Luis Suárez was born in Quito, Ecuador in 1960. In 1985 he obtained his undergraduate title

(B.Sc.) in Biological Sciences at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador. In 1986 he

traveled to Seattle, where he studied Wildlife Science, at the University of Washington, thanks

to a USAID scholarship. In 1988 Luis obtained his title of Master of Science and returned to

Ecuador where he created in 1989 EcoCiencia, a nongovernmental organization dedicated

to research and education for biodiversity conservation in Ecuador. In 1992 he received a

scholarship from the Tropical Conservation and Development (TCD) Program at the University

of Florida, in Gainesville, to develop additional graduate studies in wildlife conservation.

In 1994 he returned to Ecuador to continue working in EcoCiencia as researcher, Executive

Director, and President. Also he has worked as consultant of USAID, PNUD and GTZ in

the design of environmental projects and policies, and has been professor at the Pontificia

Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, and several graduate

programs in Ecuador. He has designed and implemented several projects to promote biodiversity

conservation and has participated actively in the environmentalist movement of Ecuador. Luis

has written several scientific papers and books on biodiversity, threatened species, protected areas

and conservation incentives, and has represented Ecuador in the scientific and technical body of

the Convention on Biological Diversity and in other forums and international congresses. Since July of 2002, Luis is the Executive Director of Conservation International in Ecuador.