Rodrigo Botero García

FCDS

Big Idea: 

Fundación para la Conservación y el Desarrollo Sostenible (FCDS) defends the Amazon Basin from deforestation from illegal encroachment by layering three rings of protection: national parks, indigenous reserves, and thriving sustainable agroforestry communities. They identify and map the most vulnerable places, and then make a conservation plan for those areas. They engage communities to get buy-in on the plan and support them to get their land titled and use sustainable forest management practices. 

Rodrigo is a lifelong environmental activist whose connection to the Amazon rainforest and its inhabitants stems from childhood adventures in the forest with his father. Before he founded FCDS, he led the Amazon and Orinoco zones of the Colombian National Parks System for almost ten years! He’s also trained other countries in the Andean Amazon on best practices for land use conflict resolution in coordination with the US Department of the Interior.

Email: rbotero@fcds.org.co

Henry Arnhold Fellows