The Nature Conservancy. Protecting nature. Preserving life.™

What Latin American challenge could bring together more than 30 CEOs and political leaders? Conservation, of course! The Nature Conservancy has convened an unprecedented group of influential individuals who will collaborate on the design and implementation of a set of projects aimed at addressing the region’s most pressing issues: water security, food security, and infrastructure development. The Council’s efforts will support millions of Latin Americans who depend on the region’s rich natural heritage for their well-being.

The Council, co-chaired by former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. and Warburg Pincus Managing Director Alain Belda of Brazil, will unite business thinkers and private-sector expertise from across Latin America and beyond to generate innovative, entrepreneurial solutions to challenges facing the region’s environment. Council members will apply the same investment savvy and political acumen used in business and the public sector to create opportunities to advance conservation.

Leaders from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru and Venezuela are participating in the Council, as well as individuals from the United States and Europe who also have strong ties to the region.

The Council will focus on the Latin American environmental challenges that pose the greatest challenges to human well-being and natural ecosystems. Teams of Council members will collaborate on the design, implementation and success of a set of projects aimed at addressing those challenges – and will push for the adoption of innovative conservation practices across the region. The Council will center its attention on:

• Nature-based solutions to water security – The Council will mobilize local business and political leaders around a goal of using nature-based solutions to help secure water supplies for Latin America’s most at-risk cities, benefitting as many as 100 million people;  
• Food security and sustainable landscapes and seascapes – The Council will engage in efforts by organizations that are specialized in agricultural, ranching and fisheries productivity to increase food production while protecting Latin America’s unique forests, grasslands and marine areas; and 
• Smart infrastructure development – The Council will address opportunities for businesses and governments to design Latin America’s energy, mining, tourism development and transportation infrastructure to dramatically reduce its impact on natural systems.

Council members also will work to raise awareness about these important themes among the Latin American population in order to promote broader engagement in conservation opportunities across the region.

“The fact that such an influential group of Latin American leaders has agreed to join the Council demonstrates the urgency and opportunity of taking steps now to conserve the region’s natural capital,” said Nature Conservancy CEO Mark Tercek. “We believe the only way to address regional environmental challenges is for all sectors of society – business, government and NGOs – to work together.”