Staff Spotlight: Hugo Arnal
This upbringing influenced Hugo’s decision to pursue a career in conservation. He studied Ecology and Marine Biology at university and later earned a master's degree in Tropical Ecology.
His dedication to nature conservation put him in the fortunate position to implement and oversee biodiversity and protected area projects from the high Andes to deep coral reefs, from the warm waters of the Caribbean to the cold Humboldt current in the Galapagos Archipelago. As the USAID Mission in Ecuador reemerges from nearly a seven-year absence, Hugo is bringing his adventurous spirit and extensive experience in conservation, community ecology, marine biology, and high-altitude ecosystems to help rebuild the Mission and contribute his advice and expertise to USAID biodiversity conservation activities across the region.
Hugo recently joined USAID as a Project Management Specialist in Ecuador and as a South America Regional Coordinator for the USAID South America Region (SAR)/Amazon Regional Environment Program (AREP) projects. Prior to joining the agency, he worked for many years as a conservation specialist with The Nature Conservancy, a longtime implementing partner for many USAID projects in the region. Now at USAID, Hugo is working at the interface between natural resource management, biodiversity conservation, and democracy and governance, using his vast experience to provide technical assistance and supervision to various partners.
Hugo has traveled the world, climbing high mountain peaks across dozens of countries for his field work in high altitude ecosystems and bird conservation. During his time within the pre-revolutionary Venezuelan government as National Park Regional Director of the Venezuelan Andes, Hugo realized it is crucial to include people to achieve long lasting conservation. “Strong civil society organizations help to bring a balance and a counterpart to the government,” he explains. “You don’t want all of the decisions in your life made by somebody else. You want to be an active player, shaping the future that you want to build.” So, he decided to focus on strengthening the capacities of civil society organizations around the world in the conservation space.
With a background in field biology and graduate studies in tropical ecology, he has participated in conservation projects in Panama, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, and Chile, several island-nations in the Caribbean, including Saint Lucia and Jamaica, and organized many training events for park rangers and conservation specialists. Hugo now works alongside many of the conservationists and representatives he has met during his field work and travels, helping them implement their conservation activities in the region.
As a recent addition to USAID/Ecuador, he admires the emphasis that USAID puts on continuous education and training for its staff, which helps ensure that everyone has the necessary tools to perform their work. Conservation is a never-ending process, he explains, and plans need to be constantly updated and adapted to new social considerations and changes in the political climate.
Hugo also admires the importance the Agency puts on diversity and inclusive participation in the decision-making process. He strongly believes that social development and conservation and sustainable use of resources are intertwined, and one of the biggest limitations he sees to the sustainability of conservation efforts is weak governance. “Social evolution is a very slow process…building capacity and civic structures takes time,” he explains. If participatory processes are not totally rooted in the culture of governmental agencies, over time it is easy for civil society and local organizations to cease playing their role in ensuring social development. In one project Hugo advises, for example, which strengthens natural resource governance in Ecuador, there is a well balanced portfolio of strategies to integrate natural resource management and biodiversity conservation with reformed policies, legislation, and governance.
In his experience, the best opportunities for integrating conservation and development into USAID programming are to help societies adapt to climate change, increase the capacity of countries to supply energy from renewable sources, control illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, and combat wildlife and illegal timber trafficking. These efforts can help combat climate change and improve economic opportunities, while at the same time conserve important ecosystems for nature conservation and increase the stability of local communities.
Hugo is happy to be contributing in his work with USAID to the notion that biodiversity conservation and sustainable use is a responsibility that we all share. Humans need to find a balance between where our lives are enriched by our contact with nature and our respect and understanding of the beauty of nature, he explains. “We cannot live without nature…caring for nature is caring for ourselves,” he says. “Human civilization started when we cut the first tree and will come to an end if we have to cut the last one.”
