Dr. Salisbury has worked in close collaboration with NASA SERVIR, SERVIR Amazonia, Higher Education for Development, Initiative for Conservation in the Andean Amazon, Upper Amazon Conservancy (UAC), ProPurús, Pan-American Institute of Geography and History (PAIGH), National Geographic Magazine, Fulbright , Instituto del Bien Común, ProNaturaleza, The Nature Conservancy, Comissão Pro-Indio do Acre , SOS Amazonia, Apiwtxa, ORAU, PESACRE, EMBRAPA, Universidade Federal do Acre, Wildlife Conservation Society, CIFOR, Woods Hole Research Center, Amazon Conservation Association, SEMAPI, ARA-U and the Chicago Field Museum among others.
Dr. Salisbury is Co-Investigator on a 2019-2022 NASA SERVIR Amazonia applied research project with PI Dr. Steph Spera, Post Doc Dr. Yunuen Reygadas, and Post Bacs Scott LaRocca and Valerie Galati. The project focuses on forest disturbances and ecosystem services in the Amazon borderlands of Ucayali, Peru and Acre, Brazil. Our Amazon Borderlands Spatial Analysis Team (ABSAT) consists of 10+ talented undergraduate research students asking important questions about forest dynamics, water cycles, climate systems, and infrastructure development in this culturally and ecologically rich Southwestern Amazon region. See the website: ABSATrichmond.com
From 2012-2015 Dr. Salisbury worked on an HED-USAID funded project to build conservation capacity in Ucayali through the Universidad Nacional de Ucayali (UNU). This project funded 21 UNU thesis students, facilitated two climate change workshops for Indigenous peoples, and published an interdisciplinary environmental science edition of UNU’s research journal. More results and details from this 2013-2015 project can be found at the UR-UNU website. UR students Stella Han, George Appling, Samuel Diaz, Caroline Dougherty, Christian Graven, Evan McCarthy, Anna Sangree, Jorge Rivas, Kim Waters, Megan Wing, and Hasia White participated in the project. UNU students include Angel Kelsen Arbaíza, Jenny Arimuya, Segundo Avalos, Abel Bazán, Diana Zuley Cáceres, Lyan Campos, Jorge Espinoza, Alexander Fasanando, Katty Luz García, Nino García, Paul Brando González, Cristhian López, Antero Luna, Vianca Meza, Magaly Padilla, Lucía Perea, Carlos Rengifo, Brady Romero, Jhovana Sifuentes, Victor Vásquez, William Villacorta.
Dr. Salisbury is US national Section Representative to the Geography Commission of the PanAmerican Institute of Geography and History. He is also Vice Chair of the Conference of Latin American Geography, and former Chair of the Latin American Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers. Dr. Salisbury continues to be an ally of the community of Saweto now that they have obtained title.
The Amazon Borderlands Research Center (Centro de Investigación de Fronteras Amazónicas – CIFA) of the Universidad Nacional de Ucayali (UNU), Pucallpa, Ucayali, Perú is an interdisciplinary research center founded in 2004 with the mission of combining local knowledge, geographic technology, participatory methods, and science, in applied research that contributes to improving living standards in the borderlands, provides information and recommendations for sustainable use and conservation of biological and cultural diversity, trains future professionals, and serves as a liaison with institutions in neighboring countries. Since inception, CIFA has facilitated over 20 undergraduate UNU theses in addition to theses and dissertations in the United States, Spain, and Germany. CIFA uses applied research and professional development to contribute to local-global sustainability networks throughout the Amazon.
Professor Jorge W. Vela Alvarado directs CIFA from the Universidad Nacional de Ucayali. Professor Vela, former UNU President Edgar Díaz Zúniga, Agronomist Gilberto Almeida, Forestry Scientist Aparicio Limache, Anthropologist Manuel Cuentas, and Geographer David Salisbury formed CIFA in 2004. Dr. Salisbury was named an Honorary Professor of the Universidad Nacional de Ucayali in 2007 and received a Fulbright Lecture/Research grant to work with CIFA in 2010.
Peruvian students who have finished their undergraduate theses with CIFA training and funding include Carlos Pérez Alván, José Borgo López, Wuild Párraga Pérez, Ronald Paredes del Águila, Euclides Ramírez Zumaeta, Gerardo Cavero Arista, Miguel Nuñez, James Águila Soria , Luís Rosero Flores. University of Richmond students who have conducted research with CIFA include Leigh Ann West, Laura Major, Fritz Hoogakker, and Diego Leal Pereira.
