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Dear friends and colleagues,

“Together Possible”… In April, we made it evident with our work in LAC. Together, we formed alliances with Animal Planet and USAID to protect Colombia´s nature and to boost the sustainable production of soy and meat in Paraguay; Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay continued their work for the Pantanal; in Honduras, the collaborative work with Finca Granjas Marinas San Bernado farm resulted in certified shrimp; in Lima, government, academy, and civil society celebrated the Bike Week; and, in the Amazon, WWF-Brazil and the Living Amazon Initiative launched an study about the Tapajos Basin conservation. Internationally, April was a key month for the region; countries reaffirmed their commitments by signing the Climate Agreement, and the WWF World Heritage Campaign highlighted the Mesoamerican Reef. For Ecuador, unfortunately, April was a sad month due to the earthquake that devastated part of its coastal region; but the collaborative spirit of the country, the region and the world, as well as WWF-Ecuador`s, are supporting the recovery of affected people and places. We send a message of solidarity to our colleagues and partners in Ecuador, wishing a quick recovery. Thank you,

Roberto Troya

Vice President, WWF-LAC

Colombia reaffirms its commitment with sustainable mobility

More than 8.000 people in 11 cities of the country joined simultaneous cycle trips coordinated by WWF Colombia. The activity took place during Colombia's Earth Hour 2017 celebration and is part of a new local initiative called Móntate en el cambio (Ride the Change). The latter promotes sustainable mobility and invites people to use the bicycle as an ecofriendly means of transportation. Its first edition resulted in three universities (Universidad Militar Nueva Granada, Universidad de Los Andes from Bogotá and Universidad Javeriana from Cali) being granted a sustainable mobility system, each of which included a fleet of 20 bicycles, administration of the system for six months and insurance during a whole year. These educational institutions won after 45.000 users voted online. Also, millions of users shared their experiences using the hashtag #MóntateEnElCambio.

New recycling stations in Guatemala

On March 22, WWF Guatemala / Mesoamerica with the support from Tetra Pak, inaugurated the Green Recycling Stations located in Guatemala City and its surroundings. With these stations, Guatemalan families will be able to deposit their recycling materials such as paper, plastic, cans, glass and Tetra Pak containers. This action is the result of the commitment established during the 2016 Earth Hour, in which WWF and its allies agreed to install recycling stations to help them deliver their recycling materials throughout the city. With this event, WWF commemorated World Water Day, due to the relation that the efficient material disposal management has over the quality of water bodies in the country.

El Gran Pantanal, the Challenge of Shared Management

Pantanal, world's largest freshwater wetland, shares its extraordinary biodiversity with three countries: Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay. As part of the regional planning for the Cerrado Pantanal Program, led by WWF offices in Bolivia, Brazil and Paraguay, we boosted the first Tri-National Meeting for the Gran Pantanal Protected Areas Operators.

Honduras Shrimp Farms Celebrate ASC Certification

With support from WWF, Finca Granjas Marinas San Bernado farm in Honduras has successfully gained certification against the ASC standard for responsible shrimp farming. The Granjas Marinas Group operated site located in Choluteca, Honduras was successfully assessed by independent certifier Control Union Peru earlier in the year together with four of the companies’ other farms.

Marine Turtles: Joining efforts for their conservation in the Peruvian coast

Peru has one of the highest bycatch rates of marine turtles in the Eastern Pacific. Our country has over 100 fishing ports, which are distributed along 3,000 km of coastline, with some 15,000 artisanal fishing vessels and more than 40,000 fishermen. Therefore, WWF-Peru, together with various local organizations and fishermen, work to reduce the impacts of bycatch in longline and gillnet fisheries, through its project "Reducing turtle bycatch in the Eastern Pacific".

Major Earthquake In Ecuador

On April 16, 2016, an earthquake of 7.8 magnitude struck the northern coastal region of Ecuador. According to the official report of the National Office of Risk Management, 660 people were reported dead, 15 missing and 30,223 in temporary shelters. It is estimated that 720,000 people are in need of humanitarian aid. In the short term WWF Ecuador intends to focus its efforts on providing humanitarian assistance. In the medium term, we intend to join the efforts for the reconstruction of the affected areas, providing information and resources, such as toolbox for Repair and Reconstruction Verde (GRRT) developed by WWF in collaboration with the Red Cross, to ensure that environmental parameters are included in the process and thus support the affected coastal communities to increase their social, economic and environmental resilience.

Integrated Approach: Solutions for a More Sustainable Hydropower Planning

WWF-Brazil, with support from WWF Living Amazon Initiative, has release the publication A conservation vision for Tapajos basin. This is part of a broader initiative designed to face the threats posed by the expansion of unsustainable hydroelectricity generation in the entire Amazon region. The Tapajos river is the only big right bank tributary of the main Amazon river that has not been blocked by very large scale hydropower dams. Currently, however, the Tapajos River Basin is being targeted as the great frontier for hydropower supply and economic development of the Amazon. Find out more about solutions proposed by WWF reading this publication. Available in English and Portuguese.

Climate Deal Signing Opens New Era for Action

Countries gathered at United Nations headquarters to sign the Paris Agreement, the first global deal on climate change. The Paris Agreement includes a commitment to keep global warming to 1.5° Celsius. It is vital that countries remain focused on this goal and immediately increase their national efforts to achieve it, along with working to get the deal to enter into force.

Together, Saving Our Shared Heritage

114 natural World Heritage sites are under threat from harmful industrial activities like mining, oil and gas drilling, and construction of large-scale infrastructure. On April 6, WWF launched a campaign to defend these natural treasures, "Together, Saving Our Shared Heritage". Tha campaign highlights the threats to tree globally emblematic sites, one of them is the Belize barrier reef World Heritage Site.