The Elephant Protection Initiative (EPI) is delighted to announce that Costa Rica’s minister of environment and energy, Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, has agreed to join the leadership council of the EPI Foundation.
A lawyer, politician and conservationist, Rodriguez has held various posts in Costa Rica, including director of the national parks service. He is also a founder and board member of many environmental NGOs in Costa Rica, in addition to several tropical research institutes. He was formerly the vice president of international policy in Conservation International’s Center for Conservation and Government.
In his current role as minister of environment and energy, he has managed to curb logging and deforestation trends to achieve a significant national net growth of forested areas through natural regeneration and reforestation. He is internationally recognized for promoting the concept of identifying and capturing the economic value of standing forests within protected areas, private forests, and reserves.
He joins other distinguished conservation advocates on the EPI Foundation’s leadership council: the former president of Botswana, Ian Khama; the former prime minister of Ethiopia, Hailemariam Desalegn Boshe; and the first ladies of Kenya and Sierra Leone, Margaret Kenyatta and Fatima Maada Bio. His successful experience in sustainable development will be of great value to EPI member states.