Our Purpose and Mission
Our purpose is to build wildlife corridors that protect biodiversity and connect people to their land and ocean.
Our mission is to restore and protect the Pacific Slope ecosystems of Mesoamerica. These habitats include the endangered dry tropical forest, mangrove wetlands, and eastern Pacific coral reefs. By strengthening the Paso del Istmo and other corridors across a region-wide network, we will reconnect people and wildlife across western Mesoamerica. Our innovative approach protects biodiversity where people already live. By working with local communities, landowners, and partner organizations, we restore and protect the habitats that form building blocks for wildlife corridors.
Our approach is integrative, iterative, and community-based. By working with local communities, landowners, and partner organizations, we are restoring and protecting the habitats that form building blocks for wildlife corridors.
We choose and implement projects based on an iterative process.
- Observe and listen. Our scientists and community-based staff track wildlife conditions and listen to communities, learning social needs and developing good working relationships with key community figures.
- Identify a focus. We prioritize the most urgent conservation needs by considering threats, risks, and the status of key species.
- Study the problem’s context. We study the focus needs in their entire context—historical, cultural, political, biological, and economic—and begin designing solutions.
- Innovate solutions. Since problems usually have several factors, we launch solutions that incorporate several approaches. We apply technology and scientific procedures, incentivize best practices in the community, and implement social programs that involve and empower local communities.
- Repeat. Because we are trying to fix a constantly changing system, we are always assessing current conditions and looking for new ideas and ways to improve.
Our iterative process is producing significant results. For example, we have planted more than one million trees, employed dozens of community members, stabilized the dwindling population of the yellow-naped amazon parrot, increased the population of the black-handed spider monkey by more than sixty percent, helped launch more than ten ecotourism businesses, assisted in the creation of three local marine industry cooperatives, created new protected areas, and graduated more than 350 children from our popular Junior Ranger program, which teaches children about local wildlife, sustainable conservation, and community leadership.