| Dr. Gerardo Budowski, of Venezuelan nationality, has been one of the best-known and widely respected scientists in Latin America devoted to tropical ecology, natural resource management and agroforestry. Dr. Budowski earned his Master’s degree in the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) in Turrialba, Costa Rica en 1954, where he studied under Dr. Leslie Holdridge, the well-renowned ecologist who developed the Holdridge Classification of World Life Zones.
Dr. Budowski earned his doctoral degree in 1961 from Yale University. After his doctoral program, he returned to IICA where he headed up the Natural Resources Program from 1956 to 1967, directing a considerable number of Master’s students during this period. During this productive phase of his career, Dr. Budowski began to perceive more clearly the opportunities and limitations of diverse production systems in the tropics.
Dr. Budowski next went to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) en Paris, France to participate in that institution’s new program devoted to ecology and conservation. There, he led the organization of the International Conference on the Biosphere, which gave rise to the worldwide Man and the Biosphere Program, active to this day. In 1969, he was elected to become the first Director General of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature now the World Conservation Union (IUCN) with headquarters in Switzerland, a post he held for six and one half years. Under his leadership over 5,000 scientists became involved in the six commissions that made up the action program of IUCN during that period.
In 1976, Dr. Budowski again returned to the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE, previously IICA) in Costa Rica, where he directed the Natural Resource Department for 10 years. In 1986 he became part of the recently formed University for Peace in Costa Rica, where he worked until 2004 as Director of Renewable Resources. From 1992 to 1997, Dr. Budowski was also elected President of the International Society of Ecoturism. From 1989 to 1996 he served as member of the Technical Advisory Committee of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), a period during which the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), with headquarters in Bogor, Indonesia, was founded.
Dr. Budowski has been the recipient of many prestigious awards including the Henri Pittier Medal from the Government of Venezuela, the “Siempre Verde” Medal for the Government of Nicaragua, the Golden Arc from Holland, among others. He is an honorary member of the World Wildlife Fund and the IUCN. He was designated the “Most outstanding graduate” of IICA-CATIE, when the institution completed its 50th anniversary. He is also an Emeritus Professor of both CATIE and the University for Peace. In December 2005, CATIE bestowed on him the doctorate honoris causa.
During his remarkable career, Dr. Budowski has produced over 300 publications in Spanish, English, French and German. He created the agroforestry program in CATIE in 1976, and is considered one of the founding fathers of this extremely important discipline. From early on in his career, Dr. Budowski developed a keen interest in issues relating to the management of natural tropical forests, the importance of secondary forests for wood production and biodiversity conservation and the role of forest plantations. He has been invited to carry out official missions in over 30 countries on four continents and is author of a book in Spanish entitled “Nature Conservation as an Instrument for Development”.
Dr. Budowski met his wife Thelma Palma from Panama while she worked in IICA as a professional in scientific communication. They have two daughters. His favorite pastimes, when not involved in scientific endeavors or activities with his family, include chess, ecoturism, music and photography. Now over 80 years old, Dr. Budowski remains extremely active to this day. He is presently preparing an illustrated book on live fences, a topic which has captured his intense interest since 1960.
Updated: 21 April 2007
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