ACT's Mission

The mission of the Anthropological Center for Training and Research on Global Environmental Change is to provide a setting where interdisciplinary training and research on the human dimensions of global environmental change can take place -- thus, the reason for naming it "anthropological." The Center's acronym "ACT" suggests that its goal is to be an active player in global environmental research currently underway here and abroad. It represents a pioneering effort to make it possible to address both the local and the global dimensions of environmental change.

ACT provides training and research opportunities for faculty, graduate and undergraduate students and visitors. At present, training and research focus on studying deforestation in the Amazon Basin on population and environment, land use & land cover change and on integrative methods for analysis. The Center is designed to be interdisciplinary and to place greater emphasis on local responses to environmental change than is the norm at global change centers.