Washington — Wildlife conservation professionals from more than 30 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean are meeting in Montelimar, Nicaragua, to create a system for training the next generation of conservationists in the region.

The meeting, conducted the week of November 1 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the nongovernmental organization Fauna & Flora International (FFI), aims to create an educational program to help develop a cadre of conservation professionals in Latin America. More than 50 top conservation practitioners are participating in designing the program.

Researchers estimate that 40 percent of the world’s biological diversity can be found in Latin America and the Caribbean, making it one of the most environmentally significant regions on the planet. About 60 percent of the Amazon rain forest, the largest tropical forest on the planet, lies within the borders of Brazil, and one of the world’s highest losses of forest per year is in northwest Ecuador. Forest loss means habitat loss and places increasing pressure on many species of birds, amphibians, reptiles and mammals that already hover on the brink of extinction.

Unfortunately, the number of natural resource professionals in this resource-rich area is disproportionately small, in part due to the absence of conservation training opportunities. By way of comparison, the United States contains approximately 10 percent of the world’s biological diversity but has twice as many university-level conservation education programs as are found Latin America. The meeting in Nicaragua aims to address that imbalance.

“By bringing together the region’s most highly effective conservation practitioners, we will begin to develop a new, innovative training program to produce future conservation leaders with the experience and skills necessary to address the complex conservation challenges facing Latin American species, many of which spend part of their lives in the United States,” said USFWS Director Sam Hamilton.

The core mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is conserving and enhancing fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people, but it also has a significant and expanding role in conservation efforts worldwide as a partner in bilateral and multinational efforts.

The service’s Wildlife Without Borders Program for Latin America and the Caribbean, which sponsored the meeting in Nicaragua, strives to improve human and institutional capacity to protect the region’s fragile ecosystems. The program encourages collaboration among nongovernmental organizations, research centers, communities and other groups to improve conservation and resource management, and supports efforts to build capacity for professional management of wildlife and other natural resources. For more than 20 years, the program has supported training throughout the region, focusing on protected-area managers, park guards, community leaders and graduate students.

With this workshop, entitled “Preparing Highly Effective Conservation Professionals for the Future,” the program has begun to sharpen its focus on cultivating future environmental leaders.

The other meeting sponsor, Flora & Fauna International, was founded in 1903 as the world’s first international conservation organization. Its initial activities focused on Africa and led to the creation of numerous protected areas, including the Kruger and Serengeti national parks. The organization now operates worldwide to draw international attention to the plight of rare and endangered species.

Recently, the urgent threat posed by habitat loss and fragmentation to overall biodiversity has prompted Fauna & Flora International to tackle conservation challenges with strategies that explain conservation concerns to local populations and promote livelihood programs that will make conservation both relevant and sustainable.

In the Americas, FFI is working in Belize, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Nicaragua and some nations in the Caribbean. The organization credits the “strong tradition of civil society organizations in the Americas” with reinforcing the value of local partnerships and consideration of human needs in the region.

“Fauna & Flora International is proud of its close partnership with the service in support of effective international conservation,” said FFI Executive Director Katie Frohardt. “With the high-caliber team assembling in Nicaragua, we look forward to putting in motion with the service an innovative approach to developing the next generation of conservation leadership — based solidly on the experience and expertise of the region’s top conservation practitioners.”

More information about the USFWS international grants programs is available on the USFWS Web site.

For additional information about Fauna & Flora International, visit the organization’s Web site.