Andrea Chavez Advances EPIC-LAC work in the Andes/Amazonia Region
Andrea Chavez
EPIC-LAC Andes/Amazonia Consultant
andreabirgitchavez@gmail.com
Favorite Place
Community-centered and farmer-driven farmer’s market and local community parks.
If applicable, briefly describe your first interaction with a school-community project and the impact it had on you.
During 2013 and 2015, I was co-director of the project “Building Conservation Capacity in a Changing Amazonia” in Pucallpa, Peru. The project engaged students from the Universidad Nacional de Ucayali to fulfill their undergraduate thesis in the remote Amazonian region of Purus and Yurua by integrating their research work with indigenous communities during an eight-week period. Part of the research entailed community work and training on topics relevant to the community and approved by them.
What are some of the top priorities you are working on this year?
Continue to advocate for guaranteeing basic rights, territories, and land-use practices of Indigenous and other traditional communities in their fight for respect for equality and land rights and target opportunities to build community-driven conservation efforts based on the needs of the people who are most dependent on these lands and waters.
In what ways are you looking to engage, or work with others, either from within the EPIC-Network or in general?
Work on effective approaches for collaboration and mutual strengthening between community organizations, NGOs, and academia. These include strategic alliances, capacity-training, innovative communication techniques, citizen participation, and knowledge generation.
Bio
Andrea Chavez has co-directed the activities of the Governance Infrastructure in the Amazon project from the Tropical Conservation and Development Program of the University of Florida. She is a Research Affiliate of the Space Ecology and Conservation Laboratory. Since 2009, Andrea has been working on capacity-building initiatives through applied research, training, and extension activities in natural resource management conservation in Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil. Andrea received her Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Florida, an M.A. in Political Science from Karl-Ruprechts-Universität in Heidelberg, Germany, and an M.A. in Geography from the University of Miami. Andrea has a deep interest in integrating science with society and fostering a better understanding between practice and theory. Likewise, a very important aspect is to promote knowledge as a service to society.
