TCD ASSISTANTS
Ana Luiza Violato Espada
Ph.D. candidate in Forest Resources and Conservation, School of Forest Resources and Conservation; M.S. in Natural Resource Management and Local Development in the Amazon from the Federal University of Pará; B.S. in Forest Engineering from the University of São Paulo, Brazil.
Ana is a TCD member and PhD Candidate working with Dr. Karen Kainer. Ana has extensive professional experience working with tropical forest management, forest certification, community forest management and implementation of public policies related to sustainable natural resources management in the Brazilian Amazon. When she worked in a socio-environmental NGO (Tropical Forest Institute), Ana was involved with communities from Extractive Reserves in the Brazilian Amazon. From this experience, she developed her current research interests, which are to understand what has led communities to legally manage their timber, identify variation in co-managed forest schemes, and analyze how specific logging strategies and their integration of different types of knowledge have affected forest governance. Developing a participatory-action research in extractive reserves from Acre, Amazonas, and Pará states, her research will contribute to the understanding of the adaptive multi-stakeholder’s process to conserve forest and promote community empowerment. Website: https://anaviolatoespada.com/en/
Ana is jointly funded by the School of Forest Resources & Conservation and TCD at UF.
Cristina Nuñez Godoy
Ph.D. candidate in Interdisciplinary Ecology, School for Natural Resources & Environment; M.S. in Interdisciplinary Ecology from the University of Florida; B.A. in Business Administration from the National University of Salta, Argentina.
Cristina is interested in conducting research that intersects biodiversity conservation and economic development. Prior to starting her MS at UF, she explored the sustainable commercialization of Brazil nuts in the Brazilian Amazon, and, more generally, the development of markets for non-timber products. For her Master’s research, she explored how economic tools can be used to enhance livelihoods through wildlife certification programs to promote cashmere production in the Patagonian region of Argentina. She will continue her PhD at UF and switch her focus to examining payment for environmental service programs in the Chaco of Argentina.
Cristina is co-funded by the TCD program, SNRE, and the Department of Wildlife Ecology & Conservation.
Ernesto Viveiros de Castro
Ph.D. student in Interdisciplinary Ecology, School of Natural Resources and Environment; M.S. in Ecology and B.Sc. in Biology from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Ernesto is a biologist from Brazil and has been working in Protected Areas management for 17 years. He is an environmental analyst and researcher at ICMBio (Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade), the agency that manages Brazilian Federal Protected Areas. He was the manager of the Serra dos Órgãos National Park (2004-2011), General Coordinator of Public Use at ICMBio (2011-2012) and manager of the Tijuca National Park (2012-2018). He is also a member of World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA-IUCN) and the Tourism and Protected Areas Specialist Group (TAPAS-IUCN). Ernesto got his M.S. degree studying differential extinction vulnerabilities of small mammals in fragmented landscapes in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. As a manager, in the last years Ernesto did research mainly on nature-based tourism, but also studied animal reintroductions, invasive species and other aspects of Protected Area Management. As a Ph.D. student he is studying the contribution of long-distance trails to nature conservation, addressing ecological, economic and social aspects.
Ernesto is funded by the Brazilian Government, and TCD and SNRE at UF.
Juliana Santiago
M.A. student in the Center for Latin American Studies; M.S. in Corporate Finance, IAG-PUC – the Business School of the Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro; B.A. in Economics and Accounting from Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
In 2006 Juliana joined the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) after a 12-year career in the private sector. In these past years, she has been a part of some important efforts in the development of Brazil, having financed investments for segments crucial to her country’s sustainable development, such as forest protection, sanitation, solid waste management, transportation, and public management. With the world facing unprecedented environmental risks that must be mitigated while providing economic alternatives for people living in poverty, her mission in BNDES has expanded to encompass innovative policies that are both socially and environmentally sustainable. In 2013, Juliana was appointed head of the Amazon Fund, a pioneering instrument managed by BNDES for financing actions to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation while promoting the sustainable use of the Amazon, inspired by the REDD+ mechanism created by the UNFCCC. While monitoring projects in remote areas of the Amazon, she was moved by the experiences of traditional communities struggling to defend their territories from the ravages of loggers, miners and the expansion of agribusinesses. She has been inspired by hundreds of community-level initiatives to develop models of a forest-based economy that respects ecological, social and cultural values. She is absolutely convinced about the critical connections among tropical forests, climate change, and development.
Juliana Santiago is funded by TCD and the Center for Latin American Studies at UF.
Mahi Puri
Ph.D. candidate in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation; M.Sc. in Environmental Studies from TERI University, New Delhi; B.A. in Mathematics from St. Stephens College, Delhi University, India.
Mahi has been working on large carnivore ecology and conservation in India for the last 8 years. Her work has focused on conservation issues in human-dominated landscapes, identifying factors that allow carnivores to persist under extreme anthropogenic pressures. With a focus on interdisciplinary conservation, through her PhD research, Mahi hopes to identify tangible solutions that could help incentivize private landowners, while at the same time expand available habitat for wildlife. By being part of the TCD program, Mahi hopes to gain tools and skills necessary to establish participatory approaches to conservation.
Mahi is funded by the TCD program, UFBI and the Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation at UF.
Meshach Pierre
M.A. student in Criminology, Law and Society, Department of Sociology and Criminology & Law; Pg.Dip. in International Wildlife Conservation Practice from the University of Oxford; B.S. in Biology from the University of Guyana (Georgetown-Guyana).
Meshach has experience working with a variety of ecological and conservation projects in both Guyana and Suriname, especially focused on birds and large mammals. He was the 2014-2015 Panthera Winston Cobb Fellow, under which he studied large mammals in a logging concession with mixed land use. In 2018 he was awarded the Recanati-Kaplan scholarship to attend the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit’s (WildCRU) Postgraduate Diploma at the University of Oxford. There he studied human-black caiman conflict in villages in the Rupununi region of Guyana. Working in the field has taught him the value of indigenous community participation in the success of conservation programs. At UF Meshach hopes to learn more about the human dimensions of conservation. He plans to apply the skills he learns in interdisciplinary research that works towards human-wildlife coexistence in his home country of Guyana.
Meshach Pierre is funded by the TCD program and Department of Sociology and Criminology & Law at UF.
TCD/Moore Governance & Infrastructure in the Amazon Program Assistants
Sinomar Fonseca Jr.
Ph.D. student in Interdisciplinary Ecology, School of Natural Resources and Environment; M.S. in Tropical Biology and Natural Resources from the Amazonia Research National Institute (INPA); B.S. in Biological Sciences from the Federal University of Uberlandia, Brazil.
Sinomar has been working in protected areas management for the past 13 years in the Brazilian Amazon. He has worked with participatory monitoring programs, management plans with a focus on capacity building of a variety of stakeholders and local empowerment and involvement. For his dissertation research, Sinomar is interested in assessing the impacts of local level environmental policies and governance in the Brazilian Amazon.
Sinomar is jointly funded by Wildlife Conservation Society, TCD and SNRE at UF.
Carolina Jordão
Ph.D. student in Interdisciplinary Ecology, School of Natural Resources and Environment; M.S. in Environmental Engineering and B.S. in Environmental Management from the University of São Paulo, Brazil.
Carolina is an environmental manager from Brazil and has been working in environmental governance in the Brazilian Amazon for the past 8 years, including work with the NGO Instituto Centro de Vida (ICV). At ICV, she has worked with diverse set of stakeholders in the Amazon frontier of Mato Grosso State in Brazil, focusing on issues of municipal environmental management, social participation, forest governance, leadership training and capacity building and socio-environmental impacts of hydroelectric dams. She has worked with UF’s Amazon Conservation Leadership Institute team as both a student in two specialization courses and to develop similar courses for ICV. For her dissertation research, she is working with the Rede de Capacitação da Amazônia (Recam) network and is particularly interested in exploring issues around funding, collaboration and gender integration in socioenvironmental NGOs the Brazilian Amazon.
Carolina is funded by the TCD program and School of Natural Resources and Environment at UF, and through a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to TCD for the GIA project.
Felipe Veluk Gutierrez
Ph.D. student in Forest Resources and Conservation, School of Forest Resources and Conservation; M.S. in Management and Conservation of Tropical Forests and Biodiversity from CATIE, Costa Rica; B.S. in Forestry from ESALQ/University of São Paulo, Brazil.
Felipe is a passionate social-forester from Brazil interested in collaborative action-research related to governance, resilience of socio-ecological systems, community forest management, social activism/leadership and rural development in the Amazon and other parts of the Neotropics. He has been working for more than 20 years in Brazil and abroad (Australia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico) with organizations such as IUCN, CATIE, Conservation International – Brazil, among others. At UF he is working with the Governance and Infrastructure in the Amazon (GIA) Project, between the southern Amazonas and northern Rondônia states (Purus/Madeira interfluvial region), analyzing the different strategies and tools being used to promote good governance, conservation and development.
Felipe is funded by the Organization of the American States, TCD program at UF, and through a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to TCD for the GIA project.
Marliz Arteaga Gómez-García
Ph.D. student in Interdisciplinary Ecology, School of Natural Resources and Environment; Master in Sustainable Development and Practice from the University of Florida; B.S. in Environmental Engineering from the Military School of Engineering, Bolivia.
During her professional life, Marliz worked as an environmental consultant in different public and private institutions in the area of environmental management. She also worked as a program officer in different NGOs doing work focused on environmental education, sustainable livelihoods, and risk management in the Bolivian Amazon. Since 2007, Marliz has also been and is currently a professor at the Amazonian University of Pando. In addition, she is a tutor of the “Tu Beca Bolivia” program and is one of the leaders of the International Research Network: Amazon Dams International Research Network – ADN / RBA / RIRA. Her research is focused on environmental governance, political ecology, socio-ecological systems, participatory research, mixed research methods, and sustainable development.
Marliz is funded by the Bolivian Government, and through a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to TCD for the GIA project.
Pamela Montero-Alvarez
Ph.D. student in Tourism, Hospitality and Event Management; M.S. in Amazonian Studies from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru; B.S. in Biological Sciences from the National University of the Peruvian Amazon, Peru.
Pamela is a Peruvian biologist with experience in protected areas and community-based management of natural resources, planning and participatory tools for rural diagnosis. She has professional experience as a Specialist on Governance for the Regional Office of Loreto for “Peru Bosques” – a USAID/Peru Project, and later served as Specialist on Natural Protected Areas for the same project. Previous professional experiences include Director of Natural Resources of the Municipality of “Datem del Maranon”, Loreto-Peru, Community Management Specialist at the Regional Project for Conservation in Loreto (Maijuna Native Community Proposal and Tamshiyacu Tahuayo Protected Area). Pamela has also worked in the Maranon River Basin, as a Specialist on conservation and ecotourism for the National Bureau of Forestry and Wildlife, Ministry of Agriculture. Her recent project entitled “Developing Communal Monitoring Strategies through Community-Based Tourism in the Peruvian Amazon” was funded by The Rufford Foundation. Pamela identifies her research interests to include relationships between conservation and tourism, social capital, protected area conservation strategies linked to sustainable development, and community-based tourism.
Pamela is funded by Fulbright-LASPAU, TCD and the Tourism, Hospitality & Event Management Department at UF, and through a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to TCD for the GIA project.
Vanessa Luna
Ph.D. student in Interdisciplinary Ecology, School of Natural Resources and Environment; M.S. in Latin America Studies from the University of Florida; B.S. in Biology from the Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina, Peru.
Vanessa has experience working with ecological and conservation projects in the Peruvian Amazon as a science coordinator of two biological stations in Manu National Park. In this position she promoted information sharing of scientific data among park rangers, indigenous conservationists, government environmental regulators, among others. For her Masters’ degree at UF, she evaluated the effectiveness of communal conservation areas in Peruvian Amazon. By being part of the TCD program, Vanessa hopes to gain tools and skills related to the creation of regional and international alliances for the conservation of natural areas in the Amazon. She is also interested in the promotion of spaces where conservation efforts that really work are shared, so she is very excited to be part of the Governance of Infrastructure in the Amazon project (GIA).
Vanessa is funded by the TCD program and School of Natural Resources and Environment at UF, and through a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to TCD for the GIA project.