ABOUT US
WHO WE ARE
WISE Tropics aims to ensure that future generations will inherit tropical forests and the wonder they bring. Building on thirty years of hands-on experience in Madagascar, WISE Tropics supports programs that save lemurs, safeguard nature, plant new rainforests, and educates children and adults on the effects of global climate change.
WISE Tropics aims to ensure that future generations will inherit tropical forests and the wonder they bring. Building on thirty years of hands-on experience in Madagascar, WISE Tropics supports programs that save lemurs, safeguard nature, plant new rainforests, and educates children and adults on the effects of global climate change.
Dr. Patricia Wright – Founder
Dr. Patricia Wright is the Founder of Wise Tropics and also the idealizer and founder of Centre ValBio, a modern research campus in the rainforest of Madagascar. She is a Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at Stony Brook University. Dr. Wright has devoted most of her professional life to working on Madagascar. For more than two decades, she has managed to combine her research with efforts to preserve the country’s endangered forests and the many species of plants and animals they harbor.
In 1989, she became a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellow, and in 1995 she was awarded the Chevalier d’ Ordre National (National Medal of Honor of Madagascar) and in 2004 the Officier d’ Ordre National from the President of Madagascar in recognition of her conservation work. Dr. Wright was the driving force behind the creation of Ranomafana National Park, a 106,000-acre World Heritage Site in southeastern Madagascar. The park is home to many endangered species, including several species of lemur that she almost certainly saved from extinction.
Amanda Poston – Board & Treasurer
Works at the Woods Hole Research Center on a Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Having spent much of her childhood in Madagascar she feels a strong connection to the Malagasy people and the rainforest. As a teenager, she helped water seedling for a reforestation project that has successfully started an endemic forest on the outskirts of Ranomafana. She believes that the tropical forests of the world are much like masterpieces of art; they cannot be reproduced and must be preserved for future generations. She is inspired to be part of WISE Tropics, where conservation, community and art come together to create a better future for Madagascar and other tropical environments.
Amanda Rowe – Board Member
Amanda Rowe is a PhD Candidate in the Interdepartmental Doctoral Program in Anthropological Sciences at Stony Brook University, New York. Her work focuses on understanding the community ecology of nocturnal lemurs in Zombitse-Vohibasia National Park, Madagascar. She believes that a better understanding of the interactions between organisms in a tropical forest can foster more informed and successful conservation strategies. Amanda is devoted to a holistic approach to conservation and science that prioritizes all members of an ecosystem, including humans. As such, she is working with WISE Tropics to enact holistic conservation projects in the dry forests of Zombitse-Vohibasia National Park.
Amanda Poston – Board & Treasurer
Works at the Woods Hole Research Center on a Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Having spent much of her childhood in Madagascar she feels a strong connection to the Malagasy people and the rainforest. As a teenager, she helped water seedling for a reforestation project that has successfully started an endemic forest on the outskirts of Ranomafana. She believes that the tropical forests of the world are much like masterpieces of art; they cannot be reproduced and must be preserved for future generations. She is inspired to be part of WISE Tropics, where conservation, community and art come together to create a better future for Madagascar and other tropical environments.
