“Coastal Solutions Fellows Program: Building Resiliency Along the Pacific Flyway”
Osvel Hinojosa-Huerta
Director of the Coastal Solutions Fellows Program, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Every year, millions of shorebirds depend upon a network of sites along the Pacific Coast of Latin America. Despite their importance, many of these sites are threatened by coastal development. In 2017, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology developed a fellowship program to improve the protection of shorebirds and coastal, through innovation, capacity building and intersectoral collaborations. Our goal is to cultivate, train, and catalyze a collaborative network of scientists, conservationists, architects, engineers, and planners to improve coastal resiliency along the Pacific Coast from Mexico to Chile. Over the next 6 years, we expect to establish a network of 30 fellows, 150 mentors and collaborators, and 200 partner organizations working in at least eight countries to improve coastal resiliency through better science, design and development. We are currently supporting 18 fellows, which are already implementing science-based intersectoral projects in priority coastal sites in Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panamá, Colombia, Ecuador, Perú and Chile. The work of the fellows spans from wetland conservation to green infrastructure and land-use planning, and from shorebird ecology to aquaculture and public policy. Each of them incorporates important partners from non-profit organizations, local governments, communities, stakeholders, academia, and the private sector. The interactions and synergies of these sectors across the region are creating a network of experts on coastal solutions that can grow and be replicated throughout Latin America, to benefit both shorebirds and human coastal communities.
About Osvel
Osvel Hinojosa-Huerta has been working in conservation and research projects in coastal and wetland areas since 1997. His activities have included the evaluation and recovery of birds and their habitats, the implementation of community-based restoration projects, and the creation of partnerships with governments and stakeholders for the conservation of nature. He was the Director of the Water and Wetlands Program for Pronatura Noroeste in Mexico, where he led the efforts to restore the Colorado River delta, including the restoration of river flows and the facilitation of binational negotiations between Mexico and the US for the Colorado River. Currently, he is the Director of the Coastal Solutions Fellows Program at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, where he is working in capacity building and intersectoral collaborations to protect threatened coastal habitats for communities and shorebirds along the Pacific Flyway from Mexico to Chile. In 2009 he received the National Award for the Conservation of Wetlands in Mexico, in 2012 he received the Emerging Explorer Award from the National Geographic Society, and in 2014 he received the Sonoran Desert Conservation Award. He obtained a BSc in Biochemical Engineering and Marine Sciences from ITESM Campus Guaymas and a Ph.D. in Wildlife and Fisheries Science from the University of Arizona.
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