Reshaping institutions for next generation conservation leaders in the Amazon: Workshop executive analysis

This document brings together the debates and reflections of the participants of the workshop “Reshaping institutions for next generation conservation leaders in the Amazon” held from July 29–31, 2025, at Biocentro Güembé in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.

Key messages:

1. The influence of people who motivate youth engagement in conservation—such as family members, other young leaders, teachers, and trainers—was emphasized.
2. Well-organized, strategic youth-focused activities gradually motivate active participation and youth-led action.
3. Key competencies remain scarce in educational programs, particularly in communication and active listening, collaboration, leadership, conflict management, and project design.
4. Access to higher education for Amazonian youth remains a major challenge, though some innovative initiatives are working to close this gap.
5. Innovative educational approaches are also emerging that break with conventional educational paradigms.
6. Greater access for young women to training and leadership spaces is possible due to changes in traditional gender roles and specific initiatives by various institutions.
7. Family and institutional support help reduce persistent gender gaps in access to education, especially in cases of adolescent pregnancy.
8. The necessary attributes of education in the Amazon to train future conservation leaders should primarily be transformative, inclusive, contextualized, intercultural, intergenerational, transversal, and value-based.