TCAIAP Completion: a Letter of Thanks

Dear TCAIAP Partners,

As we celebrate the successful completion of our terrestrial carbon accounting certificates in China and Indonesia under TCAIAP (the Terrestrial Carbon Accounting International Academic Partnership), I wanted to thank you all for being a part of the Carbon Institute for the past four years. Looking back, it is inspiring to see how we achieved original goals together and succeeded as a partnership.  

My most important memories are of the times we spent together, from Big Sur to Madrid to Beijing to Bogor. The friendships the grant nurtured will live on forever, even as we draw this chapter to a close. It feels like just yesterday when we were throwing frisbees on the coast of California, touring burning redwood forests, surfing, visiting temples, eating great Indonesian and Chinese food, getting lost in Ministries in Jakarta, climbing Eddy Flux towers, and spending time together at exciting and disorienting UNFCCC COPs. 

It’s been my honor to serve as your coordinator and I will miss working with each of you on such a regular basis. I’m confident many of us will keep working together as the Carbon Institute begins its work outside the funding and structure of the TCAIAP grant.

The world is in a tough place right now with COVID-19. As you know, I’m an optimist. It is my hope that the value of international academic partnerships will be increasingly clear. These partnerships are a vital way for countries to cooperate on common problems that cross national boundaries. The headlines in the news emphasize human conflicts. My experience suggests most of the work in the world is cooperation.  

Thank you all for the hard work you’ve each personally done to have a successful four-year partnership. I look forward to staying in touch as friends, and for continued cooperation to grow a workforce for natural climate solutions.

Please keep your families and friends safe in the next few weeks and months. 

Sincerely,

John-O Niles