Sandra Nichols
Nichols is a cultural geographer dedicated to the environment, cultural patrimony and community welfare. She co-led “The Geography of Alexander von Humboldt: Yesterday and Today” expedition (IdM, 2019) and helped develop photographic exhibitions to call attention to an Andes-Amazonian region of great biological and archeological richness that is currently under great threat. Nichols produced television documentaries for more than 20 years, including the prize-winning documentary, “The Fragile Mountain” filmed in the Nepal Himalayas. She has researched and published on the relationship between environmental degradation and rural migration. Nichols is a member and ex-resident of the Society of Woman Geographers. She grew up in Lima, Peru and holds a Bachelors in anthropology (1967), a Masters in communication, both from Stanford, and a Ph.D. in geography from the University of California, Berkeley (2002).
Miriam Torres
Torres is a forestry specialist with expertise in participatory management of natural protected areas and rural tourism projects managed by local communities. She worked for ProNaturaleza for six years and later was part of the Instituto de Montaña staff for 15 years, serving another five years as a consultant to the Instituto. Torres conducted the IdM projects that were directly related to supporting natural protected areas and rural community tourism. She was also responsible for leading the team based in Huaraz, Peru and the general administration of that office.
Anaïs Zimmer
Zimmer is a doctoral candidate in the Geography Department at the University of Texas in Austin. She is an agricultural engineer with a degree from the National School of Agronomy of Toulouse, France. Zimmer specializes in the conservation and management of natural resources. In collaboration with the Instituto de Montaña, her research aims to evaluate how the physical, ecological and social processes interact with landscapes at the margin of glaciers and how these factors foster adaptation strategies. After workiing with the French Institute for Development in Bolivia, where she studied plant colonization after glacial retreat, she joined the Instituto de Montaña en 2013. Zimmer was part of the “High Mountain Glacial Basins” program and later became part of the “Securing Mountain Water and Livelihoods” project (2014-2018). She also worked as a consultant on the “Scaling Up Mountain EbA.” (2018-2019).
Alton Byers
Byers is a mountain geographer, conservationist and mountain climber specializing in applied research, highland ecosystems, climate change, glaciar risks and integrated conservation and development programs. He received his Bachelors in 1975 and Ph.D. in 1987 from the University of Colorado, Boulder. His doctorate was focused on landscape change, soil erosion and the vegetation dynamics in Sagarmatha National Park, Nepal. Byers joined The Mountain Institute (TMI) in 1990 as an environmental advisor, working as co-manager of the Makalu-Barun National Park. He founded TMI’s Himalayan Program and was the founder/director of TMI’s Andes Program and also served as director of TMI’s Appalachian Program. Byers founded and directed TMI’s Science and Exploration Program. In 2015, he joined the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR) at the University of Colorado, Boulder, as associate researcher and senior docent.
Gabriela López
López has her Masters in rural development from the National Center for Agricultural Studies for Tropical Regions (CNEARC), Montpellier, France and is a zootechnic engineer with a Bachelors in science from the National Agrarian University La Molina, Peru. She also was trained in governance for conservation and sustainable management of ecosystems in the United States, Bolivia and Italy. López has significant experience in conservation, rural development, climate change and ecosystem-based adaptation projects plus experience working with NGOs, the public sector and International Cooperation in the participatory management of fragile ecosystems. López also facilitates social processes for conservation and events to train rural and urban facilitators. She has coordinated and managed local and national projects, leading methodological and inter-institutional processes and has contributed to the design and development of participatory methodologies with mountain communities and local governments.
Gabriel Campbell
J. Gabriel Campbell was born, raised and worked most of his life in the Himalayas. Campbell received his BA and Masters from Wesleyan University and Ph.D. from Columbia University in Anthropology and Asian Studies; and Executive Management Certificate from Harvard University. International mountain policies, community natural resource management, cultural and biodiversity conservation and knowledge sharing have been the focus of his professional career as a researcher, practitioner, and manager. From 2000 to 2007, Campbell served as Director General of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development. He has been involved with The Mountain Institute since 1975, where he helped establish new national parks around Mt. Everest and Mt. Makalu in Tibet and Nepal and more recently served on the Board.
Ed Bernbaum
Bernbaum is a mountaineer, author, and student of comparative religion and mythology whose work focuses on the relationship between culture and the environment. His book “Sacred Mountains of the World” won the Commonwealth Club of California’s gold medal for nonfiction and an Italian prize for literature on mountaineering, exploration, and the environment. At The Mountain Institute (TMI), Bernbaum founded and directed the Sacred Mountains Program, developing interpretive materials with National Parks based on the cultural and spiritual significance of natural features in cultures around the world. He is currently Co-Chair of the IUCN Specialist Group on the Cultural and Spiritual Values of Protected Areas (CSVPA). Bernbaum has a Bachelors in mathematics from Harvard College and a Ph.D. in Asian studies from the University of California at Berkeley. He did additional graduate work in social psychology and anthropology at Harvard University.
Johan Reinhard
Reinhard is was born in Illinois (USA) and began his undergraduate studies at the University of Arizona, before going on to receive his Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Vienna (Austria) in 1974. He conducted anthropological research for more than ten years in Nepal, specializing in culture change, sacred landscape, and shamanism, and also directed Nepal Peace Corps Training Projects. Since 1980 he has undertaken historical and archaeological research in the Andes focusing on sacred landscape and high-altitude archaeology. Museums have been built in three Andean countries to exhibit archeological material recovered during his expeditions. He was an Explorer-in- Residence at the National Geographic Society in 1997 and 1999-2008. He is currently a Research Professor at Future Generations University and has been a Senior Fellow of The Mountain Institute since 1992.