latin America & The caribbean

Latin America and the Caribbean host an extraordinary range of biodiversity across an unmatched variety of habitats, including cloud forests, dry forests, tropical savannahs, alpine tundra, and more. Unlike Africa or Asia, where a handful of iconic megafauna (the “big five”) anchor conservation efforts, LAC's ecological richness is distributed across thousands of species. Here, alongside jaguars and tapirs, the "little 500" — the amphibians, reptiles, birds, invertebrates, and plants that underpin healthy ecosystems — are equally critical to ecosystem function.

The Foundation's history in LAC stretches back to the early 1990s, including legacy investments in coastal Patagonian Argentina and jaguar research and conservation across Central and South America. More recently, the Foundation has made catalytic grants to protect wildlife corridors in the Selva Maya in Belize and expanded into community conservation work in the Chocó forest and dry forest ecosystems west of the Andes, and the forests and savannahs of the Guiana Shield.

The Foundation's current LAC portfolio spans the full spectrum of conservation contexts: recovering degraded landscapes, defending high-biodiversity forests under active pressure, and safeguarding intact ecosystems where threats are emerging. The Foundation supports NGOs and local communities to address the primary drivers of biodiversity loss. Where enabling conditions exist, the Foundation also supports partners in positioning themselves to leverage emerging conservation finance opportunities. The Foundation currently funds work in continental LAC only.

Jaguar Image: Julie Larsen Maher © WCS