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.