Compelling and revealing interviews with conservation leaders.
Regional | Costa Rica | El Salvador | Mexico
Regional
Amphibian Action Fund
The Amphibian Action Fund seeks to reverse the global decline of amphibian populations by funding amphibian and habitat conservation projects. Robin Moore talks about the Fund, its conservation goals, and funding priorities in Mesoamerica.
December 2006
Central American Commission for the Environment and Development (CCAD)
Can Central America recover and protect enough forest cover to help reduce poverty, ensure access to potable water to all, and lessen the impacts of natural disasters? That's 25-year plan of the Central American Forestry Strategy. Mauricio Castro, out-going director of the Central American Commission for the Environment and Development, believes it can work.
October 2003
Conservation Commons
The Conservation Commons is a group of NGOs, governments, and researchers that aims to increase sharing of information and data within the conservation community. Tom Moritz, who sits on the Commons' steering committee, discusses trends in conservation communications and urges us to be more forthcoming in sharing our data, publications, and lessons learned.
September 2006
Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF)
The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund is one of the most influential supporters of global biodiversity conservation today. Michele Zador and Jason Cole, Grant Directors of Mesoamerica and South America respectively, discuss their philsophy and approach to grant-making, and offer advice to those seeking CEPF support.
June 2004
The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund has some $150 million to grant to nonprofit groups in an effort to advance conservation in the most biologically important and threatened regions on Earth. But making the decisions about dispersing these funds is no walk in the park. Jorgen Thomsen, executive director of CEPF, describes the fund's challenges and suggests how NGOs can rise to the occasion.
February 2003
Ecologic Finance
William Foote, President of EcoLogic Finance discusses how providing credit to certified microenterprises often provides the missing link they need to become financially sustainable.
December 2004
Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System Fund (MAR Fund)
María José González offers a preview of the new Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System Fund, a long-term program that will support the conservation and sustainable management of the reef in Mexico, Belize, Honduras, and Guatemala.
December 2005
Rainforest Alliance
Ronald Sanabria, Director of Sustainable Tourism at the Rainforest Alliance, talks about the importance of tourism certification, how tourists can plan responsible vacations, and what organizations and governments are doing to develop tourism certification standards.
May 2007
Ramsar Convention
Margarita Astrálaga, Ramsar Convention Adviser for the Americas, discusses the challenges to conserving Latin America's wetland ecosystems.
April 2006
Response Fund
Diego Luna Quevedo, the Response Fund's Regional Coordinator for South America, comments about the experience and perspectives of the Fund, a mechanism to immediately respond to socio-environmental conflicts in the region.
October 2007
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
Andrew Bovarnick, Lead Natural Resource Economist at the United Nations Development Programme, discusses the importance of sustainable coffee as a tool to conserve biodiversity and improve the livelihoods of farmers, and the importance of educating consumers and companies about buying and selling sustainable products.
February 2008
United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
Carmen Aída González, Senior Alliance Coordinator and Performance Monitoring Advisor with USAID, discusses the agency's shift from funding projects to creating regional alliances, including the Mesoamerican Reef Alliance and Certified Sustainable Products Alliance.
June 2005
Costa Rica
Costa Rica-United States Foundation for Cooperation (CRUSA)
By funding projects based on the practical needs of the nation, the Costa Rica-USA Foundation for Cooperation is forging sustainable collaboration in education, science and technology, the environment, and development competition. Read how Hermann Faith, Executive Director, describes the Foundation's vision for a more sustainable Costa Rica.
May 2003
Ministry of the Environment and Energy (MINAE)
Alvaro Ugalde, an architect of Costa Rica's famed national parks system, describes a major campaign to save one of the country's most biodiverse -- and threatened -- protected areas through increased vigilance, land purchase, and economic development in surrounding communities.
January 2004
El Salvador
SalvaNATURA
Juan Marco Álvarez, Executive Director of SalvaNATURA, explains how this influential NGO achieved such ground-breaking innovations as co-managing, with the government, El Salvador's principal protected areas and securing private-sector financing totaling more than half a million dollars.
August 2004
Mexico
Fondo Mexicano para la Conservación de la Naturaleza A.C.
Several countries in Latin America now count on endowment funds for conservation, which allows national groups to make decisions about which projects merit financial support. Lorenzo Rosenzweig describes the tactics of the Mexican Fund for the Conservation of Nature, which he directs.
January 2003
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