The Coastal Solutions Fellows Program
Coastal Solutions Impact Report
Learn about the conservation outcomes from the program.
The Coastal Solutions Fellows Program was created to address one of the greatest conservation challenges in the hemisphere: the rapid decline of shorebird populations across the Americas. This trend is partly driven by habitat degradation and loss at their wintering and stopover sites in Latin America—ecosystems that are critical for their survival throughout the migratory cycle.
We launched the program in 2018, and over the past eight years we have supported 30 fellows across nine countries in Latin America, who together have advanced the protection of 37 priority shorebird sites. In 2026, we are launching our next phase, in which we will provide funding and training each year to six new fellows developing and implementing projects with innovative approaches to balance development, management, and conservation in Latin America.
Our Theory of Change
The program’s Theory of Change is based on the idea that investing in early-career leaders and strengthening local capacity will generate lasting conservation impacts in coastal ecosystems across Latin America, contributing to the recovery of shorebird populations.
By providing fellows with training, mentorship, and resources, Coastal Solutions drives new solutions and partnerships at priority sites. These projects and collaborations evolve into stronger institutions and networks that can attract additional investment, influence public policy, and sustain conservation outcomes over the long term. Ultimately, this approach ensures resilient coastal ecosystems and communities while securing the future of shorebirds.
What we do: We advance conservation at priority shorebird sites in Latin America by strengthening emerging local leaders and fostering the integration of sectors and disciplines to promote coastal solutions that enable landscapes to thrive for future generations.
How we do it: We select and support early-career fellows through a competitive process, providing training, mentorship, and seed funding to implement conservation projects. Their development is strengthened through retreats, workshops, and knowledge exchange, while fellows build partnerships with NGOs, governments, academic institutions, and foundations that allow them to embed their work within broader conservation frameworks.
What we hope to achieve: More resilient coastal ecosystems and communities in Latin America, with effective, locally led conservation initiatives that ensure the long-term protection of shorebirds and their habitats. These initiatives are directly linked to the community of practitioners within the Coastal Solutions network, where lessons from cross-sectoral and multidisciplinary initiatives are shared to advance more effective conservation approaches.
The Coastal Solutions Fellows Program is part of the Conservation Science team within the Center for Avian Population Studies at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The Lab’s mission is to interpret and conserve the Earth’s biological diversity through research, education, and participatory science focused on birds and nature.