Congratulations to Vanessa Luna who recently defended her MALAS (Master of Arts in Latin American Studies) thesis.  Her thesis entitled “Does establishment of community conservation areas lead to greater protection of existing forest? A case study from the Andes of northern Peru”, examined changes in forest cover over the past decade in communities without and without community protected areas.   She also examined the correlates of forest cover change, including factors associated with agricultural practices, human population demography and migration, and socio-economic conditions.  To gain more insight regarding conservation and development practices she interviewed authorities from most of the communities.  She plans to submit two papers based on her work and will enter the PhD program in Interdisciplinary Ecology in the School of Natural Resources and the Environment at UF in Fall 2019.