The School for Field Studies (SFS) Introduces Two New Study Abroad Programs in the Peruvian Amazon and the Mekong Region of Cambodia and Vietnam

Beverly, Massachusetts, USA – August 1, 2013 – The School for Field Studies (SFS) announced today the launch of two new undergraduate environmental study abroad programs: Biodiversity and Development in the Amazon in Peru and The Living Mekong in Cambodia and Vietnam. These programs will launch in the fall of 2014 and focus on biodiversity, natural resource management, and sustainable development issues particular to those regions. With these additional programs, SFS will operate in 11 countries.

“We are pleased to expand SFS programs into South America and Southeast Asia, especially because the Amazon and the Mekong rivers are two of the most important riverine ecosystems on the planet,” said SFS President Jim Cramer. “This is the opportunity of a lifetime for students to participate in novel field research on critical environmental issues related to rural livelihoods in changing landscapes, natural resource management, and biodiversity conservation,” said Cramer.

With its extensive lowland rainforest and dramatic elevational gradient upwards through cloud forest to the Andes Mountains, Peru is among the five most megadiverse countries in the world. Biodiversity and Development in the Amazon semester programs will operate in southern Peru. Through coursework, field exercises, and Directed Research, students will study people’s dependence on the environment, examine the threats to the environment and to social networks, and explore the tools and strategies for not only mitigating the threats but thriving in the biodiversity-rich rural landscape. The program will also examine the ecological processes and patterns that underpin the high diversity of the region. For more information, visit www.fieldstudies.org/peru.

The Mekong River, whose headwaters originate in the Tibetan plateau and empty into the massive delta in Vietnam, is the focus of the new SFS program in Southeast Asia. The Living Mekong is a two-country semester program in Cambodia and Vietnam where students will learn about the complexity and fundamental importance of the Mekong River to the region’s human and natural systems. In Vietnam, students will live and study at Can Tho University and learn about the dynamic hydrology of the river and delta systems as well as the complex relationships between the river, biodiversity and communities. In Cambodia, students will reside in Siem Reap, adjacent to the ancient ruins of Angkor, Phnom Kulen National Park, and Tonle Sap, and learn about water resource management, conservation methods and practices, environmental ethics, and socioeconomic development. For more information, visit www.fieldstudies.org/mekong.

SFS is now accepting inquiries and applications for Biodiversity and Development in the Amazon and The Living Mekong for the 2014 fall academic semester. To learn more or apply, visit www.fieldstudies.org