f you could walk it, you'd understand the incredible natural diversity of WWF's Latin America and Caribbean region (LA/C). Step after step--from northern Mexico to Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of South America, then north up the east coast to Venezuela and the southernmost islands of the Caribbean--you'd see some of nature's greatest wonders. You'd feel the delicate elegance of the region's natural balance, the incredible web of life that makes it one of the most special places on earth.
And you'd feel it strongest in the strangest places: the
smoggy urban sprawl of Sao Paulo and Mexico City; the
shrinking acres of the rainforest, where losses are
measured by the second; the endangered forests of the
Andes. In these places and too much of the LA/C, you're
afforded the dead-on vision of hindsight, as pollution,
industry, agricultural expansion, and urban growth
increasingly threaten much of the region's natural wonder.
That's why since 1962 WWF has supported more than a
thousand conservation initiatives in over 30 Latin
American/Caribbean (LA/C) countries. Today, with an
annual budget approaching $20 million (U.S.), the
program helps sustain about 200 ongoing projects that
contain a large portion of the region's biological diversity.
WWF's programs, often undertaken with local partner
organizations, seek to empower local people to effectively
manage their own natural resources. Through education
and communication, the organization encourages more
citizens to participate in conservation initiatives, and helps
shape local, national, and international policies that can
build on and replicate the sound conservation efforts
developed in individual communities.
You'll need a guide if you're going to travel through this
beautiful and diverse land, so we'll arrange for a true
native, the parrot, to show you around. The parrot is the
perfect guide, living as it does in forest, it's aerial view
of the region gives it a unique perspective to see everything
that happens. So click on the parrot for a guided tour
through WWF's LA/C country and regionwide projects, or select
from the menu above left.