Azur Moulaert

Ecosystem Services Project Manager
University of Vermont

Biographical sketch: Azur Moulaert received a BS in Forest Engineering from the Instituto Tecnologico de Costa Rica (1992) and a Master’s degree in Crop Science and Forestry from North Carolina State University (1996).

Azur's professional experience includes work as an environmental lobbyst, project manager, natural resource analyst, grassroots director and outreach coordinator. For more information view his summarized resume [PDF].

His role at the Institute is to oversee the completion of all aspects of our recent grant entitled: "Ecosystem Services: Dynamics, Modeling and Valuation to Promote Conservation" awarded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

Various new social institutions are being developed to use information about the value of ecosystem services in order to better conserve them. For example, Costa Rica and other countries have systems of payments to individual landowners for the ecosystem services their land produces when maintained in a conserved, forested state.

What is needed now is a more sophisticated and transferable system to allow ecosystem managers to quickly understand the dynamics of ecosystem services in their area, how these are linked to human welfare, and how their function and value might change under various management scenarios. We also need better information on the dependence of various ecosystem services on the spatial pattern of land use and the scaling of information on local ecosystem services to watershed, national, and global scales.

This project integrates participatory modeling, data collection, valuation, and outreach that will take the study of ecosystem services to the next level and allow the results to be effectively used in a number of critical environmental management contexts. Read full proposal [PDF].

Candidate Statement: The time to land our ideas into action is now. Much is at stake and Ecological Economics holds several important answers to steer us away from the current collapse route. I believe that 2008 and 2009 will be a deciding point in modern history. Either we make our best effort or we will cease to be. In the face of such a tremendous responsibility our generation has to stop talking and start doing. There is no time to waste. Boards typically have three types of members, people with money, people with ideas, and people that work. I am of the later category. As your member-at-large I will work to ensure that our vision is integrated into specific projects with specific outcomes. I know how to lead a team but I am equally comfortable following instructions, this is not about ego and white papers its about making things happen. Our next conference is in Washington DC. The time to start planning, dare I say lobbying is NOW. Whether Hillary, Obama, Edwards or Giuliani, Romney or Thompson are in the White House we will have an opportunity to strike at the heart of the matter if we are prepared. This is our time, this is exactly what we all have been preparing for, stop typing and put your boots on. The window will be very small but if we think strategically we can go on USSEE campaign mode now. For example: a concerted media effort could allow us to put out top thinkers in front of the cameras and our views in the debate questions. We could write our elevator speeches and simmer the message to something that is palatable inside and outside the beltway. For now, here in Vermont we have been engaged a conversation with Senator Bernie Sanders to line up not only testimony in the Senate Chamber but concrete on-the-ground projects. Again the time to act is now to much is at stake so let’s get going