Fifteen researchers from 10 Latin American countries, recognized with the Whitley Award for the work they perform to conserve biodiversity, got together in August for a training meeting promoted by WFN – Whitley Fund for Nature at the headquarters of IPÊ – Ecological Research Institute (Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas), in Nazaré Paulista. According to Lisa Wheeler, Subsidies and Relationships director, the action was set to expand conservation efforts in some of the most biodiverse places on the planet.
“As a group, WFN-recognized researchers have been asking for more training and networking opportunities to share and learn from each other. By facilitating in-person learning opportunities led by peers working in the same geographic region, we want to maximize the conservation impact of individuals by fostering a thriving, active, supportive network of WFN award-winning researchers at this critical juncture in the battle to save biodiversity.”, explains Lisa.
The group assembled: Angela Maldonado (Entropika/ Colombia), Susana Gonzalez (Instituto de Conservacion Neotropical/ Uruguay), Rosamira Guillen (Fundación Proyecto Tití/ Colombia), Mauro Lucherini (Mammal Behavioral Ecology Group (GECM)/Argentina), Rachel Graham (Mar Alliance/ Belize), Michaela Camino (Asociacion Civil Red Agroforestal Chaco Argentina (REDAF)/ Argentina), Pablo Hoffmann (Sociedade Chaua/Brazil), José Sarasola (Centro para el Estudio y Conservacion de las Aves Rapaces en Argentina (CECARA )/ Argentina), Pilar Alexander Blanco Marquez (Asociacion Civil Fundacion Esfera/ Venezuela), Xime Velez-Liendo (Prometa/ Bolivia), Marta Marleny Rosales Meda (ORCONDECO/ Guatemala), Nicole Auil Gomez (Wildlife Conservation Society/Belize), Pedro Friedrich Fruet (Kaosa/ Brazil), Yuliana Rocío Bedolla Guzmán (Grupo de Ecología y Conservación de Islas, A.C./ Mexico) and Monica Magdalena Gonzalez Pita (Foundation for the Conservation of the Tropical Andes/ Ecuador).
The WFN director says that the programming was developed according to the priorities of the participants. “For a week, researchers shared success lessons, innovative solutions and also failures. We were thrilled with the participation of Claudio Padua, co-founder of IPÊ recognized with the Whitley Award (1999) and the Continuation Fund Awards (2014), and Suzana Padua, co-founder and president of IPÊ, who opened the event and led revolutionary workshops”.
Suzana highlights that this meeting brought hope and, in fact, enabled learning exchanges. “The people who participated are winners, obstinate and have already shown their ability, their mission is to save the biodiversity of their countries. During the opening of the meeting, we told the story of IPÊ and had the opportunity to talk to the group about dilemmas and challenges facing NGOs, such as succession, attracting institutional resources and the involvement of different stakeholders in projects, in addition to the importance of institutional strengthening and of audits. After all, the stronger the institution, the more possibilities for the project.”
The meeting was made possible by donations to the Whitley Fund for Nature. “Thanks to the generous support of our donors, such as the Hempel Foundation, we were able to offer this one-week opportunity in Brazil, following our first regional training in Kenya in 2022”, points out Georgie White, responsible for partnerships at the Whitley Fund for Nature.
The meeting promoted by Whitley Fund for Nature at the IPÊ headquarters in Nazaré Paulista/SP has yet another meaning, as Suzana explains. “The first two constructions of the IPÊ headquarters were made possible with resources donated by the Whitley family, before the award even existed. Edward (founder of the Whitley Fund for Nature) had a family foundation at the time, when he found resources to finance the first construction, recognizing our conservation efforts. When he came to inaugurate the construction, we asked for funds for the second building and he managed it once again, with his family. I see the presence of this group at IPÊ headquarters as another chapter in this story. In fact, Whitley’s group came to celebrate in an environment that Edward Whitley himself provided for IPÊ”.
