Washington, D.C. -- Carnegie staff scientist Greg Asner has been selected as one of 22 experts to serve the U.S. government as part of the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas (ECPA) through the Senior ECPA Fellows Program. The program will send 22 experts from the academic, non-profit, and private sectors in the United States to act as consultants and speak at engagements throughout the Western Hemisphere. Fellows will work with local government agencies, civil society groups, and universities to discuss regional impacts of climate change and energy policy, and develop relationships for continued multi-lateral cooperation.
Asner has been a staff scientist at Carnegie's Department of Global Ecology since 2001. His research is at the interface of ecosystems, land use, and climate change focusing on tropical deforestation and degradation, functional diversity of tropical canopies, conservation of African savannas, invasive species and climate change, and the effects of land use on the global carbon cycle. He has developed new technologies for conservation assessments, including tropical forest carbon emissions and stocks, hydrologic function and biodiversity. He leads the CLASLite forest change mapping project, spectranomics biodiversity project, and the Carnegie Airborne Observatory.
"Greg's science provides important insights on matters of enormous international significance," commented Carnegie president Richard A. Meserve. "We are proud of Greg's work and are pleased it is being acknowledged through his selection for the Fellows Program."
Director of the Department of Global Ecology Chris Field remarked, "Greg is the leading expert on forest carbon and deforestation. He can play a critical role in this important program."
At the 2009 Summit of the Americas, President Obama invited all countries of the Western Hemisphere to participate in the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas (ECPA)—a voluntary and flexible framework for advancing cooperation in seven pillars: renewable energy, energy efficiency, cleaner fossil fuels, energy poverty, infrastructure, sustainable landscapes, and adaptation. During his visit to Chile in 2011, President Obama stated: "Under the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas that I proposed, countries have stepped forward, each providing leadership and expertise. Brazil has expertise in biofuels, Chile in geothermal, Mexico on energy efficiency, El Salvador is connecting grids in Central America to make electricity more reliable. These are exactly the kind of partnerships that we need—neighbors joining with neighbors to unleash the progress that none of us can achieve alone."
In 2010, the Senior ECPA Fellows Program began sending Fellows throughout Latin America and the Caribbean to advance its seven pillars by sharing best practices and technical expertise. Partners of the Americas, an international grassroots network that connects volunteers, institutions, and communities to serve and to change lives, will implement the 2012-2013 Senior ECPA Fellows program.
The Department of Global Ecology was established in 2002 to help build the scientific foundations for a sustainable future. The department is located on the campus of Stanford University, but is an independent research organization funded by the Carnegie Institution. Its scientists conduct basic research on a wide range of large-scale environmental issues, including climate change, ocean acidification, biological invasions, and changes in biodiversity.
The Carnegie Institution for Science (carnegieScience.edu) has been a pioneering force in basic scientific research since 1902. It is a private, nonprofit organization with six research departments throughout the U.S. Carnegie scientists are leaders in plant biology, developmental biology, astronomy, materials science, global ecology, and Earth and planetary science.
The Senior ECPA Fellows Program seeks to facilitate the transfer of knowledge between the U.S. and Latin America in innovative solutions and technologies related to the areas of clean energy, sustainable urban development, climate change adaptation, and reducing emission from deforestation. For more information, visit www.partners.net/partners/ECPA_Senior_Fellows.asp?SnID=2.
Partners of the Americas is an international grassroots network that connects volunteers, institutions, and communities to serve and to change lives. Inspired by President Kennedy, today Partners is one of the largest volunteer-based organizations in the Western Hemisphere engaged in social, economic, and cultural development. By linking Latin America and the Caribbean with counterparts in the United States, Partners acts in long term, focused partnership with the people and places of the Americas. For more information, visit www.partners.net.