Uploaded May 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
The Amazon rainforest covers almost 7 million square kilometers of South America. 47 million people and a tenth of known species on the planet call it home. It's a diverse area in a diverse region, which is why team members from The Rockefeller Foundation journeyed there to learn about innovative climate solutions from experts and local leaders. Looking to find answers in the Amazon.
In August of 2024, the Rockefeller Foundation announced it will open a new Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) for the first time in two decades. As part of its global commitment to invest more than USD 1 billion over five years to advance the global climate transition and help ensure everyone can participate in it, The Rockefeller Foundation will work alongside regional leaders, local stakeholders, and partners, incorporate lessons learned, and adapt its work as needed to help achieve measurable outcomes for people in the LAC region and the planet.
LAC is home to 669 million people across 33 diverse countries. The region is uniquely vulnerable to climate change because of its geographic location, persistent inequality, and reliance on climate-sensitive economic activity. According to the United Nations, climate change threatens the lives and livelihoods of 41 million people in LAC. The region is already experiencing extreme weather events, including mega-droughts, extreme rainfall, heatwaves, rising sea levels, and deforestation. Despite these challenges, LAC is also endowed with valuable natural assets that position it to play a significant role in the global green transition – including an estimated 50% of the world’s biodiversity and a significant share of critical minerals.
With more than a century of investing in the region and convening some of its brightest minds, The Rockefeller Foundation set up its first LAC office during the late 1930s, focusing on improving health and agriculture sectors, developing rural communities, and establishing universities. Although its physical presence in the region ended in the early 2000s, the Foundation’s investments have continued, with ongoing projects across an initial ten countries: Barbados, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Trinidad and Tobago.
The Amazon rainforest covers almost 7 million square kilometers of South America. 47 million people and a tenth of known species on the planet call it home. It's a diverse area in a diverse region, which is why team members from The Rockefeller Foundation journeyed there to learn about innovative climate solutions from experts and local leaders. Looking to find answers in the Amazon.
In August of 2024, the Rockefeller Foundation announced it will open a new Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) for the first time in two decades. As part of its global commitment to invest more than USD 1 billion over five years to advance the global climate transition and help ensure everyone can participate in it, The Rockefeller Foundation will work alongside regional leaders, local stakeholders, and partners, incorporate lessons learned, and adapt its work as needed to help achieve measurable outcomes for people in the LAC region and the planet.
LAC is home to 669 million people across 33 diverse countries. The region is uniquely vulnerable to climate change because of its geographic location, persistent inequality, and reliance on climate-sensitive economic activity. According to the United Nations, climate change threatens the lives and livelihoods of 41 million people in LAC. The region is already experiencing extreme weather events, including mega-droughts, extreme rainfall, heatwaves, rising sea levels, and deforestation. Despite these challenges, LAC is also endowed with valuable natural assets that position it to play a significant role in the global green transition – including an estimated 50% of the world’s biodiversity and a significant share of critical minerals.
With more than a century of investing in the region and convening some of its brightest minds, The Rockefeller Foundation set up its first LAC office during the late 1930s, focusing on improving health and agriculture sectors, developing rural communities, and establishing universities. Although its physical presence in the region ended in the early 2000s, the Foundation’s investments have continued, with ongoing projects across an initial ten countries: Barbados, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Trinidad and Tobago.
