External Partners

Nature and Culture International

Naturaleza y Cultura Internacional is a conservation NGO that protects biologically diverse ecosystems in Latin America in collaboration with local people.   NCI was founded in the southern Ecuadorian city of Loja in 1997 and has since expanded into six countries:  Ecuador, Perú, México, Colombia, Bolivia, and Brazil.  In its twenty years of existence, NCI has helped protect 5.6 million hectares of some of the world´s most biodiverse and endangered ecosystems. Naturaleza y Cultura Internacional (NCI) seeks student researchers to conduct biodiversity monitoring and research in the Andean, Amazonian, and Tumbesian dry forest ecosystems in southern Ecuador where NCI owns and manages nature reserves. 

World Resources Institute

WRI's Global Restoration Initiative works with governments and international partners to inspire, enable and implement restoration on degraded landscapes, returning them to economic and environmental productivity. Alongside IUCN and other partners, WRI has identified more than two billion hectares of cleared and degraded forest and agricultural lands suitable for restoration. Embracing forest and landscape restoration will allow for a world in which the amount of forest cover grows while the productivity of existing agricultural land increases.

CATIE

CATIE (Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza) is one of Latin America’s most well-respected institutions for education and applied work in sustainable agriculture, tropical natural resource management and rural development. The institution has programs and professors studying a wide array of topics in sustainable agriculture and livestock, agroforestry, forest ecology and management, protected areas, value chains, watersheds and water resources, development practices, climate change science and planning—and it is home to dozens of programs that are putting this research to work to train professionals and improve the livelihoods of people throughout Central America.

Planet Indonesia

Planet Indonesia is dedicated to the conservation of earth's ecosystems by facilitating productive economic activities in marginalized communities that preserve natural habitats and cultural traditions. Their approach is unique in that they partner with communities to identify profit-making opportunities and support them to create their own business models. PI often refers to their method as a social fusion of development and environmental work. They believe there is a connection between economics, people, culture, and our environment. When these aspects fall out of balance, our world suffers.