Philip Fearnside, Research Professor, National Institute for Research in the Amazon

Photo credit: Holly Lohuis

Philip M. Fearnside is a research professor in the Department of Ecology at the National Institute for Research in the Amazon in Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil. Now a permanent resident of Brazil, he completed his Ph.D. in 1978 in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Division of Biological Sciences at the University of Michigan. Fearnside's research has focused on tropical agro-ecosystems and how many people they can support. Since 1992, his work has centered on converting forest destruction into a basis a basis for sustainable development for the rural population of the region, taking the place of the current pattern of forest destruction. He has authored more than 390 publications on these and related problems of environment and development. His honors include Brazil's National Ecology Prize, the U.N. Global 500 Award, the Conrad Wessel Prize and membership in the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. In 2006, he was identified by Thompson-ISI as the world's second-most-cited scientist on the subject of global warming.