Conservation leader Avecita Chicchón on conservation that lasts

Avecita Chicchón is a longtime advocate for environmental conservation and sustainable livelihoods across Latin America. She has played a central role in designing and implementing Project Finance for Permanence (PFP) initiatives that help finance protected areas across the Andes and Amazon—bringing governments, communities, and funders together to solve complex challenges and create lasting impact. She leads the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation’s Andes-Amazon Initiative.

Shoulder to shoulder

I first went to the Amazon in 1983 to do fieldwork with the Asháninka People in Peru. Learning to hunt, fish, and harvest alongside them taught me that people and nature are deeply connected—and that conservation outcomes are more durable when they improve people’s lives. We all depend on the water, food, and climate stability nature provides, and we must work hombro a hombro with fishers, farmers, and city dwellers alike to protect all of it.

An unexpected gift

I remember one day, early in my career, after hours of interviewing Indigenous families and mapping how they used the forest, I went to a nearby creek. Floating there, surrounded by the sound of tittering birds and monkeys leaping through the jungle canopy, I felt overwhelmed with gratitude. I realized protecting nature was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

Roses and rainforests

For too long, conservation efforts focused on one beloved park or one special project at a time—like the boy in The Little Prince who cares only for his rose, thinking it’s the only one that matters. But the Amazon is a vast garden, and we need to care for all its roses. That’s why the PFP approach is so transformative. By aligning political will, community leadership, and full funding before implementation begins, we can have durable, systemic impact.

Conservation customized

We first saw the power of the PFP model in Brazil’s ARPA for Life, which evolved from a traditional endowment into a fully integrated, government-backed PFP initiative. Since then, we’ve adapted it in Peru and Colombia, and we’re working on an initiative for Bolivia. Every country has different dynamics, and PFP’s flexible framework meets countries where they are, helping them achieve what they’ve already committed to do.