Lessons From Bahia: Conservation and Community

A globally recognized biodiversity hotspot, the Brazilian Atlantic Forest teems with a high number of species that aren’t found anywhere else in the world, including more than 50% of its tree species and 92% of its amphibians. In recent years, the biome has become a focal point for restoration initiatives aimed at alleviating the decline of its unique species.

“It’s the largest tropical country in the Americas and the best place to see not only all the biodiversity but to learn how the country is managing restoration projects,” says Jackeline Salazar, a botanist based in the Dominican Republic and a participant in YSE’s 2024–2025 Tropical Forest Landscapes (TFL) online certificate program.

Salazar was one of 20 participants in the program who traveled to Bahia, Brazil, for an optional six-day field course in September 2024. Hosted by the Environmental Leadership & Training Initiative (ELTI) and the Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas (IPÊ), the immersive experience brought together international environmental professionals from 15 countries to learn about conservation, restoration, and sustainable agriculture and observe these practices in action. The ELTI team launched the partnership with IPÊ in 2018 and is currently developing a training landscape with IPÊ in southern Bahia.

“Bringing online participants to an ELTI training landscape provides a powerful opportunity for them to see firsthand how landholders and practitioners apply the themes and strategies they learned during the certificate program,” says ELTI Director Eva Garen. “Their experiences during the weeklong visit will help them further develop how they implement their own projects and enable them to build lasting friendships and networks that they will maintain for years to come.”

Since its inception in 2009, the TFL online certificate program has educated 403 participants from more than 70 countries and 280 organizations who are influencing land management on a daily basis. The certificate program, Yale’s first, also served as a model for additional online certificate programs across the university.

During the week, participants met representatives of private companies, rural communities, Indigenous groups, and research stations in Bahia and learned about forest conservation, ecotourism, essential oil production, native species reforestation, agroforestry, and sustainable agriculture.

“The most amazing thing was seeing how a lot of women have been integrated into restoration programs, such as an agroforestry program developed with the local communities where land was given to communities. Many women are managing the land and also becoming independent economically,” Salazar says. “I came away with new ideas on how to integrate local communities into restoration efforts.”

In March, TFL’s online educational programming was recognized by Yale’s Poorvu Center during its 10th year anniversary event at which Garen and the ELTI team were honored for the practical field training the program provides to environmental scientists across the globe.