Nature and Culture International

Latin American Conservation Programs in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru:NCI conserves lands and ecosystems in Latin America through the creation of natural reserves and programs to conserve rainforests and other threatened ecosystems. We do this in a grass-roots fashion, hiring local staff who work with regional and local governments, Indigenous Nationalities and Pueblos, and local communities to create conservation programs and designate new protected areas. We also build local capacity to manage and sustain the protected areas we help create. While emphasizing the conservation of forests and ecosystems, NCI's programs also promote sustainable community development.

Science and Monitoring: NCI facilitates scientific research and carries out ecosystem monitoring that support our mission to conserve lands and ecosystems in concert with local peoples. We also operate the San Francisco Scientific Field Station in Ecuador, that serves international and Ecuadorian universities that conduct basic and applied science research projects in tropical mountain ecology.

Management Plans, Governance and Financing Mechanisms and Community Development to Support Conservation:NCI creates and promotes conditions and tools such as governance structures, conservation financing mechanisms, and protected areas management plans that support land and resource conservation. Examples include our work to create livelihoods for people in and around protected areas based on sustainable use of resources, and the creation of water funds that create ecosystem service payments systems and link them to effective watershed conservation programs.