The Nature Conservancy. Protecting nature. Preserving life.™

Plate-billed Mountain-toucan (Andigena laminirostris) © Tim Boucher/TNC.

What would bring together under the same roof influential individuals such as Henry M. Paulson, Jr., Luis Alberto Moreno, Alain Belda, Roberto Hernández Ramírez, Alejandro Santo Domingo, and other prominent business and political leaders?

The answer: a shared interest in working together to address the most pressing conservation challenges across Latin America.

The inaugural meeting of the Latin America Conservation Council was held in Cartagena, Colombia. During the two-day event, coordinated by The Nature Conservancy, members of the Council participated in in-depth discussions on generating innovative, entrepreneurial solutions to challenges facing Latin America’s natural environment. The Council decided to focus its efforts in the areas of food security, water security, and smart infrastructure development.

Latin America is currently experiencing a wave of economic growth and demand for its natural resources has increased significantly. The Council agreed that the region is at a tipping point when it comes to protecting the health of the natural systems that sustain the region’s people. The Council will seek to work with many groups to advance key strategies with special attention on using private action to complement government actions, policies and investments.

Members identified a set of as many as a dozen pilot projects where nature-based conservation solutions and ideas would be tested, measured and refined. Some of the Council-supported projects slated for initial implementation include watershed restoration projects in the Magdalena River Basin, Colombia; sustainable cattle ranching and agriculture in Pará State in Brazil’s eastern Amazon; and the development of a climate-resilient network of sustainably managed marine and coastal areas off of Baja California, Mexico.

“This is a key moment to set a path for sustainable, environmentally-responsible growth,” said Nature Conservancy President and CEO Mark Tercek. “The Council has a clear vision of taking action now to ensure Latin America’s natural systems remain intact and are able to meet the needs of both nature and the people of Latin America.”