Donald Sawyer is founder of the Institute for Society, Population and Nature (ISPN), a Brazilian nonprofit that studies the Cerrado savanna. A U.S. native, he has lived in Brazil for nearly 50 years, primarily conducting research in the Amazon and Cerrado regions. He has spent the last 28 years in the national capital of Brasília, the Cerrado’s biggest city, where he recently coordinated the preparation of a written profile of the biome for a fundraising project. The work helped guide grant-making for a five-year, US$8-million investment, launched in 2017, by donors including Japan and the Global Environment Facility. The objective is to create more protected areas and support biodiversity conservation in the Cerrado. Sawyer, who received a B.A. and PhD in Sociology from Harvard University in 1969 and 1979, respectively, taught at the University of Brasília’s Center for Sustainable Development from 2006 to 2013. He spoke recently by Skype with EcoAméricas correspondent Michael Kepp from his office in Brasília. [Log in to read more]

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