Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina

Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina is an Argentine civil association dedicated to conserving biodiversity and promoting a relationship between society and nature based on ecological sustainability. Established on June 29, 1977, the organization was created by Miguel Reynal in memory of his daughter Alix Reynal, whose connection with nature inspired the foundation's purpose. From its beginning, Vida Silvestre emphasized practical conservation supported by scientific knowledge, bringing together specialists and people from public life, business, culture, sport, and academia. The foundation works across several connected areas. It supports the creation and effective management of protected areas; contributes technical expertise to environmental legislation and public policy; encourages responsible production and consumption; conducts species and habitat conservation programs; and develops communication and environmental-education activities. Its stated approach is not limited to preserving isolated species. It seeks to address the pressure that human consumption and economic activity place on forests, grasslands, marine ecosystems, freshwater systems, and climate stability. Vida Silvestre has been involved in the development or strengthening of numerous protected areas in Argentina. Its conservation work has included the Atlantic Forest of Misiones, the Gran Chaco, the Pampas, Patagonia, the Argentine coast, and marine environments. The organization manages or supports private conservation properties including the Urugua-í Wildlife Reserve in Misiones and the San Pablo de Valdés Wildlife Reserve in Chubut. It also helped establish or promote initiatives associated with Campos del Tuyú, Monte León, the Somuncurá Plateau, coastal protected areas, and municipal reserves. In 2009, Campos del Tuyú was transferred to Argentina's national parks system and became the first national park protecting representative Pampas grassland. The foundation's policy work has included participation in the development and implementation of Argentina's Native Forest Law, advocacy for stronger protection against illegal wildlife trade, and support for marine protected areas. It has also promoted conservation in production landscapes by working on forest certification, energy efficiency, sustainable fisheries, and wildlife-compatible cattle ranching. These efforts reflect its positioning as a bridge between environmental science, public policy, private landholders, producers, and communities. Species-focused work has included the Pampas deer, huemul, pudú, southern right whale, franciscana dolphin, puma, and guanaco. The organization has used public campaigns, habitat protection, monitoring, research partnerships, and engagement with local economic actors to address threats such as habitat conversion, illegal hunting, bycatch, and conflict between wildlife and production. Since 1988, Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina has represented WWF in Argentina and operates as part of the wider international conservation network. Its principal offices are in Buenos Aires and Puerto Iguazú, with activities and partnerships extending across the country's priority ecoregions. The organization also participates in citizen-science and digital biodiversity initiatives, including ArgentiNat with iNaturalist, and is a member of the Partner Circle of the Foundations Platform F20.

Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina was established on June 29, 1977, following the death of Alix Reynal. Her father, Miguel Reynal, sought to create a lasting institution reflecting her attachment to the natural world. With support from figures including José María Gallardo of the Bernardino Rivadavia Argentine Museum of Natural Sciences and Máximo Gainza of the newspaper La Prensa, Reynal assembled approximately thirty people from scientific, cultural, political, sporting, and business backgrounds. They formally created the organization at the museum. The foundation adopted a model centered on scientifically informed, incremental conservation. A specialist committee helped select programs and assess their results, while the broader organization worked with public authorities, landowners, producers, researchers, educators, and other civil-society groups. Its early agenda included the protection of threatened habitats, the creation of private and public reserves, and awareness of wildlife conservation. In 1979, Vida Silvestre established or supported Laguna de los Escarchados in Santa Cruz, one of Argentina's first private reserves. In the 1980s it expanded its protected-area work in Misiones, Patagonia, Buenos Aires, and coastal ecosystems. A survey of the Urugua-í stream contributed to the protection of Atlantic Forest habitat, while work in Patagonia supported the creation of the Somuncurá Plateau reserve and additional coastal conservation areas. The organization also helped advance the Ribera Norte refuge and participated in the development of the Costanera Sur Ecological Reserve in Buenos Aires. The foundation launched its Wildlife Refuge Programme in 1987. It became Argentina's first voluntary private protected-area system and later grew to include ecologically important properties across multiple provinces. In 1988, Vida Silvestre became WWF's representative organization in Argentina, a relationship that remains central to its international identity. Its public-education work also expanded; since 1982 it has published a conservation magazine, helping bring environmental issues to a wider Argentine audience. Species programs developed alongside habitat protection. The Huemul Project began in 1986 for the endangered Patagonian deer. In 1992, the foundation used an adoption campaign to draw attention to the Pampas deer and supported Campos del Tuyú as a refuge for the species. It also participated in pudú conservation and promoted work on southern right whales, other cetaceans, pumas, guanacos, and the franciscana dolphin. These projects have combined monitoring, public communication, protected-area work, and cooperation with researchers and government agencies. Vida Silvestre's policy role became particularly visible in forest and marine conservation. It advocated for the 2007 Native Forest Law and subsequently monitored its application in the Gran Chaco and Atlantic Forest. It promoted the Burdwood Bank protected marine area in 2013 and has supported scientific and institutional capacity for marine conservation. The foundation has also contributed to environmental-impact assessments, including work related to infrastructure in northern Andean and Atacama areas, where it proposed compensatory conservation measures. In production landscapes, the organization has promoted FSC-aligned responsible forestry, energy-efficiency labeling and renewable energy, ecosystem-based fisheries management, MSC certification, and cattle-ranching practices compatible with Pampas biodiversity. It has trained conservation personnel and volunteers along Atlantic coasts in Argentina, Uruguay, and southern Brazil, and has provided educational scholarships connected with its reserves. Today, the organization focuses on five priority ecoregions: the Upper Paraná Atlantic Forest, the Gran Chaco, the Pampas, the Argentine Sea and its coast, and Antarctica and the southern oceans. It operates from Buenos Aires and Puerto Iguazú, manages conservation properties, maintains partnerships across Argentina, and uses citizen-science tools such as ArgentiNat to broaden public participation.

• 2017

  Manuel Jaramillo becomes CEO

  [1]Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentinaen.wikipedia.org

  Manuel Jaramillo assumed the foundation's chief executive role.

• 2013

  Burdwood Bank marine protection campaign

  [1]Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentinaen.wikipedia.org

  Vida Silvestre promoted protection of the Burdwood Bank and helped convene discussion on oceanic marine protected areas.

• 2010

  Coastal conservation gains inter-jurisdictional recognition

  [1]Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentinaen.wikipedia.org

  The Isla Pingüino Complex and Oso Marino Bay area later received inter-jurisdictional marine-park recognition.

• 2009

  Campos del Tuyú transferred to the national parks system

  [1]Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentinaen.wikipedia.org

  The former wildlife reserve was donated to the National Parks Administration and became a national park protecting Pampas grassland.

• 2007

  Native Forest Law advocacy

  [1]Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentinaen.wikipedia.org

  The foundation played a role in advocacy surrounding Argentina's Native Forest Law.

• 2004

  Monte León becomes a national park

  [1]Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentinaen.wikipedia.org

  Conservation work associated with Vida Silvestre contributed to the protection of Monte León as a national park.

• 1988

  WWF representation begins

  [1]Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentinaen.wikipedia.org

  Vida Silvestre became WWF's representative organization in Argentina.

• 1987

  Wildlife Refuge Programme introduced

  [1]Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentinaen.wikipedia.org

  The foundation created Argentina's first voluntary private protected-area programme.

• 1982

  Conservation magazine launched

  [1]Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentinaen.wikipedia.org

  Vida Silvestre began publishing a magazine focused on conservation and environmental issues.

• 1979

  Early private reserve initiative

  [1]Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentinaen.wikipedia.org

  Laguna de los Escarchados in Santa Cruz became an early example of the foundation's private-land conservation approach.

• 1977

  Foundation established

  [1]Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentinaen.wikipedia.org

  Miguel Reynal and a group of conservation supporters formally created Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina on June 29.

A science-informed Argentine conservation organization combining field protection, environmental policy, sustainable-production advice, species conservation, and public engagement.

• Voluntary protected areas · 1987

  Vida Silvestre Wildlife Refuge Programme

  A voluntary conservation framework for privately managed properties with significant ecological value. The programme helps landholders protect habitat and apply management practices compatible with biodiversity. It has expanded across several Argentine provinces and represents one of the foundation's principal long-term mechanisms for complementing government-designated protected areas.

• Wildlife reserve

  Urugua-í Wildlife Reserve

  A private reserve in Misiones established through cooperation involving Vida Silvestre and Alto Paraná S.A. It borders Urugua-í Provincial Park and protects Atlantic Forest habitat, creating a larger connected conservation landscape in one of Argentina's most biodiverse regions.

• Wildlife reserve

  San Pablo de Valdés Wildlife Reserve

  A private protected property on the Valdés Peninsula in Chubut. The reserve safeguards habitat within a globally important coastal ecosystem and supports Vida Silvestre's work on marine wildlife, coastal management, and conservation-compatible local activity.

• Citizen science

  ArgentiNat

  A biodiversity-observation initiative developed with iNaturalist. It invites the public to record wildlife and plants, producing accessible observations that can improve knowledge of Argentina's species distribution while encouraging direct participation in conservation.

• 2012Puma and Guanaco Protection Campaign

  Argentina

  A campaign opposing proposals to classify pumas and guanacos as pest species and advocating for management based on conservation science.

  Outcome. The initiative generated public support for protecting both species and resisting blanket pest classification.

  Source
• 1992Adopt a Pampas Deer

  Argentina

  A public campaign highlighting the precarious status of the Pampas deer and the need to protect its remaining grassland populations.

  Outcome. The campaign supported broader habitat protection around Campos del Tuyú and promoted conservation-compatible cattle ranching.

  Source
• 1986Huemul Project

  Argentina

  A conservation initiative focused on the endangered huemul, a Patagonian deer threatened by habitat loss and other pressures.

  Outcome. The project established a long-running species-conservation focus in Patagonia.

  Source

• 2009

  Transfer Campos del Tuyú to the national parks systemStrategy

  Background

  Long-term protection of the Pampas deer and its grassland habitat required permanent public conservation status.

  Action taken

  The Campos del Tuyú reserve was donated to the National Parks Administration.

  Aftermath

  The property became Argentina's first national park representing Pampas grassland.

  Source

• 1988

  Join the WWF international conservation networkStrategy

  Background

  Vida Silvestre sought to extend the reach and institutional support of its Argentine conservation work.

  Action taken

  It became WWF's representative organization in Argentina.

  Aftermath

  The relationship connected the foundation's national programmes with WWF's global conservation network.

  Source

1. 1Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentinaen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina official websitevidasilvestre.org.ar