Francisco Rodriguez (Pacho)

Championed Amazon rainforest conservation through grassroots activism and policy advocacy.

Francisco Rodriguez, known as Pacho, is a Colombian environmentalist and co-founder of CIEN (Center for Research and Documentation of Natural Resources), an organization dedicated to protecting the Amazon rainforest. Born in Venezuela but based in Colombia, Pacho has spent decades mobilizing communities and governments to combat deforestation, illegal mining, and biodiversity loss in the Amazon region.

His work began in the 1990s when he documented the environmental impacts of oil exploitation in the Colombian Amazon. This research led to landmark legal cases against multinational corporations, setting precedents for environmental accountability in Latin America. Pacho also pioneered community-led conservation models, empowering indigenous groups like the Ticuna and Yagua peoples to manage their ancestral lands sustainably.

In 2017, Pacho spearheaded the Amazonia Project, a regional initiative involving Brazil, Peru, and Colombia to coordinate anti-deforestation efforts. The project uses satellite monitoring and local patrols to detect illegal activities, resulting in a 30% reduction in deforestation rates in key areas. His advocacy influenced Colombia’s 2018 National Development Plan, which allocated unprecedented funds to environmental protection.

Pacho’s grassroots approach emphasizes collaboration between governments, NGOs, and indigenous communities. He has trained hundreds of activists across the Amazon basin, creating a network of ‘forest guardians’ who monitor ecosystems and report threats. His methodologies have been adopted in other vulnerable regions like the Congo Basin and the Indonesian rainforests.