Latin America

Impact Report 2021

Together, We Find a Way

Pacaya Samiria National Reserve, Peru
Reserva Nacional Pacaya Samiri La selva amazónica cubre más de la mitad del territorio de Perú y es la segunda parte más grande del Amazonas, después de la brasileña. © Daniel Maraña/TNC Photo Contest 2019

Together, We Find a Way

From towering Andean peaks and Patagonian grasslands, to the Amazon rainforest and Mesoamerican Reef, Latin America’s unparalleled natural wealth is essential to the health of our planet.  

 The Nature Conservancy (TNC) has worked in the region for five decades. Our efforts in Latin America span 17 countries and engage hundreds of partners across sectors: local communities, governments, companies, financial institutions, and academia. Together, we create innovative, practical and field-proven solutions to meet our world’s most pressing challenges: protecting ocean, lands and water; tackling climate change; and providing food and water sustainably.

 

Seville in the Valley of the Cauca in Colombia is known as “the balcony of the valley” for its spectacular panoramic views. © Fabián Rendón Morales/TNC Photo Contest

Forging Ahead into a Decisive Decade

We are facing the biggest, most complex challenges of our lives. And that calls for our biggest, most ambitious plans. That is why we have set urgent targets aimed at helping us secure a thriving planet—for people and nature. 

Latin America has a decisive role to play, especially for climate—as the region will deliver 50% of TNC’s projected carbon sequestration and emission reduction targets for 2030.

Grounded in science, fueled by our collaborative spirit and our relentless pursuit of solutions, we know that together we can overcome barriers to progress and achieve our most ambitious plans yet.

Latin America
Iconic Places Protecting 12 Iconic Places, home to incredible natural, economic, and cultural resources and must-win ecosystems where our work is delivering triple benefits for biodiversity, people, and climate.

Protecting 12 Iconic Places, home to incredible natural, economic, and cultural resources and must-win ecosystems where our work is delivering triple benefits for biodiversity, people, and climate.

Paula Caballero Regional Managing Director for Latin America © TNC

Regional Managing Director for Latin America

Together, we find a way

One of the things I love the most about my new role as TNC’s Regional Managing Director for Latin America is the time I spend with supporters, trustees, partners and staff in the incredible places where we work. I get to meet the passionate people who make our organization so strong. 

These experiences reaffirm my reasons for joining TNC: our science-based approach, combined with practical, field-proven solutions, rooted in decades of collaboration with diverse partners. Few organizations have the depth, muscle and convening power that TNC has to deliver results with the scale and urgency necessary. 

These are urgent times. This decade is the critical moment for global action to tackle the climate change and biodiversity crises. To avoid tipping points that could have dire consequences for all life on Earth, TNC has developed an ambitious set of goals to achieve by 2030 and a meticulously-derived set of metrics to track our progress.

Latin America has a decisive role to play in achieving our organizational global goals. The region is home to nearly half the planet’s biodiversity and a quarter of the world’s forests, making it vital for addressing two urgent tasks: reversing the decline of nature and halting climate change. With your commitment and support, Latin America can deliver 50% of TNC’s overall and global projected carbon sequestration and emission reduction targets by 2030. 

Our team has mobilized to meet these challenges head-on by focusing on 12 Iconic Places, carefully selected for their readiness to deliver biodiversity, climate and social outcomes. Through collective action with local and Indigenous communities, governments, the private sector, local organizations and other stakeholders, we are activating major levers to scale impactful conservation and regenerative development through public policy, corporate practices, innovative finance and more. 

While we pursue ambitious goals on a regional and global scale, at the community level, these may translate into family farms finding security and protecting nature through new ways of producing food; volunteer squads of divers repairing coral reefs that shield the shore; fishers designing guidelines to protect their stocks; or Indigenous communities stepping forward to lead ambitious national action. 

The Impact Report that follows captures our ambitious goals and a sampling of our accomplishments in 2021. 

We are grateful to all our donors who continue to generously support us at this critical time for our planet. Together, we can realize a future where both people and nature thrive.

With deep appreciation,

Paula Caballero

Learn about TNC's achievements in Latin America Download the impact report

Our Priorities

  • Protect Lands, Water, Oceans

    Protecting lands and waters is where TNC’s story began. Today, we are guided by our mission to conserve Latin America’s iconic landscapes at an unprecedented scale—for the benefit of people, wildlife, and climate. Discover the stories

  • Provide Food and Water Sustainably

    Use the power of nature to restore the health of our soils and oceans, increasing production while building resiliency to our changing climate. Discover the stories

  • Tackle Climate Change

    Unleash nature’s full potential to stabilize our climate by conserving forests and wetlands, adding regenerative practices to agriculture, and planting trees. Discover the stories

Sergio Rial LACC CO-CHAIR, CEO/Executive President Banco Santander, Brazil. © Courtesy Sergio Rial

Sergio Rial

Chairman of Santander Brazil,

Member of TNC Global Board,

Co-Chair of Latin America Conservation Council (LACC)

This decade is pivotal for scaling science-based solutions that put us on the path to a sustainable future. 

TNC’s work in Latin America delivers a triple dividend that protects biodiversity and improves local livelihoods while enhancing carbon capture and climate resilience. 

I am proud to partner with TNC, and invite you to do the same.