Emilio Pallares
LATAM Program Officer
Emilio was born and raised in Ecuador. He graduated from Connecticut College in 2019 with a degree in Environmental Studies with a concentration on the Social Sciences, and a minor in Anthropology. In college, he developed a thesis project within the Goodwin-Niering Center for the Environment at Connecticut College, which included an internship with Fundación Raiz Ecuador in the Siekopai indigenous community of Painkenape in Torres Causana, Peru. He focused on the value of ethnobotany for the territorial consolidation and cultural identity of the Siekopai people.
After college, Emilio worked in Environmental Education in the United States, and later on returned to Ecuador to work for Fundación Raíz in the implementation of various projects with international cooperation funds, focused on COVID 19 relief for Indigenous and Afro-Ecuadorian communities. During the early stages of the pandemic, he co-funded the “Biotiquines” initiative together with the members of the IAFN (International Analog Forestry Network), which focused on fostering food sovereignty and urban farming in marginal communities in the Ecuadorian coast.
From June 2021 to April 2022, he has worked on a project that supports indigenous Bioenterprises in the Ecuadorian Amazon through a UNDP Small Grants Program grant. He is interested in local development and strengthening indigenous territorial rights as a means for environmental protection and mitigation of the impacts of climate change.