Fulbright Amazonia Week 2024
After 18 months of research and many challenges, Fulbright Amazonia Week took place inWashington, D.C., from December 6 to 12.
Representing Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Suriname, the United States, and Venezuela, sixteen Fulbright Amazonia scholars and two co-lead scholars finalized and shared their project findings, shared theirindividual and collaborative research on public health, economics, and the environment, and explained their public policy recommendations to the public and government representatives.
Events included a poster exhibition at the National Academy of Sciences, panels at the United States Instituteof Peace, and a live-streamed public policy symposium, as well as events at the Colombian and Brazilian embassies.
Colombian fellow Daniel Bustos presenting at the Poster Exhibition at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C. During a reception at the Colombian ambassador’s residence, a preview of his documentary Tigre Eléctrico (Electric Tiger) was screened, about the Siona indigenous people who live on the PutumayoRiver between Colombia and Ecuador.
In addition to Gathering in Belém , Brazil, and the Midterm Meeting in Leticia , Colombia, Fulbright Amazonia scholars also met monthly in virtual calls with their thematic research groups ( Climate ChangeAdaptation and Mitigation; Strengthening Human and Environmental Health; Bioeconomy and Sustainable Development ) and participated in 2- to 3- month in-person exchanges in the United States or other countries in the Amazon region. Thanks to these interactions and exchanges, “many more results willemerge through the collaborative network that has been built, which will last well beyond the program’s mandate,” said academic co-director Valério Gomes.
Carlos del Cairo and Daniel Bustos Echeverry, from Colombia, two of the 16 project fellows, were part of the working group focused on the theme “Strengthening Human and Environmental Health,” along with fellows Danny Pinedo, Ph.D., from Peru; Hortensia Caballero-Arias, Ph.D., from Venezuela; Paola Alejandra Torres-Slimming, Ph.D., from Peru; and Beth J. Feingold, Ph.D., from the United States.
Fellows from the Human and Environmental Health and Safety thematic group prepare for the public policysymposium.
Recommendations from project fellows to public policy makers in the
Amazon:
- Co-create innovative and effective institutional strategies to provide health care and communicateenvironmental health issues.
- Promote an intercultural perspective to implement health care policies and practices.
- Implement and enforce policies and programs that promote environmental justice as an alternative to illegal and extractive economies.
- Invest in the coordinated and routine collection and reporting of environmental and epidemiological data to inform health promotion strategies.
The fellows visited the residence of the Colombian Ambassador, with Minister Plenipotentiary Paulo César Mina Hurtado of the Colombian Embassy (center of the image).