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Friends and colleagues,

From new studies to working with communities, to reaching agreements and sending messages to a new government; WWF's work in our Latin American region continued forward this month, building a better environmental and social future with each project. These are the events of August:

Regarding Oceans, WWF-Ecuador participated as an observer during the 100th Annual Meeting of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC). For its part, in Peru, more than 80 artisanal fishermen committed to clean oceans participated in a recycling event. Meanwhile, in Chile, sectors directly and indirectly involved in the life cycle of plastic carry out national dialogues on a global treaty against plastic pollution with the support of WWF.

In the Forests practice, a community in Bolivia enabled the “Copaibo Route”, a trail in the first communal protected area in the country.

With work related to the Wildlife practice, WWF-Peru specialists on Amazonian wildlife issues developed a learning module on coexistence with wildlife that was implemented in the Farmer Field Schools of the Madre de Dios region. Meanwhile, Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina held its first citizen science event: the Winter Safari, where people from all over the country registered biodiversity observations.

Meanwhile, in the practice of Climate and Energy, WWF-Ecuador signed, together with other actors, a commitment to executing the Implementation Plan for REDD+ Measures and Actions that will allow the indigenous peoples of the Amazon to tackle climate change and deforestation.

In Food, WWF-Mesoamerica and the firm GS1 Guatemala carried the first study on Supermarket Food Loss in the Retail Sector in Guatemala.

In the Governance practice, WWF-Colombia sent a message to the new government about the opportunity to maintain and ensure the natural wealth of the country. Additionally, WWF-Paraguay supported the creation of the book “The Right to a Future,” a compilation of stories on Human and Environmental Rights in the country.

Finally, regarding the communication aspect, WWF-Mexico organized a workshop with communication directors from WWF Latin America and WWF International to analyze challenges and create synergies.

Enjoy this new edition,

Roberto Troya

Senior Vice president & Regional Director

WWF-LAC

WWF participated in the IATTC meeting

WWF-Ecuador participated as an observer during the 100th Annual Meeting of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC), a face-to-face meeting after two years of being a virtual event. Following this meeting, WWF-Ecuador recognized the importance of adopting a fishing strategy for Northern Albacore and approving an amendment on member country compliance to achieve rapid progress on measures aimed at the recovery of marine wildlife in the region.

Recycling together with artesanal fishermen

Thanks to the commitment and help of artisanal fishermen, in 2021 the execution of the "Zero Waste" project began alongside with the GEA Group, and the Union of Artisanal Fishermen and Seafood Extractors of Matarani (SPAEMIM). It has been financed by the PNIPA, whose objective is the implementation of a solid and oily waste management model in the Artisanal Fishing Landing El Faro, Matarani. As part of this project’s activities, a Recycling contest was developed for one and a half months in which more than 80 fishermen participated. Another activity from this project recognized the most committed fishermen as well as those vessels that returned a greater amount of waste. 

National Dialogues on future global treaty against plastic pollution

The report of the National Dialogues on a future global treaty to end plastic pollution gathered significant interest from national actors linked to plastic and the impacts they produce. The report presents the conclusions of these dialogues, organized by Plastic Oceans Chile, with the support of WWF-Chile as part of the council of experts. These dialogues were held in five other countries, Chile being the only Latin American country.

Open “green tourism” route

The Indigenous Community of "El Rancho", is the main guardian of the Ecological Area of Integrated Management El Rancho, the first communal protected area in Bolivia, where the Copaibo Route has been enabled. The trail allows visitors to learn about the species in the reserve, get to know the Chiquitanía, observe how the sustainable use of Copaibo oil is made, and recognize the importance of this area for the community.

Promote coexistence education

The Farmer Field Schools are training spaces for cattle ranchers developed through learning modules on their own farms. Topics include animal management, environment, herd diversification, production systems, business administration, business approach. Likewise, a new learning module on coexistence with wildlife was included in the Madre de Dios Farmer Field Schools and it was developed by WWF-Peru specialists on Amazonian wildlife. During this learning space, the attendees shared their experiences about conflicts with species such as the jaguar, and received information about its importance for the conservation of forests and ecosystem services.

Citizen science promoted by a “Winter Safari”

Vida Silvestre launched its first citizen science event, the Winter Safari, which invited people from all over the country to record their biodiversity observations using the ArgentiNat / iNaturalist app, to collaboratively generate a representative sampling of nature over four days. 

Nearly 325 participants registered 6,700 observations from all the provinces of the country. More than 1,300 species were identified, therefore generating valuable data for science. The Safaris will be repeated every three months (once per season). 

Amazonian indigenous will tackle climate change

WWF-Ecuador signed, together with CONFENIAE, the Ministry of the Environment, Water and Ecological Transition of Ecuador, and UNDP Ecuador, a commitment to the execution of the REDD+ Measures and Actions Implementation Plan. This project aims to tackle climate change and deforestation and to support the strengthening of capacities of leaders and grassroots organizations.

WWF-Ecuador will provide technical support for three years in several lines of action: sustainable use of land, conservation, environmental education, restoration and reforestation, support for bio-enterprises, and capacity building.

First study on supermarket food loss

WWF-Mesoamerica and the firm GS1 Guatemala made a public presentation of the study produced jointly on the impact that food loss has had on two supermarket chains in the country. The publication includes what this represents in terms of the natural resources that were used to produce said foods.

The presentation was attended by representatives of the food, beverage, hospitality and retail sectors, as well as trade associations in the country. Among other findings, the study revealed that for every ton of food that enters a supermarket, at least 100 kilos are not consumed.

The presentation is available in the following link and the report can be found here: 

A message to the new government

The governmental transition in Colombia has listed the environmental agenda as one of its main priorities. In less than a month, ambitious initiatives have been announced in which WWF has actively participated, such as the ratification of the Escazu Agreement, the ban on fracking and the prohibition of glyphosate to spray illicit crops. For the presidential inauguration, on August 7th, WWF posted on social media a direct message to the president, Gustavo Petro, as well as the vice president, Francia Márquez, his ministers and directors, encouraging them to put nature in the center, to make Colombia a fair, inclusive, resilient and biodiverse world power. The three publications, on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, reached more than 60,000 people, got more than 5,000 interactions, and had a direct impact in the media, which replicated the message. 

Stories about environment and human rights

WWF-Paraguay supported the elaboration process of "The Right to a Future," an advocacy book, which compiles stories that seek to create visibility for the relationship between human and environmental rights of rural and indigenous communities. The reports were carried out by a journalistic team committed to these rights. The main problems faced by these communities are deforestation, forest fires, agribusiness (such as soybean fumigation and its social and environmental impact), land titling, as well as access to water and related health issues. The material was shared with several organizations, civil society and the media.

LAC communicators seek work synergies

In a workshop organized by the WWF-Mexico communications team, communications directors from WWF-Latin America and the Caribbean and communications directors from WWF International met in person to analyze opportunities and challenges in communication.

For 5 days, the communicators shared work experiences and proposed routes to create synergy that would have a positive impact on the region; Likewise, they enjoyed Mexican food and tourist areas of Mexico City.