CU to Host Brazilian Environmental Scientists

March 1, 2012

Next month a group of leading environmental researchers and scientists from Brazil will visit the CU Boulder campus to participate in an exchange program organized by Colleen Scanlan Lyons (Ph.D.), the incoming Director of Research and Faculty for the Presidents Leadership Class, on the topic of "Environmental Governance."

The week of April 9-13th 2012, Brazilian academics and researchers from six institutions will come to Colorado to further develop this network with colleagues and students at CU and other universities. PLC will be hosting a reception for these visitors April 11th from 6-7 pm.

Professor Scanlan-Lyons is spearheading a group of CU professors to develop a research and student exchange network between CU Boulder and several universities and research institutes in the U.S. and Brazil.it will explore areas of conflict as well as collaboration as civil society, businesses, and governmental actors address issues of forest management and climate change mitigation, agricultural development, water management, land titling, and community development.

Over time, the U.S. - Brazil network will develop scholarship, practice, and cross-cultural relationships that are fundamental to better environmental governance in the United States and Brazil. It will create the foundation for long-term projects that are comparative as well as collaborative by coalescing a network of experts who are committed to empirical research, student education and mentorship, and professional exchange. Furthermore, the geographical as well as the topical breadth of this partnership will work towards developing cutting-edge research and educational programming on environmental governance that has value across diverse contexts as well as scales.

Additional information about the Brazil / CU collaboration and reception will be posted in the next few weeks.

Rio + 20 International Conference (June 18-22, 2012)

As a complement to the Center for Energy and Environmental Security (CEES) project and to further develop opportunities for PLC students, Dr. Scanlan Lyons is also investigating the possibility of bringing a small team of students to the UN Conference on Environment and Development, called Rio + 20, which will take place in Rio de Janeiro this coming June.

The goal of this trip will be to take a “student-driven approach” to the conference, guiding the students in ethnographic research on how youth are conceptualizing and becoming engaged with new approaches to a green economy as well as planning for sustainable development. T 

Three PLC students are interested in this opportunity and will be seeking funding from the Rotary Club and other sources to support their participation in the Rio + 20 conference and the accompanying “People’s Forum” which will focus on civil society interests. Scanlan Lyons is working with other CU professors who will be attending this conference, particularly from the Governor’s Climate and Forests Task Force (CU Law School) and CEES.