CSF welcomes Susan Edda Seehusen, our new Executive Director of CSF-Brasil. Since May 2013 she has been working in CSF-Brasil's new office in Rio de Janeiro. She brings to the team five years of experience with German development cooperation organizations (GFA Consulting Group, GIZ and KfW), where her work focused on natural resource management in tropical forest regions, economic instruments for environmental protection, payment for ecosystems services and the economics of ecosystems and biodiversity.

On April 29, CSF signed a convenio marco - an umbrella collaboration agreement - with Peru's Ministry of Environment (MINAM). For more information about this exciting partnership, click below: http://www.minam.gob.pe/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=24…

Two new exciting opportunities could give you the chance to be a part of the equation saving millions of acres worldwide.

Richshaw Bagworks Founder and CEO, Mark Dwight, has always cared for the environment. The company prides itself on minimizing waste in its local San Francisco facility, and Mark's personal passion for cycling inspires many of its products. Everything from custom messenger bags to iPad covers to baby changing kits are guaranteed to be locally produced, eco-friendly, and durable, not to mention stylish! Rickshaw has donated hundreds of its iconic custom “Zero Messenger Bags” (inspired by the power of “zero” waste) to CSF global trainees since 2010. The company has also hosted CSF supporters for fundraising auctions and factory tours.

Conservation Strategy Fund and Duke University have launched a collaborative partnership to create a Conservation Economics Initiative. The Initiative will make economics training more readily available to conservation professionals around the world by combining the academic capabilities of a university leader in the environmental field with CSF’s agility and experience in delivering training to conservation practitioners. The initiative will improve the quality and quantity of training currently available, develop new course content, and connect Duke faculty and students with environmental practitioners in developing countries. The Conservation Economics Initiative will • Develop cutting edge curriculum for conservation economics.

CSF began working with International Consultant and Environmental Economist Rhona Barr in late 2012. Rhona brings to CSF a diverse set of practical and research experiences in tropical settings, including Latin America, Asia and Africa. Born in North Wales, Rhona grew up on the island of Anglesey. From an early age, island life made her fascinated ("nearly obsessed!") with the outdoors and biology, particularly the watery ecosystems around her.

As part of the ICAA fellows program, CSF held three methodological guidance workshops in November. The fellows traveled far and wide to visit each of their respective mentors and work on their final research profiles, which contain all of the definition methodology and data tools design collection. The workshops were held in Concepción, Chile, Bogota, Colombia and La Paz, Bolivia. In Chile, Karin Gonzales, Sophía Espinoza, Patricia Siles met with their mentor, Felipe Vásquez, who is a specialist in economic valuation of natural resources. In Bogota, Paula Zuluaga, Pablo David Campoverde, and Enrique de la Montaña Andrés met with Rocío Moreno, whose area of specialization focuses on game theory, economic valuation, and payments for environmental services.

For Angela Mojica, a marine biologist in Guatemala, this year's course forced her to think in a completely different way. Watch the video below to find out what had previously been missing in her conservation efforts.

David Johnson, currently a professor at Harvard University, has been teaching microeconomics with CSF since 2004. When asked if economics can alter the way environmentalists approach conservation, he had this to say:

From June 11-22, 2012, twenty-eight environmental professionals from eight African nations gathered at the Rwenzori International Hotel in Kasese, Uganda to learn how economic approaches can help them address environmental impacts of infrastructure development in the Albertine Rift.