The Conservation Leadership Programme (CLP) has announced its 2026 Future Conservationist Awards: 13 vital conservation projects taking place in 12 countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America & the Caribbean.
Below we learn more about the three projects and teams (comprising 16 early-career conservationists) CLP is supporting this year in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Building local leadership to secure an isolated population of yellow-tailed woolly monkey in Peru: This project aims to prevent the local extinction of an isolated population of the yellow-tailed woolly monkey in the Central Andes of Peru.
The yellow-tailed woolly monkey © Maribel Taco
In partnership with the Quechua Wanka locality of Calabaza, the team will study the species’ distribution, population size, habitat condition, and main threats through participatory field surveys, thermal drone monitoring, and forest assessments.
 One of the first photographs taken of a yellow-tailed woolly monkey belonging to a recently discovered population recorded in Junín, Peru (2025) | The yellow-tailed woolly monkey is found only in Peru and was believed to be extinct for several decades. Although first described by Alexander von Humboldt in 1812, due to a lack of further records and scientific information, it was considered extinct until its rediscovery in May 1974. |
The project will also strengthen local leadership and the use of ecological information in territorial planning. These efforts will support a locally validated conservation strategy to protect this population and its forest habitat from deforestation and fragmentation.
“This project matters to us because protecting the yellow-tailed woolly monkey also means supporting local people to take pride in their emblematic biodiversity, strengthen their leadership, and shape the future of the territory they call home.”
Watch the project video below.
Mapping corridors and building futures for Jamaica’s endangered species: This project focuses on the long-term conservation of the Jamaican hutia (or “coney”) whose remaining habitat in the Blue and John Crow Mountains is fragmented and still poorly mapped.
 The Endangered Jamaican hutia is Jamaica’s only native land mammal © Orlando F. Robinson | “The Jamaican hutia is Jamaica’s only surviving native land mammal, yet many Jamaicans have never seen one and know it more as a story of the forest than a living species still holding on in fragmented habitat.” – Adrian Watson, Project Leader |
This project combines satellite imagery, drone photogrammetry, camera traps, sign surveys, community monitoring, and storytelling to produce a ‘Hutia Habitat Atlas’ and identify priority habitat corridors in the Rio Grande Valley. Alongside technical mapping, the team will support community-linked monitoring, contribute to coexistence planning, and co-produce a bilingual ‘Hutia Coexistence Manual’.
“This project matters to our team because it gives Jamaica a practical, locally rooted way to protect the coney and reconnect its forest home while building a conservation model grounded in science, community knowledge, and long-term stewardship.”
Surfgrass Guardians in Baja California, Mexico: This project will develop and implement the first-ever community-based biodiversity monitoring program for the understudied surfgrass ecosystems of Baja California, Mexico.
 Surfgrass meadows are among the most important coastal marine ecosystems of the North Pacific © Manuel Vivanco | Surfgrass meadows in Baja California thrive as underwater green forests in wave-exposed environments, providing nursery habitat, shelter, and food for a wide variety of marine life. Yet, they remain critically understudied and entirely absent from most conservation agendas, despite supporting a host of Critically Endangered and Vulnerable species. |
The team will train a core group of local ‘Surfgrass Guardians’ (surfers, fishers, and students) in standardized SCUBA-based ecological surveys to generate critical baseline data on fish, invertebrates, and habitat complexity.
Key expected impacts include: empowering local communities as long-term stewards; providing evidence to inform coastal management and advocacy against threats like mega-port expansion; and creating a replicable model to integrate these overlooked “blue forests” into conservation agendas.
“For us, this project is about standing up for the underwater forests hidden beneath the waves and helping coastal communities become their protectors.”
Find out more and watch the project video (in Spanish) here.
Come and join us
If you are interested in supporting our work building the next generation of conservation leaders, such as through our Future Conservationist Awards, write to us at clp@birdlife.org or contribute directly to our mission.
We thank the March Conservation Fund, the Hempel Foundation and the Rufford Foundation for generously supporting CLP’s 2026 Future Conservationist Awards in Latin America and the Caribbean.