The ACEER Legacy Award
For Outstanding Contributions To Conservation
ACEER honors, with our Legacy Award, individuals and organizations who have made outstanding, lifetime contributions to conservation of the Amazon rainforest. The first ACEER Legacy Award was given to John Easterling and Olivia Newton-John Easterling in 2012 for their tireless support of rainforest conservation in Peru, serving as global conservation ambassadors, and through their generous philanthropic work. Five other individuals and one indigenous federation have received the award since 2012.
2025 Award RecipienT
tRoger Mustalish, Ph.D. is an accomplished educator, organizational leader, and advocate for environmental and cultural stewardship. He previously served as a professor and department chair at West Chester University of Pennsylvania, where he was known for his interdisciplinary approach to teaching and his commitment to student mentorship. His academic work emphasized global engagement, sustainable development, and the intersection of culture and conservation. Since retiring from West Chester University, he has been an adjunct professor at Creighton University. He earned a bachelor’s degree in zoology at the University of Pennsylvania, a master’s degree in zoology at Michigan State University, and a master of public health and Ph.D. in environmental health at the University of Minnesota.
Dr. Mustalish also served as President of the Amazon Center for Environmental Education and Research Foundation (ACEER), an organization dedicated to protecting the Amazon rainforest through education, research, and community partnerships…
2024 Award RecipienT
Nora has been a major driver of ACEER since the 1990’s having served on the Board of Directors for over 20 years before stepping off in December 2023; served as Executive Director at a time when ACEER critically needed her leadership, and recently served as Director of Education, leading strategically important program assessments of ACEER’s educational programs in Peru.
During her tenure she secured new board members, most notably Malcolm Gillis, Tom Lovejoy and Chris Davidson, and members of ACEER’s Science and Education Advisory Committee which she also chaired for years. She was successful in securing over $100,000 in support, ands catalyzed strategic partnerships, including a long standing collaboration with the Organization for Tropical Studies, with whom we collaborated for nearly a decade on graduate level training in rainforest conservation education.
She lives by the statement: that there is no limit on how much you can do if you don’t care who gets the credit.
2023 Award Recipient
In 2023 we are pleased to award our ninth ACCER Legacy Award to FECONAMAI: Indigenous federation in Loreto, Peru fighting for the cultural survival of the Maijuna people and the conservation of their ancestral rainforest.
In 2022, our eighth ACEER Legacy Award went to Gloria Ushigua, an indigenous rights activist from Ecuador.
