Alcoa: Community: Conservation & Sustainability Fellowships: Sustainability Institutes
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Conservation & Sustainability Fellowships 
Overview
Program Background
Academic Partners
Sustainability Institutes
Profiles of Fellows
Publications and Presentations
Advancing Sustainability Conference
Program E-newsletter
The three sustainability institutes, selected by a global competitive process, mentor practitioner fellows as they complete six-month research projects in their home countries.

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
Tecnológico de Monterrey
World Wildlife Fund

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

Headquartered in Gland, Switzerland, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is the world's largest conservation network, with more than 1,000 staff located in 62 countries. The union has a unique worldwide membership, bringing together 82 states, 111 government agencies, and more than 800 non-governmental organizations, as well as 10,000 individual scientists and experts.

The organization's mission is to influence, encourage, and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable.

The goals and interdisciplinary nature of the Alcoa Foundation program reflect the approach IUCN takes to its work. The priority of IUCN's current program (2005-2008) is to build recognition of the many ways in which human lives and livelihoods, especially of the poor, depend on the sustainable management of natural resources. IUCN applies sound ecosystem management to conserve biodiversity and builds sustainable livelihoods for those directly dependent on natural resources.

The following research areas chosen for its Alcoa Foundation fellows reflect these target areas:
  • The linkages of the cultural and spiritual values of indigenous peoples and protected area objectives;
  • Biodiversity conservation and sustainable use of biological resources;
  • The implications for conservation of major demographic trends, including ageing, urbanization and population movements;
  • The implications for biodiversity of alternative new forms of energy; and
  • Corporate biodiversity management and reporting systems (including indicators) and the potential for synergy between corporate social responsibility (CSR) investment in social development and conservation outcomes.

For IUCN, the Alcoa Foundation program represents an opportunity for the organization to increase collaboration within its global community. The results obtained from the fellows' research may also contribute to the design of IUCN's 2008-2011 program.

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Fellows
Mercedes Otegui Acha
Nga Dang
Zhiling Dao
Eduardo Ditt
Josh Donlan
Pierre Iachetti
Kimberly John
Sebastien Luc Kamga Kamdem
Dr. Anil Kumar
Joe Liebezeit
Diego Tobar López
Ivo Mulder
Arlene Sampang
Jayant Sarnaik
Seth Shames
Sulastri
Edgardo Tongson
Pieter van Eijk
Bas Verschuuren

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IUCN staff around a timber lorry in Kongo Village, Cameroon
IUCN Photo Library © IUCN / Christian Laufenberg


International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Builds Collaboration, Leadership
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Tecnológico de Monterrey

A private, non-profit, nationwide university system with 96,000 students, Tecnológico de Monterrey (ITESM) comprises 33 campuses spread throughout 29 Mexican cities. The university is considered a world leader on the extensive use of distance education.

ITESM has identified six key research focus areas for its practitioner fellows in the Conservation & Sustainability Fellowship Program:
  • Environmental and risk assessments;
  • Sustainable use of water;
  • Environmental management and planning;
  • Technologies for sustainable development;
  • Land use planning and natural risk assessment; and
  • Conservation, restoration and sustainable management of natural resources.

As the fellows work to solve these problems and issues in their own regions, their learnings will be shared throughout Mexico. Conversely, the fellows will help spread research from ITESM faculty and specialists throughout the world.

ITESM has 15 years experience in creating and implementing project-oriented multidisciplinary teams, and this experience is being leveraged to enrich the ideas of the practitioner fellows.

In early 2006, ITESM's School of Engineering launched an initiative to merge the centers for environmental quality, water studies, solar energy, and energy studies into an integrated R&D center focused on innovation and technologies for sustainable development. This new organization will boost the already significant synergy among researchers at the individual centers and increase the multidisciplinary intervention in sustainable R&D projects. Strong partnerships with both the Graduate School of Business and the Public Policy School have also been developed under the new framework.

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Fellows
Rachel Bechem Akum
Indah Budiani
Njisuh Zebedee Feka
Justin Fong
Yulia Greenfeldt
Charlotte E. Gonzalez Abraham
Jefferson Lima
Teresita Lomáscolo
Maria Lopez
Mercy Mwanikah Ojoyi
Marc Ndimukaga
Irina Onufrenya
Ross Povey
Jeanneney Rabearivony
Suresh Sharma
Luis Suarez
Zsofia Tomcsanyi
Caroline Wanjiru
Elisabet Wehncke
Lixin Yang
Lijuan Zhang

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Sustainability institute at Tecnológico de Monterrey


World Wildlife Fund—US

World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is the largest conservation organization in the world. Since 1961, the organization has worked to save endangered species, protect endangered habitats, and address global threats, such as deforestation, over-fishing, and climate change.

Known worldwide by its panda logo, WWF works in 100 countries on more than 2,000 conservation programs. It has 1.2 million members in the United States and nearly 5 million supporters worldwide.

WWF's practitioner fellows under the Alcoa Foundation program are focusing their research in six areas that dovetail with the mission of the organization:
  • Sustainable fisheries and marine sciences;
  • Sustainable forestry management and certification;
  • Climate change;
  • Sustainable development and macroeconomic policy;
  • Sustainable livelihoods; and
  • Large-scale project monitoring and evaluation.

Through this approach, research gained at the local level by an Alcoa Foundation fellow will serve as a model throughout WWF's global network.

The interdisciplinary aspect of the fellowship program aligns with and reinforces the approach taken by WWF in its conservation and sustainability work. The program is also opening new doors to collaboration and relationships with other program participants.

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Fellows
Akinyi Amwata
German Andrade
April Craighead
Pierre du Preez
Sugato Dutt
Giuliana Furci
James Gitundu Kairo
Monica Gruezmacher
Rodrigo Hucke-Gaete
Hemanta Kafley
Kim Ley-Cooper
Felipe Montoya-Greenheck
Anju Nihalani
Tamrini Nofel
Mwape Sichilongo
Shakil Visram
Kanglin Wang
Edward Whittingham
Qiang Xu

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