Funding for international ecological research

As a US based academic (perhaps a dubious self-title) who is interested in conducting tropical forest/soil/agroforestry/climate change research in Brazilian Amazonia, I am interested in securing funding for such research. However, I am not appointed faculty, and am not currently connected to a post-doc or other research endeavor conducting such research. However, I have been tasked with writing draft(s) of proposal(s) to secure funding to continue researching a site in Brasil where the project for my previous degrees is located (hence my handle).
The US Federal gov't is a bit shy about funding research in other countries without some sort of tie-in to US interests, although USDA and NSF do have some mechanisms and are opaque enough that I don't know how to approach them.
So, if in the off chance that any of my fellow DBRers have experience or insight into NGOs, government or international agencies that fund international forest ecology/climate change related science projects, particularly in Brazilian Amazonia, I'd be extra excited to know what y'all might happen to know.

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Originally Posted by DukieInBrasil

As a US based academic (perhaps a dubious self-title) who is interested in conducting tropical forest/soil/agroforestry/climate change research in Brazilian Amazonia, I am interested in securing funding for such research. However, I am not appointed faculty, and am not currently connected to a post-doc or other research endeavor conducting such research. However, I have been tasked with writing draft(s) of proposal(s) to secure funding to continue researching a site in Brasil where the project for my previous degrees is located (hence my handle).
The US Federal gov't is a bit shy about funding research in other countries without some sort of tie-in to US interests, although USDA and NSF do have some mechanisms and are opaque enough that I don't know how to approach them.
So, if in the off chance that any of my fellow DBRers have experience or insight into NGOs, government or international agencies that fund international forest ecology/climate change related science projects, particularly in Brazilian Amazonia, I'd be extra excited to know what y'all might happen to know.

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My closest friend from college is a top notch (over 100 published papers) rain forest ecologist researcher at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute at Barro Colorado Island in Panama. He has dealt with grant funding in this field his whole career. If you PM me I could give you his email and an intro if you think that would help.