LASPAU: Informativo, Fall 2004

By Fay Henderson de Díaz, Director of Program Relations and Management, LASPAU

Thirty-five alumni from the Fulbright ecology and faculty development programs whose U.S. graduate studies were related to environmental preservation and sustainable development participated in the Leadership for Sustainable Development seminar in June 2004. The one-week seminar was held at the Instituto Centroamericano de Administración de Empresas (INCAE) campus in Costa Rica and drew on INCAE’s faculty resources, including those from the Center for Competitiveness and Sustainable Development, which researches, disseminates, and promotes strategies for sustainable development in the region.

The seminar included five days of lectures, discussions, and group activities related to environmental public policy and analysis, social enterprises, sustainable development and competitiveness, ecotourism development, environmental conflict resolution, negotiation, and integrated appraisal of development projects. A two-day field trip to Monteverde offered participants a first-hand look at successful examples of integrated ecotourism, organic production, conservation of protected areas, and rural community development.

The seminar was coordinated by Enrique Ogliastri, who also taught the negotiation sessions. Roberto Artavia, INCAE’s rector, gave the keynote address. Other participating INCAE faculty included René Castro, Sarah Cordero, Felipe Pérez Pineda, Lawrence Pratt, Julio Sergio Ramírez, and Roy Zúñiga.

LASPAU has found that Fulbright alumni seminars on important issues facing the hemisphere are a highly effective way to enhance the skills and knowledge of alumni while reinforcing both the participants’ commitment to the Fulbright Program and the networks that were created during and after their academic exchange programs. The Leadership for Sustainable Development participants supported this perception in their evaluations, which were unanimously positive.

The participants indicated that the seminar focus and content dealt with major issues in their professional lives and that what they had learned was immediately applicable. Moreover, they emphasized that the negotiation sessions gave them powerful new skills to advance their work as environmentalists. Finally, they made special mention of the importance of events, such as the seminar, that bring together former grantees and offer an opportunity for professional networking that will further positive environmental initiatives in the hemisphere.

Leadership for Sustainable Development Seminar Participants
(listed by country)

Iris Edith Peralta Martínez, U. de Cuyo and CONICET, Argentina

Lorna Inniss, Coastal Zone Management Unit, Barbados

Leighton Finbar Waterman, Shell Antilles & Guianas Ltd., Barbados

Karla da Silva Rocha, U. Federal de Acre, Brazil

Hilton Pereira Silva, U. Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Ricardo Luis Bastos Tarifa, The World Bank–Brazil Rain Forest Unit

Maria Silvia Romitelli, Secretaria de Estado do Meio Ambiente, São Paulo, Brazil

Pablo Donoso Hiriart, U. Austral de Chile

Mauro Estéban González Cangas, U. Austral de Chile

Jaime Enrique Jiménez Hott, U. de Los Lagos, Chile

Alberto Uribe-Jongbloed, Escuela Colombiana de Ingeniería, Colombia

Clara Patricia Peña Venegas, Instituto Amazónico de Investigaciones Científicas, Colombia

Mario Sánchez Ramírez, U. Surcolombiana, Colombia

Maikel Méndez Morales, Instituto Costarricense de Acueductos y Alcantarillado, Costa Rica

Ignacio Escorriola Giovannini, Asociación Ambiental VIDA, Costa Rica

Kelvin Antonio Guerrero Ramírez, Fundación Amigos del Parque Nacional del Este, Dominican Republic

Galo Zapata Ríos, Wildlife Conservation Society, Ecuador

María Mercedes López-Selva Quintana, Ecology Project International, Guatemala

José Enrique Benítez, U. de San Carlos de Guatemala

Mario Alberto Méndez Muñoz, U. de San Carlos de Guatemala

Juan Carlos Villagrán Colón, The Nature Conservancy, Guatemala

Carla Henríquez, Escuela Agrícola Panamericana, Honduras

Gerardo Borjas Machado, U. Nacional Autónoma de Honduras

Dinie Espinal Rueda, Escuela Agrícola Panamericana, Honduras

Pedro Méndez Guardado, U. de Guadalajara, Mexico

María Antonia Mallona Narváez, Peace Corps, Nicaragua

Osvaldo Jordán Ramos, Alianza para la Conservación y el Desarrollo, Panama

Anibal Antonio Valiente Zavala, U. Nacional de Asunción/U. Católica “Nuestra Señora de la Asunción”, Paraguay

Nilton Eduardo Deza Arroyo, U. Nacional de Cajamarca, Peru

Jorge Luis Hurtado Gonzáles, Asociación de Conservación para la Selva Sur, Peru

Edmundo G. Moreno Terrazas, U. Nacional del Altiplano, Peru

Gerard Peter Alleng, Energy Policy Consultant, Trinidad and Tobago

Gerardo Aymard Corredor, U. Nacional de los Llanos Occidentales “Ezequiel Zamora”, Venezuela

María Mercedes Castillo Uzcanga, U. Simón Bolívar, Venezuela

Mauricio Jeréz, U. de Los Andes, Venezuela

If you are interested in further information about this or any other program administered by LASPAU, please see the Programs section of LASPAU's website.