Eleanor J. Sterling

1994

Eleanor J. Sterling

Ivoloina Zoological Park

Toamasina, Madagascar

The Bold Idea:

Eleanor served as a Conservation Education Specialist at Ivoloina Zoological Park, Toamasina, Madagascar. From 1994 – 1996, she coordinated environmental education activities in the Toamasina region, including development of basic science teaching materials for local primary schools with a focus on Malagasy wildlife and sustainable development materials for adult literacy programs, management of teacher-training workshops, development of an interpretive center for environmental education, fundraising, and design and implementation of conservation education outreach programs for buffer zone regions near protected areas.

Ivoloina Zoological Park is operated by the Madagascar Fauna Group under a long term agreement with the Malagasy government. The Park combines both zoological park and natural habitat on its 282 hectares (697 acres). Ivoloina Zoological Park is home to numerous species of lemurs and hundreds of radiated tortoises. Other notable Malagasy species include spider tortoises, tree boas, tomato frogs, tenrecs, vasa parrots, and panther chameleons. The Park also includes nature trails featuring native plants and an Environmental Education Center.

Biography:

Eleanor is the Director of the American Museum of Natural History’s Center for Biodiversity and Conservation (CBC). She oversees strategic planning and project development, leads fundraising efforts, and manages a multidisciplinary staff of over 30. In her capacity as a conservation biologist, Eleanor also conducts fieldwork, studying the distribution patterns of biodiversity in tropical regions of the world and translating this information into recommendations for conservation managers, decision-makers, and educators. Eleanor has extensive expertise developing environmental education programs and professional development workshops, having trained teachers, students, and U.S. Peace Corps volunteers in a variety of subjects related to biodiversity conservation. In 2000, in partnership with colleagues from around the world, Eleanor launched the Network of Conservation Educators and Practitioners, a global initiative that primarily targets undergraduate- and graduate-level educators in developing countries who will train the next generation of conservation biologists. The project has had training workshops in Bolivia, Vietnam, Lao PDR, Mexico, and Madagascar. Eleanor has more than 20 years of field research experience in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, where she has conducted surveys and censuses, as well as behavioral and ecological studies of primates, whales, and other mammals. She is considered a world authority on the aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascarensis), a nocturnal lemur found only in Madagascar. She has studied biodiversity and the history of land use in Vietnam, leading to the publication in 2006 of the award-winning Vietnam: A Natural History, co-authored with two CBC colleagues and published by Yale University press.
For the last eight years, Eleanor has served as an adjunct professor at Columbia University, where she now also serves as the Director of Graduate Studies for the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology. Eleanor sits on the Board of Governors of the Society for Conservation Biology, and is a Board member of the Center for Environmental Research and Conservation (CERC) at Columbia University. Eleanor received her B.A. in Psychobiology from Yale College in 1983 and her Ph.D. in Physical Anthropology and Forestry and Environmental studies from Yale University in 1993. She joined the CBC in 1996 as Program Director and was named the Director of the Center in 2000.