WHO WE ARE
Our Story
Pro Eco Azuero was founded by a group of scientists and local landowners interested in sharing the joy of conserving local wildlife through restoring the dry forest they depend upon with the larger community. Since 2010, we have been dedicated to reforestation, habitat restoration, sustainable land management, and environmental education with the mission to:
​
Preserve the earth’s ecosystems, protect biodiversity, and promote healthy communities by helping people to make informed decisions, take sustainable actions, and share knowledge.
​
The Azuero Eco Foundation is incorporated in Panama with the organizational identification number R.U.C. 25036801-3-2018 D.V. 88 and the tax exempt resolution number 201-4940 of September 2nd, 2019.
Jay Chiat Environmental Learning Center
Home is the place that creates a sense of calm and safety that people look for to live. This is exactly what this house represents for Pro Eco Azuero . This is the place that shelters the hope of building a greener Azuero, the place where tons of ideas on how to continue to restore the region’s habitat are born. This compound holds the Azuero Eco Foundation office ever since it started. It is here where all the planning of our projects take place. Here, we receive people that is looking for information about environmental topics, it is a refuge of environmental knowledge. Every Friday, this becomes a school for the Pro Eco Pelaos, one of our environmental education programs.
January 3rd, 2020, was a great day for our organization, as Edwina Von Gal, co-founder of the Azuero Earth Project, believing in our environmental efforts, has officially donated the house to our organization. Edwina Von Gal was the creator of this space, she dreamed that this compound would host such a commendable project.
The Azuero Spider Monkey, CHARRITO
The Azuero Spider Monkey, CHARRITO (Ateles geoffroyi azuerensis), is our indicator subspecies and guiding symbol because it is a vitally important but critically endangered species in the Azuero dry forest ecosystem. The few that remain on the planet live only on the Azuero. They are victims of rapidly decreasing habitat, hunting, and capture for the pet trade. They are particularly smart and cute, but also shy, which may be why they have managed to hold on this long. However, the loss of habitat and shrinking gene pool may be more than they can manage. We are working to stop the killing and capture of Spider monkeys, and all monkeys, and provide them with sufficient habitat to ensure their future.
OUR TEAM
Sandra Vásquez,
Executive Director
Sandra Vásquez leads a multidisciplinary team dedicated to restoring tropical dry forests, protecting biodiversity, and building climate resilience through community-driven strategies. Under her leadership, the organization has planted tens of thousands of native trees, developed a five-year biodiversity monitoring system using GIS technologies, and established women-led nurseries and seed banks that provide sustainable economic opportunities in rural communities.
Sandra also oversees the implementation of a three-year environmental education curriculum in 32 public schools across the Azuero region, empowering over 2,700 children to become environmental stewards. She started the Eco Artesanas de Azuero, a network of rural women artisans who create environmentally responsible crafts that blend traditional knowledge with sustainable materials.
She has collaborated with the Ministry of Environment of Panama and a range of international funders and partners, including the U.S. Forest Service, Wedgetail Foundation, National Geographic, and the Ford Environmental Fund, to scale restoration, education, and regenerative development efforts. Prior to joining Pro Eco Azuero in 2016, Sandra founded an arts festival in Los Santos called Festarte Las Tablas and led the expansion of a regional executive search firm in Honduras and Panama.
Sandra serves on the IUCN Commission on Education and Communication and the 20x20 Task Force for landscape restoration in Latin America. She is a member of the UN Decade Restoration Academy, a global initiative to build leadership in ecosystem restoration. She is certified in Conservation Standards, syntropic agriculture, permaculture, and transformative leadership, combining technical knowledge with a deep commitment to community empowerment. Originally from El Salvador, Sandra has lived in Panama since 2009. She is married to a Panamanian and has three children.
Sandra is a Fellow of the eighteenth class of the CALI Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.
COLLABORATORS
_edited.jpg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Rossie Pope-Meyer
PRESIDENT
Rossie is a Panamanian-American environmental advocate and development strategist focused on the connection between environmental justice, wildlife corridors and women's leadership. Her work promotes ecological stewardship that prioritizes climate mitigation, forest restoration, soil regeneration, and sustainable living practices. Rossie has a Masters degree in education and obesity prevention from the University of Texas-Austin, is a certified Nutritional Therapist (Nutritional Therapy association) and also serves on the board of Rachel's Network. When not in Panama, she lives in Mill Valley California with her husband and two young sons.
​
Alfa Garcia Montenegro
SECRETARY
Alfa was born and raised in Las Tablas, where she has resided permanently since 6 years ago with her husband and daughter. Social communicator and professional film maker with more than 20 years experience in the audiovisual industry in Panama and Spain where she lived and work for over 10 years in television and film. Her professional experience has been in production, part of the technical team in cameras, and in the last few years as wardrobe artist in several Panamanian advertising campaigns, and important cinematographic productions. She is also an active member in the Club de Leones Las Tablas and co founder of Festarte Las Tablas.
​
​
​
​
​
​
Ruth Metzel
VOCAL
Ruth has a Master of Forestry and MBA from Yale University, and a degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Princeton University. In addition to working with the Azuero Earth Project, she has been a part of The Forests Dialogue, the International Society of Tropical Foresters, and the Governance, Environment and Markets Initiative at Yale. Ruth has written about Azuero in publications such as “Manejo de Nutrientes y Seguridad Alimentaria en Huertos Caseros Mesoamericanos” (2015) and “Farm to Forest: Factors Associated with Protecting and Planting Trees in a Panamanian Agricultural Landscape” (2015). Her field experience includes research projects with the Smithsonian in Panama, along with work in Costa Rica, Cuba, Honduras, Ghana, Guatemala, Kenya, Peru, Venezuela and the United States. If she is not in the office, you can find her dancing típico, kayaking, hiking or in a “junta de embarre.”
Bryan Goldner
VOCAL
Bryan is a Panamanian born biologist and entrepreneur focused on developing equitable and ecologically sustainable tourism in rural communities. A background in biology, ecology, and sustainable agriculture as well as small business management gives Bryan a unique perspective on creating opportunities for eco-tourism in vulnerable areas. By prioritizing training, education, conservation and community outreach in his business, he strives to develop long term solutions for environmental protection in the Azuero Peninsula. His vision supports the personal growth of local collaborators as well as clients through immersive storytelling, incorporating subjects on natural history, climate change, forest management, and preservation
Vernon Scholey
VICE PRESIDENT
Vernon has worked as a fisheries biologist in the Bering Sea, Gulf of Alaska, Japan, Ecuador and since 1985 has been the Director of the Achotines Laboratory at the southern tip of the Azuero Peninsula. The Achotines Laboratory is a field station of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission. Investigations there focus on the ecology and biology of tuna with research carried out at sea and on land where simulated ocean conditions allow scientists to work with all life stages of yellowfin tuna. Vernon is also partnered with his brother and sister-in-law in actively transforming a 57-hectar cattle ranch into a Tropical Dry Forest parcel. Reforestation started in 2005 they have to date planted over 35,000 native tree species on that land.
Maydelin Pecchio
MEMBER
Panamanian, lives in the county of La Enea, in Guararé, Los Santos. Medica by profession, Internal Medicine specialist with a Sub-specialization in Infectious Diseases. He works at Gustavo Nelson Collado Hospital in Chitré, Herrera. As part of his academic training he worked as an associate researcher in the Department of Infectious Diseases and Research for 5 months in 2016, University of Louisville Hospital, Kentucky, USA. She also has a Postgraduate Degree in Higher Education (2013) School of Higher Education, University of Panama.
She currently belongs to the Panamanian Society of Internal Medicine since January 2014 and to the Panamanian Society of Infectology since October 2016 where she is a member of the board of directors as spokesperson for the Society. His interest at the community and hospital level is research, which is why he is part of the Institute of Medical Sciences of Las Tablas, with the aim of collaborating in investigations of infectious causes, whether community or hospital.
Dr. Dinabel Peralta
VOCAL
Dinabel was born and raised in Chitré Herrera. Currently lives in New York with her husband and two kids. She is a Medical doctor, graduated in the Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara. Fellow of American Boards of Pediatrics, and fellow of American Board of Obesity Medicine. She is currently the Director of the New York Weight Wellness Medicine and Director of Pediatric Hospitalist Medicine and Newborn Nursery at the Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, NY. Dina is passionate about Global Health, mindfulness and wellness. Her interests are traveling, cooking, Pilates, and Latin American history and music. BLS, PALS, NRP certified.
​
​
​
​
​
OUR PARTNERS
.png)
.png){kind=logo}
