PPI Steering Committee

PPI is currently governed by a steering committee of six ethnoscientists based around the world.

Miguel Alexiades,  co-director of PPI, has conducted research in Amazonian ethnobotany, ethnoecology, community health and medicinal plants since 1985. He has collaborated extensively with the regional indigenous federation of Madre de Dios, Peru, working as a facilitator and trainer, and carrying out applied research. Much of his research and applied work has revolved around Ese Eja land and resource rights in the border areas of Peru and Bolivia. Since 2004 he has been advising the Ese Eja on the use of digital mapping and video technology to document and uphold knowledge and rights linked to their cultural landscapes and ancestrally occupied lands.

Tony Cunningham is an applied ethnoecologist working on natural resource use by local people. Tony’s main interest is the links between people and conservation, centered on the economic, medicinal, nutritional, and utilitarian values of natural resources to people, and conflicts between conservation areas and local communities. Over the past 28 years, he has worked in East Africa (Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania), southern Africa (Botswana, Malawi, Namibia, Zimbabwe, South Africa), West Africa (Cameroon, Cote d'ivoire), South Asia (Nepal, India), East Asia (Bali) and Oceania (Australia, Fiji) in habitats from desert to tropical rainforest.

Sarah Laird, co-director of PPI, works in the field of forest and biodiversity conservation. In part her work has focused on building equity into the genetic resources trade, and the development of policies to guide 'access and benefit sharing' under the Convention on Biological Diversity. Sarah also undertakes and manages research and applied projects on non-timber forest products (NTFPs), primarily in Africa. Since 1997, Sarah has also undertaken ethnobiological research around Mt Cameroon with Bakweri and other groups living in the area.

Chuck Peters is a forester and plant ecologist who studies the ecology, use, and management of tropical forest resources.  He has been investigating ways to improve the management of tropical forests for over 25 years. Most of this research is done in close collaboration with local community groups. He has conducted long-term field research in the Peruvian Amazon, Papua New Guinea, West Kalimantan, Indonesia, and Veracruz, Mexico, and has directed community forestry projects in Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, Uganda, and Cameroon. Chuck’s current research looks at the exploitation of rattan in tiger preserves in Myanmar.

Silvia Purata is a tropical ecologist, who works supporting communities to manage their forest resources sustainably, in order to conserve Mexico’s rich cultural and biological diversity. She writes resource use manuals directed to peasants and forest technicians, and collaborates with NGO’s to organize training workshops. She has also been involved in certification of good forest management under Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) standards.   In the past years she contributed to the development of a management plan to sustainably manage the wood used to carve the famous “alebrijes” from Oaxaca, and together with artisans from Arrazola, developed the Eco-alebrije brand. Her actual research in a forest community in Campeche is aimed at diversifying income from forests, by developing activities such as wood handicrafts, and native bee’s honey production.

Patricia Shanley has over 20 years of experience in temperate and tropical research and education, specifically on non-timber forest products (NTFPs). During the past ten years she has worked with forest-based communities in the eastern Amazon, concentrating on the impacts of logging on locally valued non-timber fruit and medicinals and the comparative economic value of timber and non-timber species for rural communities. Patricia is currently a research scientist at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) in Bogor, Indonesia.  For a list of Shanley's publications, click here.