Michael Gilmore PhD

Michael Gilmore PhD

Associate Professor, School of Integrative Studies

Faculty Directory

Research Focus

I have worked with the Maijuna indigenous group of the Peruvian Amazon on a wide variety of community-based biological and cultural conservation projects since 1999. In 2004, I helped the Maijuna establish FECONAMAI, a Maijuna indigenous federation, ultimately helping to empower and give voice to communities that had been marginalized for generations. Amongst other initiatives, I spearheaded a multi-year project with the Maijuna to map their remote ancestral territory and worked closely with them to successfully push the Peruvian Government to establish the 391,000-hectare Maijuna-Kichwa Regional Conservation Area (MKRCA). This is almost 1,000,000 acres of Maijuna primary rainforest and is 22% larger than Yosemite National Park. I am an affiliate faculty member of Environmental Science and Policy, the Department of Biology, and the Latin American Studies Program at George Mason University. I founded the non- governmental organization OnePlanet to continue to follow my passion of partnering with indigenous and traditional communities to build a more sustainable, empowered, and just future.

Current Projects

■ Community-based Mammal Conservation in Maijuna Indigenous Lands, Peruvian Amazon.

■ Using Stingless Beekeeping (Meliponiculture) as a Sustainable Development Tool to Support Maijuna Indigenous Communities in the Peruvian Amazon.

■ Ecologically and Culturally Responsible Ecotourism in Maijuna lands, Peruvian Amazon.

■ Stories from the Forest: A Place-Based Biography of an Amazonian Indigenous Leader.

Select Publications

■ Virapongse, A., et al. (2017). Ecology, livelihoods, and management of the Mauritia flexuosa palm in South America. Global Ecology and Conservation, 10, 70-92.

■ Bowler, M. T., et al. (2017). Estimating mammalian species richness and occupancy in tropical forest canopies with arboreal camera traps. Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation, 3(3), 146-157.

■ Gilmore, M. P., and Young, J. C. (2012). The use of participatory mapping in ethnobiological research, biocultural conservation, and community empowerment: a case study from the Peruvian Amazon. Journal of Ethnobiology, 32(1), 6-30.

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Contact

Phone: 703-993-1439

Email: mgilmor1@gmu.edu

Website: https://integrative.gmu.edu/people/mgilmor1