Overbrook Fellows: Supporting Conservation in Latin America

2007 Fellows

Erio Curto  |  Laura Navarro Noriega  |  Julio Reyes
Luis Rivera  |  Regina Sanchez Castaneda  |  Armando Valdes-Velasquez 

Erio Curto (Argentina):  Regional education, outreach and management with mayors and municipal officials of the watershed reserve around Mar Chiquita Ramsar.

Bio: I was born in the Pampas plains of NE Cordoba province, central Argentina. Like many Argentineans, I am a third generation descendant of Italian immigrants who came to the country in the early twentieth century to plough and cultivate the vast Pampas grasslands. When I was very young my family moved to a small town called Marull, which is located near the beautiful Mar Chiquita salt lake area, a provincial reserve and Ramsar site. My childhood spent in a rural environment devoted mostly to agriculture and cattle breeding left my spirit with a deep attachment to the land. From a young age I was of a very inquisitive nature and was interested and involved in a variety of activities and sports. After completing high school, I moved to Cordoba city to start Biology courses at the local University (which, with a 395 year history, is the second oldest in South America). I returned to my home town upon graduation and started my professional career in remote sensing techniques, crop assessment, and pest monitoring. I also completed postgraduate courses in Remote Sensing and GIS at Luján National University, and in 2005, was appointed Director of the Mar Chiquita Field Station, a research facility of the Centro de Zoologia Aplicada, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. In 2006 I was admitted to the Posgraduate Program in Wildlife Management, University of Córdoba and am currently completing my MSc thesis related to forest fragmentation in the Mar Chiquita Ramsar site. Besides academia, I also have a life-long passion for politics. I was an active member of several community institutions, including Marull’s Municipality council, and was later the adviser to several municipalities in their regional planning and development activities (especially as their activities relate to the Mar Chiquita wetlands). I share my life with my wife Elizabeth and two children, Irupe (daughter) and Lican (son).