Videos
Featured Scientist: I. Foster Brown, Ph.D. Senior Scientist
Project: Strengthening environmental management in the Brazilian southwestern Amazon.
WHRC Scientist Foster Brown has lived and worked in the far western Amazon, in the State of Acre, for more than two decades. His research activities have concentrated on improving the early warning systems for disasters in southwestern Amazonia and measuring how fast the state is clear-cutting and degrading the forests. Dr. Brown explains, “When I try to distill my motivation of why I do science, it comes down to influencing people and their decisions about how we use the planet. If the knowledge produced doesn’t reach people who are making decisions then much of the value of what I do would be lost.” Acre has become a world leader in subnational REDD negotiations and perhaps the most difficult factor affecting the viability of Acre’s proposal will be the informed consent of rural communities to partake in the initiative, in other words, reducing their deforestation rates.
Video: Sonaira Souza, photographer, and Julie Messias, editor. Produced by Research Associate Kathleen Savage.
Image: Envira River in Acre, western Brazil. Courtesy of Stephen Perz. Composite design by Development Solutions of New England (DSNE).
