About us
Fondo Naturaleza Chile (Chile Nature Fund) is a non-profit organization created in 2021 thanks to a public-private effort, which aims to mobilize and manage resources for large-scale nature conservation in Chile. We seek to strengthen the management of Chile’s natural patrimony, empowering local communities throughout different territories. This fund will help activate new sources of funding that will complement the State's financial efforts in order to achieve the national and international goals for conservation and climate action.
Fondo Naturaleza Chile seeks to replicate a successful funding and investment model for conservation that has already been widely validated at an international level. This is highly relevant given the challenge regarding the finance gap for biodiversity conservation. Chile is among the 10 countries that allocate the least funding to biodiversity, compared to what would be expected given its rich biodiversity and level of GDP (Waldron et. al 2013). One of the urgent tasks of the fund is to ensure the financial sustainability of Chilean conservation in the long term.
©Jorge Lartundo | MMA
Our vision
To link different actors in a cross-cutting way to face the challenges of protecting Chile's natural heritage, based on the needs of nature and people.
Our mission
Mobilize and manage financial resources to conserve nature and its benefits to people in perpetuity, in a transparent manner and making efficient use of resources.
Our values
Collaboration: We embrace diversity, join forces, build alliances, and foster connections to achieve common goals.
Transparency and probity: We are guided by the highest ethical standards, along with honesty, integrity and fairness.
Efficiency: We manage our contributors' funding efficiently and effectively.
Innovation: We believe in continuous learning and encourage the development of new ideas, based on adaptability and transformational changes in the environment.
©Eduardo Sorensen | oceana
History
In 2017, the Ministry of the Environment and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS Chile) visited the Costa Rica Forever environmental fund, with support from the Walton Family Foundation. Then, in early 2018, a public-private working group was established at the request of the environmental organizations WWF, WCS Chile, and Oceana, and coordinated by the Ministry of the Environment. Subsequently, the working group was strengthened with the addition of the National Forestry Corporation (CONAF) and the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Service (SERNAPESCA) from the government, as well as two additional civil society organizations: The Nature Conservancy and the National Committee for the Defense of Flora and Fauna (CODEFF).
Over four years of intensive work, this large group designed the Chile Nature Fund, with the support of WWF experts at the national and global levels, who had led similar initiatives in Latin America, Africa, and Asia, and funding from The David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). The Chile Nature Fund was formally established in September 2021 and in October of that same year was admitted as a member of the Latin American and Caribbean Network of Environmental Funds (RedLAC). In March 2021, a governance structure comprised of experts from diverse sectors, including civil society and local communities, was consolidated.
Strategic Pillars of the Nature Fund
Effective conservation: We integrate multiple capacities associated with biodiversity management (governance, administration, financing, planning and management), to strengthen conservation initiatives and perpetuate successful actions.
Public-private collaboration: Since our inception, we have promoted collaborative work strategies, based on alliances that allow the active involvement of a broad network of public, private, scientific and community actors.
Activate more funding: We seek to activate more funding through different financial instruments, which will allow us to complement the State's efforts in conservation.
Benefit in the territories : We focus our impact on the territories, strengthening the capacities of conservation organizations and local communities, so that they in turn become participants and beneficiaries of projects whose objective is to conserve nature.
Long-term vision: We plan our actions with a forward-looking perspective, understanding that, to achieve effective conservation, financial support must also be long-term.
Transparency
For Fondo Naturaleza Chile, transparency in financial management and its impact on nature conservation is fundamental. Therefore, we have chosen to publicly share the main documents that support the operation of the National Environmental Fund for consultation by our donors, civil society organizations, and the general public.
Practice Standards for conservation trust funds
©Conaf
Meet the Directory
Carolina Schmidt , President , Director, and advisor on sustainability, environmental, and ESG matters in Chile and Latin America; Director of WWF in the United States; Director of CAP SA; Director of Grupo Imagina in Chile and Peru; Advisor to startups specializing in technologies for global decarbonization. Former Minister of the Environment and of Women and Gender Equity of Chile, President of COP25 Climate Change Conference. She has been recognized 11 times with the “100 Women Leaders” award.
Dominique Hervé , Secretary . Lawyer, PhD in Law, Associate Professor at Diego Portales University. Research Coordinator, Director of the Environmental Law and Policy Program, Professor in the Department of Public Law. From 2014 to 2018, she served as Prosecutor for the Superintendency of the Environment.
Andrés Antivil, Treasurer . A Mapuche man born in Chile, he lives in the Nahuelhuen Community in Rengalil, Araucanía Region (Region IX). He was a presidential advisor for COP25, is President of the 'i' Companies Foundation, and the first director of the Lonko Kilapang Mapuche Corporation. Today he defines his mission and challenge for the coming years: 'to create wealth where there is extreme poverty'.
Kathleen Barclay is the principal of KCB Consulting, a strategic consulting firm, and a member of the boards of directors of MetLife Seguros de Vida SA, Austral Capital, and Geomar SA, as well as BanBif and San Fernando in Peru. She is the president of Endeavor Chile and a member of the board of directors of the Adolfo Ibáñez Foundation and Adolfo Ibáñez University, and an advisor to the Center for Public Studies. She is the founder and a member of Women Corporate Directors in Chile and a member of the board of directors of the Chilean-American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham). She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Foreign Service (specializing in International Economics) from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. She spent 23 years at Chase Manhattan Bank (now JP Morgan Chase & Co.).
Aarón Cavieres is the National Director of SBAP. A forestry engineer from the University of Chile, he holds a Master of Science in Forestry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA. His professional career has focused on forestry policy, biodiversity, and conservation, with over 30 years of experience combining public administration, teaching, and international consulting. He served as Executive Director of the National Forestry Corporation (CONAF) from 2014 to 2018, where he led institutional management related to forests, natural resources, and protected areas.
Antonio Lara . Forestry Engineer, PhD in Geography, Professor at the Austral University of Chile. Expert in the ecology and conservation of native forests, silviculture, dendrochronology, climate change, disturbance regimes, assessment and inventory of biological diversity and ecosystem services of native forests through a transdisciplinary and multiscale approach.
Leo Prieto. Entrepreneur and pioneer in the Latin American internet industry. Founder of ImageMaker and FayerWayer, the world's most influential Spanish-language blog and the spearhead of Betazeta, the network of communities he co-founded in 2008. He is a partner and president of Stgo Makerspace, a collaborative and experimental space for projects with global impact. He is also the founder and CEO of LeMU, the first biosphere atlas for conservation.
Meet the Council
Aníbal Pauchard | Director of the Chilean Ecology Society.
Bárbara Saavedra| Director Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Chile and founder Fondo Naturaleza Chile.
(TBC) | Executive Director of the National Forestry Corporation (CONAF).
David Silva | Member of the board of directors of Así Conserva Chile, a private conservation trade association in Chile.
Denise Lira | Artist with exhibitions on several continents related to the communication of environmental problems.
Elías Albagli | Manager of the Monetary Policy Division of the Central Bank, responsible for national natural capital accounts.
Elizabeth Balcázar | Social and environmental activist from Caleta Los Hornos, Coquimbo Region
Erik Heyl |Former general manager of Rabobank Chile.
Fernanda Romero | Administrator of the Altos de Cantillana nature sanctuary.
Juan José Donoso | Executive Director of The Nature Conservancy - Chile.
Francisco Solís | Director of the Chilean Patagonia Program, Pew Charitable Trusts.
Javier Ancapán | Leader of the Mapu Lahual Indigenous Association in Los Lagos Región.
Julio Chamorro S. | Member of the Local Governance Board, Juan Fernández Archipelago and Desventuradas Islands MPA.
Laura Farías | Oceans scientific committee for COP25.
Lorenzo Rosenzweig | Former Executive Director of the Mexican Fund for the Conservation of Nature for 25 years.
Magdalena Aninat | Director of the Center for Philanthropy and Social Investments of Adolfo Ibáñez University.
Martín del Río| CEO Ladera Sur, expert in communications and the environment.
Patricio Merino|Director of Pitipalena Foundation in Aysén Region.
Paloma Ávila| Director of Futuro 360 at CNN Chile.
Sara Larraín |Director, Fundación Chile Sustentable and director of San Francisco de Lagunilla Nature Sanctuary.
Meet the Team
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Opportunities
[Download the details of each call for proposals in the Publications section]
Fecha de publicación | Estado | Nombre de la convocatoria |
|---|---|---|
Julio 2025 | Cerrada | Desarrollo y producción de contenidos de comunicación programa “Cuencas resilientes frente a incendios forestales” |
Junio 2025 | Cerrada | Servicio de coordinación general y elaboración de propuesta de una política para los Pueblos Indígenas de Fondo Naturaleza Chile |
Enero 2025 | Cerrada | Encargada/o de proyectos Programa de Áreas Marinas Protegidas |
Enero 2025 | Cerrada | Consultoría para el diseño del Sistema de Salvaguardas Ambientales y Sociales de Fondo Naturaleza Chile |
Febrero 2025 | Cerrada | Coordinación general y producción Congreso RedLAC 2025 |