Chuck Peters

Chuck Peters, the Kate E. Tode Curator of Botany, Emeritus at The New York Botanical Garden. His recent book, Managing the Wild, was the topic of discussion for his 2019 BookTalk at CBA.

My research focuses on the ecology, use, and management of tropical forest resources. Most of this research is done in close collaboration with local community groups. I am currently working in the Tapajos-Arapiuns Extractive Reserve in Brazil with several communities who are developing management plans for the sustainable production of furniture woods. I am also involved in community forestry research in the Selva Maya of Mexico, and have recently started work in Myanmar and Vietnam to look at the conservation and sustainable use of rattan (Palmae) in these two countries. I have conducted long-term field research in the Peruvian Amazon, Papua New Guinea, West Kalimantan, Indonesia, and Veracruz, Mexico, and have directed community forestry projects in Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, Uganda, and Cameroon. I am an Associate Professor of Tropical Ecology (Adjunct) at the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies of Yale University, an Adjunct Senior Research Scientist at the Center for Environmental Research and Conservation (CERC) of Columbia University,and I am editor of the monograph series, Advances in Economic Botany.