Olivia Brinks ’25 MEM: Exploring Community-Centered Conservation in Latin America

For Olivia Brinks ’25 MEM, it all started with a walk in the woods.

As an undergraduate at the University of Michigan, Brinks took an immersive ethnobotany class at the school’s biological station in northern Michigan.

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“By the end, I was walking through a forest I’d known for years, but everything looked different,” Brinks said. “I had this completely new relationship with the plants and the land.”

That course started her on a path toward environmental work rooted in culture, place, and community.

After college, Brinks joined the Peace Corps and spent a year working in community environmental conservation in Panama’s Azuero Peninsula. There, she supported environmental education and agroforestry in the rural town of Bayano. Through a Peace Corps training hosted by Yale’s Environmental Leadership and Training Initiative (ELTI), Brinks learned about YSE and later enrolled in ELTI’s yearlong certificate program for Tropical Forest Landscapes: Conservation, Restoration, and Sustainable Use.

Her experience in the program motivated her to apply to the Master of Environmental Management degree program at YSE.

“These professors were thinking about conservation in ways that resonated with me,” she noted..

At YSE, Brinks focused her studies on the human dimensions of tropical forest conservation and restoration, including community engagement and social outcomes of conservation projects.

“As an MEM student, Olivia continued to engage with ELTI by conducting her summer research project with ELTI’s partner in Brazil, the Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológico (IPÊ – Institute for Ecological Research), and enrolling in my spring seminar focused on engaging landholders and communities in tropical forest conservation and restoration,”  ELTI Director Eva Garen said.

As part of the YSE seminar, Brinks provided targeted guidance to a TFL participant focused on empowering women leaders in the Brazilian Amazon, collaborating with her on strategies to support the social engagement aspects of her capstone project.

“I eagerly anticipate what Olivia will accomplish next in her professional journey,” Garen added.“We have been immensely grateful to have her so intricately connected to ELTI’s programs.”

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During her time at YSE, Brinks also served as a teaching fellow for environmental economics and microeconomic foundations and was a co-chair of YSE’s Student Affairs Committee.

“Olivia is a leader and advocate for the YSE community and the environment,” said Marlyse Duguid, the Thomas J. Siccama Senior Lecturer in Field Ecology. “She has served tirelessly over the last few years as one of our student leads for the Ecosystem Management and Conservation Learning Community. She cares deeply about making sure that all voices are heard, and that we provide the resources and programming to the community.”

This summer, Brinks will be working part-time researching jurisdictional REDD+ (Reducing Emissions for Deforestation and Forest Degradation) policies with Luke Sanford, assistant professor of environmental policy and governance. Eventually, she hopes to return to Latin America to continue her work in conservation.

“I came to YSE wanting to build the skills and credentials to do this work, and now I feel like I have them,” Brinks said.