December 6, 2024

Today, the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability (IOES) reports on UCLA research represented at the United Nation’s most recent biodiversity summit, COP 16.

Three of the faculty highlighted are UCLA professors of ecology and evolutionary biology:

Felipe Zapata, Co-Director of the Center for Tropical Research – sparked conversation around Colombia’s scientific diaspora and advocated for diaspora scientists to help bridge local and global conservation efforts.

Tom Smith, Founding Co-Director of the Center for Tropical Research and of the Congo Basin Institute (CBI) – along with CBI Managing Director Virginia Zaunbrecher – gave a presentation to share the CBI’s collaborative approach that promotes community-driven conservation efforts in Cameroon.

Elsa Ordway, Co-Director of the Center for Tropical Research and of the Congo Basin Institute – presented her NASA-funded PANGEA initiative, an international collaborative study to understand how tropical forests are responding to climate change and shape more-effective conservation policies.

Read more about COP 16 and the biodiversity research being done by UCLA researchers here.

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_{Left to Right: Tom Smith, Virginia Zaunbrecher, Elsa Ordway, and Filipe Zapata}