In December, Liliana M. Dávalos, a professor at Stony Brook University, addressed policymakers and the public in Washington, D.C., about the urgent threats facing the Amazon. Speaking at the Colombian ambassador’s residence and the Council on Foreign Relations, she highlighted her work as one of four U.S. representatives in the inaugural Fulbright Amazonia cohort.
Fulbright Amazonia began in 2022 with 16 scholars and two co-leads from the United States and eight Amazonian nations. Their goal was to address critical issues like climate change, sustainable development, and human and environmental health over an 18-month period. The group focused on three areas: Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation, Strengthening Human and Environmental Health and Security, and Bioeconomy and Sustainable Development.
Dávalos participated in compiling weather disaster data across the region for the first time as part of her involvement with colleagues Ane Alencar, Juan Pablo Iñamagua, Rayane Pacheco, Sabina Ribeiro, and Galia Selaya. Together they aimed to protect Amazonians by developing actionable solutions to escalating disaster risks.
The team proposed standardizing disaster reporting across Amazonian nations. Their policy recommendation is detailed in the Fulbright Amazonia Policy Brief which underscores how fragmented data hinders effective responses to floods, wildfires, and other disasters. By advocating for a unified disaster preparedness strategy with enhanced cross-border early-warning systems and stronger local adaptation policies, they seek to safeguard lives and ecosystems.
For her individual project with Colombian host Dolors Armenteras, Dávalos studied links between transnational crime networks at the Amazon’s tri-border regions—networks that fuel deforestation through cocaine trafficking among other activities. Her research suggests that neither reducing cocaine demand nor drug decriminalization alone would disrupt these entrenched systems; instead she called for transboundary policies to mitigate their impact.
During Fulbright Amazonia Week in Washington D.C., Dávalos engaged with policymakers at events hosted by organizations such as the U.S. State Department. She remarked: “as scientists we often dream of our research reaching policymakers; the Fulbright Amazonia program definitely prepared us to present our findings.”
Prior to this eventful week she coordinated a symposium at Stony Brook Institute where students discussed challenges related to hope during crises while engaging with Fulbright scholars on future prospects for protecting the Amazon.
“Going in we didn’t know there would be thousands of disasters affecting tens of millions," said Dávalos reflecting on their work's urgency: "the cost of inaction is staggering; we must act now."