The Amazon encompasses half the planet’s extant and the most diverse rainforest as well as variety of ecoregions including savanna and alpine tundra. More than 30 million people inhabit the area, including at least six million indigenous peoples organized in thousands of communities. The Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Pittsburgh (CLAS) endeavors to develop and establish a Program of studies focused on issues and topics related to the Amazon basin in South America, alternatively known as Amazonia.

 

CLAS will devote considerable effort to coalescing this initiative into a viable and thriving program that is separate though related to other Center axes. Through the Amazonian Studies Program (ASP), CLAS will promote research and expertise to serve as a hemispheric resource for the general public, and for scholars, to pursue in-depth studies and understanding on topics relevant to Amazonia and the peri-Amazonian region. ASP will encompass issues including but not limited to fundamental human rights, migration, deforestation, urbanization, materials science, climate issues affecting present and future generations, health sciences and public health.

 

CLAS will develop a related certificate program for Undergraduate and Graduate students, bolster class offerings and library and document collections, as well as promoting recruitment of faculty connected to relevant work in the Arts, Sciences, Humanities, Engineering, Health Sciences, Business and Law.