CARLOS FERNANDEZ
Becoming the Nature Conservancy’s project manager for the Patagonian Grasslands of Argentina in 2008 was a dream come true for Carlos E. Fernández, a native-born Argentine who spent years helping the Nature Conservancy jumpstart its work in his home country. As project manager, Carlos guides the Conservancy’s work to protect Patagonia grasslands by promoting the conservation of working landscapes and harmonizing development and infrastructure initiatives with natural assets. Learn more about this innovative project and watch the PERC video highlighting his success. In 2009 he was also appointed Southern Andes Conservation Strategies Manager, charged with overseeing the conservation strategies of the Conservancy’s projects implemented in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru.
Background:
An attorney by training, Carlos earned his law degree from Argentina’s Mendoza University before completing a graduate law degree at Georgetown University. He worked at three different law firms, including an international firm specializing in corporate transactions in Buenos Aires, before going to work for the Conservancy.
In 2007, Carlos attended PERC’s Enviropreneur Institute to develop a market-based program for fly-fishing associations, riparian landowners, local communities, and federal and provincial governments of Argentina to improve the management of inland fly fisheries. In 2010, Carlos was invited to join PERC’s board. As a graduate of one of PERC’s premier programs and an international voice, he provides invaluable support and guidance.
Carlos first fell in love with hiking, biking, and fly fishing in Patagonia as a child, and today he continues to spend his free time enjoying the nature surrounding him everywhere he goes. Fly fishing is his favorite pastime whether in the rivers of Montana or the Argentine Andes.