Asociacion Interamericana Para La Defensa Del Ambiente

AIDA strives to ensure that international policies, laws, and financial flows contribute to, rather than compromise, environmental protection. We focus on using international strategies, with multinational AIDA teams collaborating to establish precedents that will have regional and long-term impacts.

AIDA's Freshwater Program helps to keep waters clean and support ecosystem health.

AIDA's Human Rights Program helps to safeguard human wellbeing in communities exposed to severe environmental degradation, particularly from infrastructure and extractive industries.

AIDA's Climate Change Program helps to limit the severity of climate change by promoting projects, programs, policies, and financial systems that respond to Latin America's needs and priorities.

AIDA's Marine Program helps to keep coral reefs, coastal wetlands, and marine species healthy.

AIDA provides legal and technical assistance free of charge to communities and organizations working to protect natural resources, ecosystems, and human rights.

AIDA advocates at international governmental, financial, and legal institutions to create stronger social and environmental protections, increase government accountability, and promote public participation in decision-making.

AIDA crafts arguments based on international law to enhance its partners' domestic litigation. This added capacity, available through no other organization, helps organizations to enforce environmental laws and regulations when governments can't or won't get the job done.

We build advocacy networks that increase public pressure for change; publish reports that introduce new information and analysis; host conferences that disseminate knowledge and foster collaboration; and provide technical assistance that helps community groups and government representatives to be more effective.

AIDA prioritizes high-need, high-impact cases that can set replicable precedents, therefore fundamentally changing laws to fortify environmental protection. Our communication, education, and alliance-building initiatives empower communities and policy makers with knowledge needed to make responsible choices

• Our attorneys understand the Latin American legal and political context: they are both from and live in the region.

• We are a regional organization dedicated to enforcing environmental law with offices in countries from the United States to Chile.

• We provide free legal expertise that bridges the gaps between communities, local movements, national organizations, governments, and international authorities.

• Our team has 20 years of experience in using international law to win conservation gains for the region.

Among many victories, AIDA...
Established the right to a healthy environment in international law
Saved the homes of 25,000 people by stopping construction of a massive dam in Mexico
Protected thousands of people, especially vulnerable children and women in Peru, by forcing controls on toxic emissions from a US-owned smelter.
Protected endangered green sea turtles by reforming Costa Rican law
Protected the freshwater supply for millions of people by compelling Colombia's government to ban mining in high-altitude wetlands
Built a vibrant regional alliance to stop the spread of hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas from Mexico to Argentina
Achieved a national suspension of fracking in Colombia via a court-ordered moratorium.
Produced countless seminars to educate civil society groups and government representatives on a variety of issues related to environmental and human rights protection

Initiatives:
1. Bring clean energy to Latin America
2. Safeguard natural systems that reduce and mitigate climate change impacts
3. Defend traditional and indigenous communities
4. Protect environmental defenders
5. Advocate for healthy air