From left to right: Laura Rodríguez, Eglé Flores, Eduardo Ponce Guevara, Ángela Mojica
and CSF's Cecilia Ayala. © Eduardo Ponce Guevara

It all began with four course graduates from CSF's International Training Course, held annually at Stanford University: Eduardo Ponce Guevara, Eglé Flores, Ángela Mojica and Laura Rodríguez. These alumni, all from Mexico and the surrounding area, dreamed of bringing the Economic Tools for Conservation Course back home to be conducted in Spanish for their colleagues.

Within the framework of its Conservation Economics Initiative, CSF was looking for potential partners interested in delivering a CSF-accredited course in their countries. The idea behind the Conservation Economics Initiative is to allow a greater number of environmental professionals access to CSF's Economic Tools courses, through both in-country partnerships as well as online learning. This is how the CSF-Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) alliance was born. Along with the support of other Mexican institutions, CSF and UNAM began planning one of CSF's first Training Partner Courses, to be held in June 2014.

Instructor Jorge Higinio Maldonado. © Eduardo Ponce Guevara

This course was CSF's first Economic Tools for Conservation to be held in Mexico. The 32 course participants included both seasoned professionals as well as students, and came from public, private and academic backgrounds. Many participants' work focused on conservation and science, including some specifically working on the conservation of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System. Throughout the six modules, participants gained a new perspective through which to see conservation and new tools to bring to the conversation. They learned the importance of applying economics to conservation and development work being done in the region.

© Eduardo Ponce Guevara

This course, our second training partner course, would not have been possible without CSF's renown instructors who brought extensive experience in economics and natural resource management. These included Mauricio Medianaceli, Jorge Higinio Maldonado, Jorge Madeira Nogueira, Alfonso Malky, Fernando León and Joaquín de La Torre. We look forward to building upon this success with additional partners as we continue to expand our CEI. To read about our first-ever training partner course held in Bhutan, click here.