Anita Studer (born February 26, 1944) is a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

-born accountant,

ornithologist Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

, conservationist and ecologist. Ever since 1980, Anita has been actively engaged in saving a forest in northeastern Brazil. She was born in

Brienz Brienz ( , , ) is a village and Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality on the northern shore of Lake Brienz, at the foot of the Brienzer Rothorn mountain, and in the Bernese Oberland region of Switzerland. Besides the village of Brienz, th ...

; at the age of 12, she moved with her family to

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

. She first visited

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

in 1976 to observe its rich variety of birds. On her return, she pursued a master's degree in ornithology at

Nancy-Université Nancy-Université was a French federal university which federated the three principal institutes of higher education in Nancy, Lorraine before their merger into the University of Lorraine: * Henri Poincaré University (UHP, also known as Na ...

. Five years later, in Brazil, she first saw a rare blackbird

Forbes's blackbird Forbes's blackbird (''Anumara forbesi'') is an endangered species of New World blackbird that is endemic to the Atlantic forest in South America. This species was named for the British zoologist William Alexander Forbes. Identification Forbes ...

(''Curaeus forbesi''), known locally as "anumará", in the Pedra Talhada forest in the state of

Alagoas Alagoas () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil and is situated in the eastern part of the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region. It borders: Pernambuco (N and NW); Sergipe (S); Bahia (SW); and the Atlantic Ocean (E). Its capital is ...

. Her academic supervisor told her that the bird was a good subject for study but that the forest, the bird's habitat, would be gone in nine to ten years. The forest was being cleared to allow the raising of cattle and planting of

sugar cane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fib ...

. Instead of studying the bird, Studer decided to save the forest.

Life

Her lobbying efforts resulted in 4,500 hectares of the Pedra Talhada forest being declared a

federal reserve The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a series of ...

. Studer initiated the planting of new trees - over 800 hectares; to ensure biodiversity, the trees planted include a number of

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

species. She also involved local children in these projects. For raising funds, Studer established the Nordesta Association in Switzerland which also has provided funding for new schools in the local villages. She also helped develop businesses to improve the local economy. Studer herself makes a living by working as an accountant in Geneva. Her initiatives in Brazil were the subject of a 1996 documentary "Mother Forest and the Street Children", written and produced by David Martinez of Dreamtime Productions and seen on the Discovery Channel. Studer received a

Rolex Award for Enterprise Rolex () is a Swiss watch brand and manufacturer based in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1905 as ''Wilsdorf and Davis'' by German businessman Hans Wilsdorf and his eventual brother-in-law Alfred Davis in London, the company registered ''Rolex ...

in 1990 for her environmental work. A species of

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough ski ...

, '' Dendropsophus studerae'', was named in her honour, as well as the

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a hybrid colony (biology), colony of algae or cyanobacteria living symbiotically among hypha, filaments of multiple fungus species, along with yeasts and bacteria embedded in the cortex or "skin", in a mutualism (biology), m ...

species '' Astrothelium studerae''.

Scientific and environmental activities

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Studer, Anita 1957 births Living people People from Brienz Swiss environmentalists Swiss women environmentalists Swiss ornithologists 21st-century women scientists Women ornithologists