Women for Conservation/W4C, USA

Women for Conservation was born from our commitment to empower women in biodiverse areas of Colombia while simultaneously protecting rare and endemic wildlife. While meeting with local women from these rural areas, an important theme arose: Communities living around endangered biodiversity cannot invest in conservation when they are struggling to meet their most basic needs. From this understanding, we collaboratively spearheaded a three-pronged approach to combat the main socio-economic causes of environmental degradation by providing resources on family planning, sustainable livelihood training, and conservation education. We believe that gender equality is essential to conservation success, and we are building the infrastructure for women to lead Colombia into a future centered around ecotourism and conservation.