{"id":315,"date":"2026-04-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/naturalezaargentina.org\/lucila-castro-ciencia-liderazgo-y-compromiso-con-la-conservacion\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T19:38:23","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T19:38:23","slug":"lucila-castro-ciencia-liderazgo-y-compromiso-con-la-conservacion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/naturalezaargentina.org\/en\/lucila-castro-ciencia-liderazgo-y-compromiso-con-la-conservacion\/","title":{"rendered":"Lucila Castro: Science, Leadership, and Commitment to Conservation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Desde su creaci\u00f3n, Naturaleza Argentina<\/strong> ha trabajado en la protecci\u00f3n de ecosistemas a trav\u00e9s de \u00e1reas protegidas y el trabajo con comunidades locales. Su presidenta es bi\u00f3loga, investigadora y l\u00edder en conservaci\u00f3n, y ha dedicado su carrera a proteger la naturaleza desde el territorio. En esta entrevista, Lucila Castro repasa su recorrido, los desaf\u00edos de la conservaci\u00f3n en el pa\u00eds y el rol clave de las comunidades locales en la protecci\u00f3n del ambiente.<\/p>\n

\u00bfC\u00f3mo surgi\u00f3 la idea de fundar Naturaleza Argentina<\/strong> y cu\u00e1les fueron los primeros pasos para hacerlo realidad?<\/h2>\n

More than ten years ago, I was working for an NGO called the Pacific Biodiversity Institute, dedicated to conservation and research.\nThrough this work, I met many people, both nationally and internationally, who were working in conservation.\nA group of friends and I decided to found an NGO dedicated to protecting our territory through a key tool: protected areas.<\/p>\n

I assembled a team of professionals, initially focused on biology, and then we expanded to other areas, understanding the complexity of the conservation field.\nThis is how we arrived at what we are today: a consolidated group of professionals from different disciplines, focused on science, conservation, finance, policy, and socio-environmental issues.<\/p>\n

What do you think has been the organization's greatest achievement so far?<\/h2>\n

Podr\u00eda mencionar dos logros. El primero tiene que ver con Naturaleza Argentina<\/strong> en s\u00ed: que exista en el centro del pa\u00eds, consolidada y en constante mejora, es un logro enorme. La fundaci\u00f3n ha logrado abordar temas complejos de conservaci\u00f3n con una mirada interdisciplinaria y un equipo altamente capacitado.<\/p>\n

The second achievement is the creation of Ansenuza National Park.\nFor me, being from Miramar, it meant a great responsibility to work on a project of this kind.\nI approached it from several angles: as a local, seeking what was best for that territory;\nas a professional, since I studied the flamingos of Mar Chiquita;\nand as a representative of one of the institutions that helped create the park.\nWe still have the implementation phase to go, but knowing that, after more than seven years of work, the park is a reality is a source of pride.<\/p>\n

Why do you choose to work with people who live in the territories?<\/h2>\n

Working with local communities is the foundation of everything that follows: conservation strategies, fundraising, team building.\nIt wasn't a decision planned from the beginning; rather, we built it as we understood that all conservation decisions impact people's lives.<\/p>\n

What began as a nascent idea is now an institutional policy: final decisions must come from those who live in these territories. Furthermore, significant changes in conservation must come from a mobilized society.\nWe can propose ideas, but they must be developed in conjunction with the communities.<\/p>\n

How did you train in the field of conservation?<\/h2>\n

I'm a biologist, a graduate of the National University of C\u00f3rdoba.\nI'm proud to have studied at a public university that gave me so much and shaped my career.\nI was always looking for new experiences: at university, I got involved in every course where I could help, I collaborated with the museum in my hometown, and I began working in conservation from an academic perspective.<\/p>\n

I had the opportunity to study abroad, doing internships at the University of Melbourne in Australia and at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, researching the jaguar.\nThen I worked at the International Society for the Study of Salt Lakes, which gave me a global perspective on conservation.\nAll of this allowed me to understand the importance of combining science and management to implement conservation policies.<\/p>\n

What was the selection process like for the international scholarships you won?<\/h2>\n

I applied and was selected for two international scholarships.\nThe first was for training leaders in conservation worldwide, the Kinship Conservation Fellows program.\nHundreds of people applied, and only 18 were selected from 13 countries.\nIt was a month of intensive training, sharing with other young conservation leaders.<\/p>\n

The second scholarship was the Boundless Fellowship, focused on conservation leaders in the Americas.<\/p>\n

You were selected to be part of the World Land Trust board.\nWhat are your expectations regarding that position?<\/h2>\n

Yes, this year I was also selected to be part of the World Land Trust board, one of the most important NGOs worldwide.\nIt's the first time that a young, female, and Latina woman has participated in the decision-making of this organization.\nI think I'll be able to learn a lot there and bring some of the change that the conservation world needs.<\/p>\n

What is the most important lesson you could share with those who want to dedicate themselves to conservation?<\/h2>\n

After having traveled extensively and listened to professionals from all over the world, I think I can say that conservation must be done with and by local communities.\nThey are the ones who live in the territories and will benefit from the protected areas.\nOur academic perspective is valuable, but it must be integrated with traditional knowledge to generate effective public policies.<\/p>\n

Environmentalism can be a difficult field.\nHow do we keep working and not let pessimism defeat us?<\/h2>\n

The world of conservation, the career we pursue, I don't know if it's pessimistic, but it's tough.\nEvery day is a new battle.\nBut I find solace in working with passionate professionals who challenge you to change your approach, to think differently. The environment I surround myself with keeps me inspired.\nAnd it also helps to celebrate small victories: from a successful workshop to spotting an animal on a camera trap, or something big like the creation of a national park.\nWe need to keep building these support networks to address the most important issues together.\nThese networks are what give you the will to keep going.\nFinally, when we see that something has worked, it's all worth it.<\/p>\n

\u00bfQu\u00e9 puede aportar Naturaleza Argentina a la crisis ambiental del pa\u00eds?<\/h2>\n

For some years now, I've been constantly asking myself why we are where we are and where we are headed.\nNot just as a country, but as humanity.\nThere's something I see: there's a complete disconnect between our daily lives, society, and nature.\nWe fail to see ourselves as part of a whole, recognizing that we are who we are thanks to nature: the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat.\nIn our daily lives, we forget our connection to nature, we take it for granted, and this disconnection grows ever wider.\nThus, we end up seeing environmentalists on one side and society on the other.\nI believe that until we heal this fundamental relationship with nature, we will not be able to achieve significant changes, not only in the environment but at all levels.<\/p>\n

Protected areas, the tool we have chosen for conservation, seek precisely that: to unite conservation, dialogue within the territory, and sustainable production, and to remind us that we are part of a whole.\nBut until we resolve this disconnection as humanity, we will not be able to go very far.\nAt Naturaleza Argentina, we propose protected areas as a small step toward that goal.\nWe still have a long way to go.<\/p>\n

The creation of protected areas, for example, in one of the Foundation's projects in Catamarca, primarily helps us conserve the forests of those mountains, and with them, all the species they contain.\nWe are now working on their implementation so that communities can make a living from these territories, not only because they breathe clean air and have clean water, but also because they can boost the sale of regional products and develop their activities.\nWe see how they proudly show us everything they have, everything they can achieve through coordinated action.<\/p>\n

It is essential to work together at the local, provincial, and national levels, viewing the country as a whole, but without forgetting the importance of decisions made locally, which directly impact people's lives.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since its inception, Natura Argentina has worked to protect ecosystems through protected areas and collaboration with local communities.\nIts president is a biologist, researcher, and conservation leader who has dedicated her career to protecting nature from the ground up.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":548,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-organizacion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalezaargentina.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalezaargentina.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalezaargentina.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalezaargentina.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalezaargentina.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=315"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/naturalezaargentina.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2063,"href":"https:\/\/naturalezaargentina.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315\/revisions\/2063"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalezaargentina.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalezaargentina.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalezaargentina.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalezaargentina.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}