Southern Cone
The vast and pristine landscapes of South America’s Southern Cone are threatened by industrial and hydroelectric development, and conflict has emerged around claims to land and resources. The influence of industry dominates these conflicts, as indigenous communities and traditional gauchos are pushed off the lands they have lived on for generations to make room for hydroelectric dams, biofuels production, and extractive industries. Yet the region also maintains greater social and political stability than the rest of Latin America.
This concurrence of conflict and stability has fostered a wealth of grassroots movements seeking to protect the Southern Cone’s natural, ecological, and cultural resources. Greengrants’ Southern Cone Advisory Board seeks to empower the voices of these groups against the harmful practices of industries.
Grantmaking Strategies
- Support the network of Southern Cone NGOs in furthering their efforts to disseminate information on proposed development initiatives
- Encourage urban social and environmental groups and their activism
- Contribute to cross-border initiatives to strengthen coalitions against mining
- Monitor the regional integration process and proposed mega infrastructure projects
Board Priorities
Conversion of natural ecosystems (forest, savanna, and wetlands) into monocultures (esp. soy plantations)
Expansion of energy development—hydroelectric, oil, and gas exploration
Insecure land rights
Unsustainable industrial forestry and industrial fishing activities
Loss of biodiversity and native traditions
Climate impacts on ecosystems, water, livelihoods
Countries
Cahuil Laguna Corporation
Grant #: 52-564
Amount: $5,000
Country: Chile
Focus: WaterIn the first example of integrated watershed management in Chile, the Cahuil Laguna Corporation used a small grant to initiate local dialogue about conserving the Nilahue estuary and the Cahuil Lake ecosystem. First, they sought to work with local stakeholders and develop a sustainable management plan for and by communities surrounding the estuary. To do so, they brought together artisanal fishers, salt producers, farmers rescuing traditional seeds, and community members to build support for conservation. The collaboration was so successful that the National Forestry Corporation (CONAF) studied their integrated watershed management program and incorporated into their own Model Forest Program.
Center for Investigation and Promotion of the Bicycle in Uruguay
Grant #: 52-908
Amount: $4,825
Country: Uruguay
Focus: SustainabilityThe Center for the Investigation and Promotion of the Bicycle in Uruguay (Urubike) works to promote the use of bicycles as a form of sustainable transportation in urban and suburban areas of Uruguay. With this grant, Urubike will produce and distribute an educational leaflet, promotional stickers, and bicycle reflectors. Additionally, the organization will facilitate two workshops with the intent of mapping safe bicycle routes through the 19 urban zones of Montevideo.
Enrique Bostelmann
Coordinator
Enrique trained as an engineer in aquaculture and is currently working on his PhD in Biological Sciences with a specialization in paleo-ecological evolution from the University of the Republic in Montevideo, Uruguay. He has been an independent reviewer for studies on environmental issues in Chile and has served as an advisor to several environmental groups. He recently acted as the Director of the Department of Biological Diversity at the Southern Environmental Law Center (CEADA), where he analyzed natural resource laws and consolidated the Strategy of Biological Diversity of Chile.
Nathalia Borba
Administrator
Nathalie is a journalism student at the University of the Republic in Montevideo, Uruguay. She has experience working with socio-environmental activities in Uruguay.
Omar Angel Arach
Foundation M'bigua
Omar is an anthropologist and a visiting professor of Environmental Anthropology at several universities in Argentina. He has undertaken studies about socio-environmental movements en the Cuenca del Plata region, and he has analyzed the processes of social mobilization in relation to large infrastructure challenges (including large dams and waterways). He served as the Campaign Coordinator for Sobrevivencia, Friends of the Earth, Paraguay for two years, and then as a consultant with the Research Program on Small Farmers of the National Institute of Farming (INTA) from 2006-2010. Most recently, he joined Foundation M’bigua, an environmental organization in Paraná, Argentina.
Mariano Coscarella
Centro Nacional Patagónico
Mariano is an expert in the applied science and conservation of marine species in the Patagonia region. He has experience as an educator in both academic and informal settings, in educational tourism, and in natural resource management. He also has 15 years of experience as a researcher in biology, ecology, and management of marine mammal populations of Patagonia. Mariano has worked extensively in natural resource management, holding leadership positions at the municipal and provincial levels. In many instances he has served as a link between sciences and the practice of resource management – taking into account diverse interests and acting as a go-between among different interests (NGOs, state, research, private). Since 1993, he has taught biological sciences at the National University of Patagonia.
Jorge Daneri
M'Bigua-Civdadanta Justicia Ambiental, Argentina
Jorge Daneri is a lawyer who completed postgraduate studies in environmental rights. He is the Executive Coordinator of the Ecological Forum of Parana, Argentina and works with the Rios Vivos Coalition. He coordinates a project developed by the Rios Vivos Coalition that monitors the policies of the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank. Jorge co-authored a book on environmental and sustainable development laws in Argentina. He has also represented the government of Argentina at several international environmental conferences including: Intergovernmental Forum on Forests, IUCN World Congress, and the Fund for the Americas.
Stefan Gelcich
Pontifica Universidad Católica de Chile
Stefan is a marine biologist with an interest in the social dimensions of marine conservation and management. His PhD dissertation was on the experience of co-management in Chilean coastal fisheries. Stefan is currently a researcher at the Pontifica Universidad Católica de Chile conducting field research on themes of artisinal fishermen, local government and scientific research for marine management. Stefan has broad experience working directly with fishing communities in coastal regions of Chile. He also has experience working with impoverished indigenous communities in Chiloe in the following areas: environmental education, management of fisheries by local fishermen, repopulating invertebrate species, and the creation of protected woodlands.
Regina Kretschmer
Independant Consultant
Regina Kretschmer was born in Paysandú, Uruguay, and lived in Germany as a child. For the last 20 years, she has lived in Paraguay, where she has dedicated her career to working with peasant and indigenous communities on research, organization development and community strengthening. She currently coordinates an interdisciplinary action research project on socio-environmental development in a multicultural community of Alto Paraguay. She has also served as a consultant for the FAO, the Paraguayan Ministry of Culture, the EU, Intermon, the InterAmerican Development Bank and GTZ. Regina has a Masters in Anthropology from Freie Universität in Berlin and is a Doctoral student in Agrarian Studies at the National University of Córdoba, Argentina writing her dissertation on the socio-territorial processes linked to the resistance struggles of small farmers to the expansion of agribusiness.
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