Walter Vergara

Senior Fellow

Bio

Walter Vergara is a forests and climate specialist focused on the Global Restoration Initiative in Latin America. He leads Initiative 20x20 a country-led effort to bring 20 million hectares of land in Latin America and the Caribbean into restoration by 2020.

Prior to joining WRI, Walter was the Chief of the Climate Change Division at the Inter American Development Bank in DC and prior to that he was the leader of the Climate Global Expert Group (GET) at the World Bank. He retired from both institutions.

Walter has written extensively on climate issues in the region, including 14 books and many articles in peer-reviewed journals. Walter has a M. Sc. Degree from Cornell University and a Chemical Engineering degree from Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

Blogs

Colombia Shows Leadership in the Race Against Climate Change
by Walter Vergara, Mario Finch, Paige Langer, Rogerio Studart and Sebastian Keneally - February 11, 2021
Colombia's new Nationally Determined Contribution to the Paris climate agreement is one of the most ambitious in Latin America. These three lessons from Colombia’s NDC could help other developing countries update their climate action plans.
Initiative 20x20: A Landscape Restoration Movement Rises in Latin America and the Caribbean
by Walter Vergara, Luciana Gallardo Lomeli, Maria Franco Chuaire, Sarah Weber and René Zamora Cristales - December 05, 2015
In just one year, Initiative 20x20 has secured commitments to restore 27.7 million hectares of land by 2020—an area the size of the United Kingdom —with private impact investors earmarking $730 million to support restoration projects in the region.
Reducing Latin America’s Carbon Footprint Means Restoring Life to Degraded Lands
by Walter Vergara and Jared Messinger - December 07, 2014
Between 2001 and 2012, Latin America and the Caribbean lost 36 million hectares of forest and grassland to agricultural expansion, and nearly half of the region's greenhouse gas emissions are the result of land-use change, forestry, and agriculture. So there’s a clear solution to curbing climate change in the LAC region—restore life to its degraded landscapes.

That's where Initiative 20x20 comes in.

External Publications

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Walter Vergara

Colombia Shows Leadership in the Race Against Climate Change

Initiative 20x20: A Landscape Restoration Movement Rises in Latin America and the Caribbean

Reducing Latin America’s Carbon Footprint Means Restoring Life to Degraded Lands

Sustainability Index for Landscape Restoration

Roots of Prosperity: The Economics and Finance of Restoring Land

The Economic Case for Landscape Restoration in Latin America

Initiative 20x20

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Colombia Shows Leadership in the Race Against Climate Change

Initiative 20x20: A Landscape Restoration Movement Rises in Latin America and the Caribbean

Reducing Latin America’s Carbon Footprint Means Restoring Life to Degraded Lands

Sustainability Index for Landscape Restoration

Roots of Prosperity: The Economics and Finance of Restoring Land

The Economic Case for Landscape Restoration in Latin America

Initiative 20x20

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