Conservation that Lasts
Latin America Impact Report 2025
Paula Caballero, Regional Managing Director Latin America
If Latin America Holds, the World Holds
Dear Friends,
Four in ten of the world's species. One quarter of its forests. One third of its freshwater. Latin America is not a regional story — it is a global system. And it is under accelerating pressure.
This is the context in which TNC Latin America works. And it shapes everything about how we have chosen to act.
In 2025, we made a deliberate strategic choice: concentrate where the conditions for lasting change already exist: eight Iconic Places where policy momentum, local leadership, and viable financial pathways converge. The pages that follow are not a project list. They are evidence of what becomes possible when TNC plays a systems role, not delivering projects but building the structures that persist after we leave.
What that looks like in practice: in Pará — the Amazon's most deforested state — a jurisdictional carbon program TNC helped design secured approximately US$200 million through the LEAF Coalition, the world's largest carbon transaction outside oil and gas. Alongside it, the Amazon's first public-private restoration concession locked in a 40-year commitment to restore 10,000 hectares, backed by an unprecedented multilateral guarantee. In Patagonia, 133,000 hectares were permanently protected through a replicable model of community-led governance. These are not pilot projects. They are financial and legal structures built to hold.
Enforcement gaps are real. Capital for the most urgent priorities — policy, science, and Indigenous governance — remains too restricted and too slow for the window we are in.
What we can say with confidence is that the architecture for durable conservation is being built — governance structures, policy frameworks, and financial mechanisms that will outlast any single project or administration. Your support is what makes it irreversible.
Thank you for standing with Latin America.
What we can say with confidence is that the architecture for durable conservation is being built — governance structures, policy frameworks, and financial mechanisms that will outlast any single project or administration. Your support is what makes it irreversible.
How TNC Works in Latin America
Latin America is central to achieving our mission. What happens here shapes outcomes for the entire planet.
So agriculture becomes a driver of conservation, not deforestation.
And protection at the scale the threats demand.
That makes conservation self-sustaining
That embeds conservation into government and market decisions.
Their stewardship is not a complement to our strategy — it is its foundation.
Latin America: Critical to TNC’s 2030 Goals
At TNC we have set ambitious goals for the end of this decade and the region's contribution is fundamental.
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23% of Protected Oceans
Latin America's contribution to the global goal of Healthy Oceans protection.
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41% of Protected Lands
Latin America's contribution to the global goal on Healthy Lands protection.
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73% of Protected Lakes and Wetlands
Latin America's contribution to the global goal on Lakes and Wetlands conservation.
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47% of Preserved Rivers
Latin America's contribution to the global goal on rivers protection.
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31% of Climate Adaptation
Latin America's contribution to the global goal on Climate Adaptation.
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35% of Climate Mitigation
Latin America's contribution to the global goal on Climate Mitigation.
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20% of People
Latin America's contribution to the global goal on People benefiting from conservation.
How Conservation Scaled in 2025
Our Impact in Review
Our highlights
No results are shown. To see results, turn on the toggle switches in the legend.
- Durable Protection in Patagonia
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Durable Protection in Patagonia
Main milestones
A coalition effort secured the protection and management of 133,000 hectares at Puchegüín in a vital conservation corridor of Patagonia. TNC supported the acquisition and long-term stewardship of this biodiversity-rich landscape.
Image © Valentina Thenoux
- Andes Amazon: Trinational Commitment to 30x30
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Andes Amazon: Trinational Commitment to 30x30
Main milestones
Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru made the region’s first coordinated transboundary commitment to protect the Andes–Amazon by embedding 30x30 targets in national plans, with TNC supporting governments and Indigenous partners through science, policy design, and cross-border coordination.
Image © TNC
- Pará: Payments for Environmental Services
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Pará: Payments for Environmental Services
Main milestones
TNC helped structure Pará’s first Payments for Environmental Services program, covering 14 collective territories across 10 million hectares. The model compensates Indigenous and traditional communities for ecosystem services, with potential to significantly increase household incomes.
Image © Kevin Arnold
- Gran Chaco: Conversion‑Free Production Frameworks
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Gran Chaco: Conversion‑Free Production Frameworks
Main milestones
Provincial agreements between TNC and the governments of Salta, Chaco, and Santa Fe align regenerative agriculture and forest protection under shared policy frameworks.
Image © TNC
- Maya Forest: Long‑Term Carbon Finance
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Maya Forest: Long‑Term Carbon Finance
Main milestones
With a jurisdictional carbon model for the Maya Forest—aligned with core ART TREES requirements—now in place in Quintana Roo, TNC is helping unlock carbon finance and extending this approach to Yucatán.
Image © TNC México
- Atlantic Forest: Guaranteed Restoration Finance
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Atlantic Forest: Guaranteed Restoration Finance
Main milestones
US$1.9M were deployed through the Atlantic Forest’s first‑ever climate finance mechanism for restoration, with TNC helping steer investments. This unlocked a durable funding mechanism, turning restoration from isolated projects into a platform for long‑term risk reduction and resilience.
Image © André Dib
- Cerrado: A Deforestation‑Free Market Standard
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Cerrado: A Deforestation‑Free Market Standard
Main milestones
TNC's climate study of the Araguaia Basin provided the evidence that shifted state policy in Mato Grosso and ultimately drove passage of a state law, creating binding market rules that tie cattle production competitiveness directly to deforestation-free outcomes.
Image © André Dib
- Humboldt Current: Scaled Fisheries Governance
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Humboldt Current: Scaled Fisheries Governance
Main milestones
Through FishPath, TNC helped Chile and Peru align science‑based fisheries management and expand electronic monitoring beyond industrial fleets, bringing 189 million hectares under improved ocean governance and strengthening transparency and protection for sharks and coastal finfish.
Image © Jason Houston
- Protection of Orinoquia’s Flooded Savannas
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Protection of Orinoquia’s Flooded Savannas
Main milestones
Colombia advanced its first FAO Globally Important Agricultural Heritage designation, placing 425,000 hectares of savannas and wetlands under improved management. TNC helped translate local stewardship into national policy, securing durable conservation through international recognition.
Image © Federico Ríos
- 25th Anniversary of the Quito Water Fund
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25th Anniversary of the Quito Water Fund
Other highlights
Created in 2000 by TNC and Quito’s public water company (EPMAPS), FONAG became a global model, inspiring over 50 watershed investment programs in 25 countries.
Image © TNC Ecuador
- COP 30 in Brazil: Global Climate Leadership
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COP 30 in Brazil: Global Climate Leadership
Other highlights
Latin America redefined its role in global climate governance, positioning the region as a bridge between ambition and implementation. With historic participation from Indigenous peoples and local communities, new financial mechanisms for forest conservation, and renewed regional cooperation, the summit marked a shift from promises to action.
Image © Kiara Worth/UN Climate Change
Latin America Matters to Everyone
Our local partners
Voices from the field
Ene Nemquimo
Amazon
"TNC is a highly committed and collaborative partner, working closely with diverse organizations. Through its partnership with NAWE, TNC has supported the strengthening of the cooperative by valuing ancestral knowledge and the cultural heritage of the nationality".
Ene Nemquimo
Amazon
Vicepresident Waorani Nationality of Ecuador
María Gorete
Amazon
"Individual cattle tracking gives us control over our herds, supports sustainable management, and opens opportunities to sell directly to high-value markets. For small producers like us, it's not just about tracking animals — we are building a better future."
Maria Gorete Rios
Amazon
Smallholder rancher in Pará
Martín de los Ríos Plaza
Gran Chaco
"Producing while conserving is an achievable goal, and we'll strengthen this commitment by collaborating with organizations like TNC, which recognize the alignment of our public policy with this goal".
Martín de los Ríos Plaza
Gran Chaco
Minister of Production and Sustainable Development in Salta Province
André Previato
Atlantic Forest
"TNC's experience in projects like the Cantareira watershed contributed directly to Finaclima's strategic planning and priority-setting with stronger technical and territorial grounding".
André Previato
Atlantic Forest
Executive Secretary, Finaclima-SP
Adrian Stanke
Cerrado
"TNC's experience in projects like the Cantareira watershed contributed directly to Finaclima's strategic planning and priority-setting with stronger technical and territorial grounding".
Adrian Stanke
Cerrado
Farmer
Felipe Torres
Humboldt Current
“The first regulation of marine recreational fishing, covering 17 species, marked a major policy breakthrough in Chile. Built on science and collaboration, it strengthened TNC’s role as a trusted technical partner and expanded opportunities through FishPath”.
Felipe Torres
Humboldt Current
Oceans Specialist at TNC Chile
Andrés Diez
Patagonia
“Puchegüín is a historic milestone not only because of the size of the protected area, but also because of how it was achieved: with participation, transparency, and deep respect for the communities that live in Cochamo".
Andrés Diez
Patagonia
Executive Director in Puelo Patagonia NGO
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