María Teresa VARGAS RÍOS

Maria Teresa Vargas is a force of nature — a journalist by training, a conservationist by passion, and a strategist by necessity. Based in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, she stands at the intersection of community, policy, and the planet. She runs on purpose (and CrossFit), powered by both intellect and heart.

Director of Fundación Natura Bolivia, she leads a team of 85 with clarity and conviction, defending forests, water sources, and the dignity of rural communities. Whether building iconic ranger camps in the dry Chaco or battling wildfires in Bajo Paragua, she’s always walking the talk — or sprinting it, when needed.

Maria Teresa was raised on a farm in the village of Mataral, in the buffer zone of Bolivia’s mega-diverse Amboró National Park in Bolivia. She now works with mayors and councilors from 93 municipalities across Bolivia to help them protect their forested water sources. Together, they have convinced half a million water users to sign agreements with 43300 upstream landowners to conserve 850000 hectares of water-producing forest. These conservation deals—locally known as “Acuerdos Reciprocos por Agua” or “Watershared”—are in return for alternative development projects such as drip irrigation, fruit and honey production, and improved cattle management. Maria Teresa is now leading the transfer of this reciprocity-based forest and water conservation model to municipalities in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. As a graduate of the MIT/Poverty Action Lab Executive Training course on randomized control trial or impact evaluations, Maria Teresa has been trained in balancing evaluation science and program implementation. Maria Teresa has a master’s in economic policy from Universidad Nacional of Costa Rica  and another Master’s in forestry from Yale University, she was a Kinship Conservation Fellow in 2005 (https://www.kinshipfellows.org) and a Conservation fellows a Mulago Foundation ( https://www.mulagofoundation.org/henry-arnhold-fellows).