Sara Inés Lara (en)

She is a Civil Engineer from the University of Cauca, Popayán, she has worked on important infrastructure projects such as the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. In 2003, she went on to direct ProAves Colombia. In 2004, she combined her love of nature with her drive to empower women, establishing the organization Women for Conservation. She has more than two decades of conservation experience, working closely with international organizations, communities and governments.

Sara is a founding member and Executive Director of ProAves Colombia, an organization focused on bird conservation that currently has 27 Natural Reserves that protect 12% of the total bird species in the world.

Under her leadership, ProAves has consolidated its network of reserves and key sites for conservation, bird watching and ecotourism, allowing Colombia to position itself internationally as an important destination for birdlife. A great example and model of sustainability between conservation and ecotourism is the ProAves El Dorado Reserve, located in the heart of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, a place where through science, education and gender empowerment, conservation is possible. a site cataloged as an irreplaceable site due to its high endemism and being the home of threatened species such as the Santa Marta Parakeet (Pyrrhura viridicata).

Her connection to conservation was a response to the need for positive change for the world, gender equality, female empowerment and climate change. Sara has been recognized as one of the “Hundred Great Latin American Women” by the magazine Billiken and recognized as one of the women conservationists in the book “Women Heroines of Bird Conservation”.

Since 1998, ProAves has championed one of the most important bird conservation milestones in Latin America and the world: saving the Yellow-eared Parrot (Ognorhynchus icterotis) from extinction.

This example of species recovery was the beginning of the consolidation of a network of 27 natural reserves that safeguard the most threatened species: endemic, resident and migratory birds, as well as mammals, amphibians, reptiles and a high wealth of flora and fauna of our country.

This great conservation impact has been possible thanks to the enormous effort of our collaborators, communities in rural territories, private and government organizations and institutions, in order to promote the care of birds and biodiversity. There are 25 years of experience executing and implementing conservation, research and environmental education work, which expands scientific knowledge and empowers communities to protect birdlife and prevent the extinction of our species in the country of birds.

This conference will allow you to learn more about the challenges, learnings and experiences of ProAves as pioneers for a quarter of a century, contributing to the development of sustainable alternatives such as bird tourism and from conservation they continue to position Colombia as the number one country in bird diversity in the world. world.

https://proaves.org