CNIC: Planning visits to develop U.S. - Costa Rica - Asia collaborative research and education initiatives in biodiversity and sustainability in the tropics

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Sustainability research examines the complex interactions between humans and the rest of nature, which have resulted in climate, land-use, and other environmental changes. Although sustainability studies are increasingly included within temperate regions, they are rarely included within studies of tropical ecosystems. This award will support workshops in Costa Rica and China to foster the inclusion of sustainability within biodiversity research in the tropics. The project will bring together existing teams of researchers from the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS), Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XTBG-CAS) and the Center for Tropical Forest Science (CTFS) plus social scientists and policy developers to develop recommendations on how best to incorporate sustainability questions within tropical systems research.Sustainability research recognizes the importance of simultaneously considering social, economic and natural aspects to the long-term viability of tropical systems. Forming an alliance among US, Costa Rican and Asian scientists will create research, education and training opportunities for students, post-docs, junior and established researchers in each of the three regions that will have long term and far reaching impacts on research in tropical systems. The expectation is that these workshops will catalyze research leading to the long-term goal of sustainable social, economic and ecological systems in the tropics.