Conservation and the Environment

Some of the key environmental issues facing the world today are climate change, global deforestation, the overexploitation of global fisheries, and the loss of biological diversity. Paragon's advisors have worked at both the policy and grassroots levels, and provide in-depth expertise in the following areas:

Deforestation and Climate Change

Deforestation and forest degradation plays a significant role in catalyzing climate change, accounting for an estimated 15% of greenhouse gas emissions (along with peatland emissions). Paragon's advisors have supported forest conservation and sustainable forest management both from a policy perspective and on the ground, working with local communities and stakeholders.

Marine Conservation and Overfishing

Where coastal communities play a primary role in determining the sustainability of local marine resources, conservation strategies may include creating Marine Protected Areas, defining No Take Zones, promoting behavior change and the adoption of appropriate technologies, and empowering local fishing communities to share the responsibility of managing their fisheries. Paragon's advisors have worked on marine conservation challenges from Indonesia to the Gulf of California.

Landscape Conservation and Protected Areas

Paragon's advisors have worked to build local capacity for the effective management and co-management of parks and reserves, including indigenous lands and community-oriented protected areas, in collaboration with national park authorities, indigenous organizations, local governments and communities, and the private sector (gas pipeline operators, tourism agencies).

Endangered Species

According to the U.N., nearly 17,000 species of plants and animals are known to be threatened with extinction. Paragon's team members have worked on projects that conserve threatened and endangered species, from jaguars in Bolivia to sea turtles in the Gulf of California.

Advisors

Nigel Sizer

Nigel Sizer conceived and developed Community Carbon, a grassroots effort to link impoverished communities in Indonesia to global carbon markets. In 2008, he served as lead advisor on climate change and energy issues in Asia to former President Bill Clinton and the Clinton Global Initiative.

Andrew Noss

Andrew Noss spent 15 years with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in Bolivia and Ecuador, implementing landscape conservation and indigenous lands management programs financed by USAID, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and other donors, and conducting research on and management of both endangered and game species.

Monica Ostria

Monica Ostria has 25 years of professional experience in environmental conservation in 21 countries in Latin America and expertise in forestry, climate change, and public policy.

Andrzej Kozlowski

Andrzej Kozlowski has a background in landscape conservation, sustainable development, conservation finance, and social marketing. He led a project to support the sustainable management of South America's Chaco and Pantanal Ecoregions, and worked with The Nature Conservancy on native species conservation initiatives.