a macroecological scale. Dr. Esquivel-Muelbert is passionate about tropical forests and their complexity, particularly the Amazon, and she seeks to translate her research into conservation efforts. Adriane was born in Panamá and grew up in Brazil with the Atlantic Forest very close to home, which inspired her to become a Tropical Ecologist.

“Saving the Amazon is protecting the most valuable gift nature has to offer: diversity. Every patch of forest that is gone, is gone forever and is taking with it millions of years of evolutionary history.”

Philip Martin Fearnside

Philip M. Fearnside is an American biologist at the National Institute for Research in Amazonia (INPA) in Manaus, Brazil since 1978. He holds a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from the University of Michigan with over 700 publications and membership in the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. He was identified in 2006 as the world’s 2nd most-cited scientist on global warming, in 2011 as the 7th most cited on sustainable development, and in 2021 as “most influential” in Brazil on climate change.

“The environmental services of Amazonian ecosystems are essential both for the Amazonian countries and for the world. Our children and future generations will not forgive us if we fail to act to maintain these ecosystems and their services.”

Maria Teresa Fernández Piedade

Biologist, master and doctor in Ecology; postdoctoral (Universities of Cambridge and Essex, United Kingdom). Researcher at INPA, Manaus, since 1988. Member of the LBA International Scientific Council (2001-2015); SBPC representative at the National Wetlands Council (CNZU/MMA) (2012-2019). PELD/MAUA/CNPq researcher (coordinator: 2013-2019). Coordinator of the Ecology and Limnology Advisory Committee/CNPq (2013-2016). Coordinator of Brazil-Germany cooperation (MCTIC-INPA – Max-Planck Society) in Wetland Studies (1992-2023). Current president of the Board of Directors of the Mamirauá Institute for Sustainable Development (IDSM). Member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (ABC). Commander of the National Order of Scientific Merit, MCTI (2023).

The SPA is an excellent opportunity to catalyze orchestrated actions between different organisms and institutions, reducing the overlaps and increasing the effectiveness of results to allow the rational exploitation of the standing forest and provide food security. We have a lot to learn from ancestral populations. They have to be actively involved in the debates.

Joice Ferreira

Joice Ferreira is a Brazilian Ecologist who has been working in the Eastern Amazon for the last 16 years as a researcher at EMBRAPA. Joice is interested in contributing to solutions for the complex socioecological problems linked to agricultural expansion and forest management in the Amazon. In 2019, Joice was awarded with the British Ecological Society Ecological Engagement Award. She is currently developing research relating land-uses, forest degradation, fires and forest regeneration with the provision of ecosystem services, biodiversity conservation, and the well-being of rural communities.

“The SPA is a fabulous opportunity for acting collectively towards a better future for the Amazon and its people.”

Matthew Finer

Matthew Finer is an American Research Specialist at Amazon Conservation. After getting his doctorate from the School of Biological Sciences at Washington State University in 2003, Dr. Finer has been focused on Amazon conservation issues. Most notably, he joined the organization Amazon Conservation in 2013 and led the creation of MAAP (Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project). MAAP specializes in advancing the dynamic new field of satellite-based real-time deforestation monitoring. Since 2013, Finer has published over 120 high-impact reports on the MAAP portal regarding the major deforestation cases, trends, drivers, and patterns of the day. Most recently, Dr. Finer has been helping develop new satellite-based techniques to monitor Amazon fires and degradation (illegal logging), in real-time as well.

“The future of the Amazon is still at play, highly threatened, but the core still there. Now is the time to highlight the key data that can inform current and future conservation actions and policies.”

Suzette Flantua

Suzette Flantua is a Dutch researcher at the University of Bergen, Norway, with a Ph.D. on climate dynamics from the University of Amsterdam. Dr. Flantua’s main research interest is to understand what determines biodiversity in and around mountain regions by studying the impact of climate dynamics at various time scales (past, present, future). Dr. Flantua is particularly interested in the way historical environmental factors (climate and geology) and humans influenced contemporary biodiversity patterns. She uses a biogeographical and palaeoecological approach, taking advantage of recent developments in landscape modelling (GIS) and palaeoecological data availability. Most of her work has dealt with the tropics where Dr. Flantua has also organized and participated in numerous field expeditions of the Northern and Central Andes, and savanna lowlands.

Ayan Fleischmann

Ayan Fleischmann is a full researcher at the Mamirauá Institute in Central Amazon and coordinator of the Conexões Amazônicas initiative (conexoesamazonicas.org) for science communication. As an interdisciplinary hydrologist, his research aims to understand environmental dynamics in tropical wetlands and the impacts of environmental changes on water resources and social-ecological systems.

“The Amazon water cycle is changing, and environmental changes pose major threats to the basin’s complex social-ecological systems. Science-oriented public policies are needed to improve the basin’s resilience to such changes.”

Bernardo Flores

Bernardo Flores is a Brazilian researcher at the University of Campinas (Brazil). Dr. Flores defended his Ph.D. Double Degree in 2016, at Wageningen University (NL) and the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (BRA), and his M.Sc. in 2011 at the National Research for Amazonian Research (Brazil). From 2017 through 2020, Dr. Flores was a postdoc at University of Campinas (Brazil). His research focuses on tropical vegetation dynamics, connecting broad to local scales, using remote sensing, field data and experimental approaches. Dr. Flores has spent most of his time investigating the impacts of wildfire disturbances in the Amazon forest and how these perturbations may cause forest collapse and the shift to a savanna or degraded ecosystem state. In applying the theory of dynamical systems to tropical terrestrial ecosystems, Dr. Flores often addresses feedback mechanisms and the resilience of alternative stable states.

“The Amazon is vital to maintain the global climate stable and the supply of ecosystem services globally.”

Sandra Maria Fonseca da Costa

Sandra Maria Fonseca da Costa is a Brazilian Geographer who holds a Ph.D. in Space Information from the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo and the University of New South Wales (1995).

“SPA supports research on the Amazon region, giving visibility to its socio-environmental problems, which supports the elaboration of public policies of a regional nature.”

Roosevelt García-Villacorta

Roosevelt García-Villacorta is a Peruvian tropical ecologist of Amazonian ecosystems with a Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh. He is currently the Scientific Director of the Ecosystem Restoration Program at the Center for Amazon Scientific Innovation.

“The Amazon basin represents a unique laboratory to study the evolution of plants and animals on the variety of habitats created by its millions of years of interaction with the Andes, and the Guiana and Brazilian shields. They together maintain key ecological processes and ecosystem services that are essential for humanity.”

Rachael Garrett

Rachael Garrett is an American researcher at the ETH Zurich University (Switzerland). Dr. Garrett’s research examines interactions between land use, ecosystem services, and economic development at multiple spatial and temporal scales to better understand the drivers and impacts of land change and the effectiveness of existing conservation policies and practices. She is particularly interested in how commodity supply chains interact with environmental institutions to shape land use processes, resource distribution, and trade. Her research has largely focused on land change processes in agriculture-​forest frontiers and sustainable intensification of pastures in the tropics. More broadly she is interested in solutions to achieve zero-​deforestation and zero forest degradation globally, while scaling up more sustainable land use practices and restoration of degraded ecosystems.

“Though iconic for its expansive forests and biodiversity, the Amazon is also critical to global food security and wellbeing.”

Luciana Gatti

Luciana V. Gatti is a Brazilian Climate Change researcher at the National Institute for Space Research, INPE, (Brazil), with a Ph.D. in Science from the Sao Carlos Federal University. Dr. Gatti is a Researcher 1D with the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development productivity grant, and LaGEE Coordinator (Greenhouse Gas Laboratory) at CCST|INPE – Earth System Science Center. She has participated in Amazon studies since 1999, in collaboration with groups from NOAA, and universities of Colorado, Leeds, Wageningen, Leicester, and several other European and American universities, as well as conducted studies using vertical profiles with small aircrafts to study Carbon flux from several Amazon regions. Dr. Gatti is currently completing a decade studying Amazon Carbon Balance, where the main objective is to understand the Interannual variation of Amazon Basin greenhouse gas balances and their controls in a warming and increasingly variable climate.

Juan Manuel Guayasamin

Juan Manuel Guayasamin is an Ecuadorian Professor at the San Francisco de Quito University (USFQ). He obtained his Master’s and PhD degrees in ecology and evolutionary biology from the University of Kansas under the supervision of Dr. Linda Trueb. Dr. Guayasamin is also co-director of the Laboratory of Evolutionary Biology at Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ), and a member of the Ecuadorian Academy of Sciences. Dr. Guayasamin has published more than 90 scientific papers on evolution, systematics, ecology, biogeography, and conservation of Neotropical animals, mainly amphibians.

“Saving the Amazon contemplates an ethical issue of major significance: conserving the most diverse region of Earth, where each species is the outcome of a unique and unrepeatable process.”

 

Anna Guiteras Mombiola

Anna Guiteras Mombiola is a Spanish postdoctoral researcher at Pompeu Fabra University, Spain. She holds a Ph.D. in History from the University of Barcelona. In 2014–2016 Dr. Guiteras Mombiola was a postdoctoral fellow at University of Cologne (Germany), and in 2018 was adjunct lecturer at the University of Barcelona. Her research focuses on the colonization of the Bolivian Amazon, the changes that occurred in native societies perceived as civilized due to their insertion into the new liberal and republican order, the educational projects designed to promote the incorporation of certain ethnic groups into national society, and the asymmetrical relationship emerged within societies that were under a mission regime in the Colonial era and the reproduction and adaptation of indigenous categorizations in the Republican times.

“It is necessary to show the complexity and heterogeneity of the different Amazonian ethnic groups´ realities and give them visibility as historical subjects with specific needs and interests.”