EcoStrategist

For more than twenty-five years working in conservation and climate action across Latin America and Asia, one truth has become increasingly clear to me: sustainability is not achieved through technical design alone, it is built through trust, inclusion, and the ability of people to see themselves as co-owners of the solutions that shape their future. I have led strategies for REDD+ type projects, biodiversity conservation, and community resilience in some of the world’s most critical ecosystems, from the Amazon and the Chocó to climate-vulnerable landscapes in Latin America and Asia. Yet despite the diversity of geographies and cultures, the success or failure of every initiative has always hinged on one factor: how deeply it connects with the people who live in those territories. We tend to think of environmental projects in terms of metrics, tons of CO₂ avoided, hectares restored, species protected. These are important outcomes, but they tell only part of the story. What truly dete...

  As I reflect now, working in the private sector after doing my MBA, I see the ambition behind the phrase “return on investment” in conservation and development in a new light: it’s not just a grant-making label, but a discipline in linking financial, ecological, and social logics into a coherent value story. What follows is how I think about ROI in these fields now, what I learned in business school, what the evidence says, and how I try to build credible impact arguments in my current work. First, ROI in conservation and development must be treated as an integrated narrative, not a single formula. In the corporate world, ROI is about dollars in vs. dollars out; but when you apply that to, say, restoring a mangrove or improving immunization coverage, you immediately confront benefits that are diffuse, time-distributed, and uncertain. So the challenge is: how do you credibly trace a dollar you spend today to avoided losses, health gains, or better resilience tomorrow? That is th...