News Published: 19 November 2024

The Morton Arboretum’s Director of the Global Tree Conservation Program Silvia Alvarez-Clare, Ph.D., was honoured among Crain’s Chicago Business 2024 Notable Latino Leaders, presented in its Nov. 18 edition.

The feature recognizes top Latino leaders in the Chicago area who demonstrate significant accomplishments within their industry. Alvarez-Clare and her team of five at the Arboretum work to safeguard threatened tree species through science-based conservation efforts conducted with stakeholders around the world.

“Silvia is a tree conservation leader in an era when saving biodiversity is more urgent than ever,” said Arboretum President and CEO Jill Koski. “Silvia has significantly increased the impact and geographical reach of the Arboretum’s Global Tree Conservation Program to multiple countries in Latin America and South East Asia, and has helped raise public awareness of the importance of protecting trees locally, nationally and globally. She is also passionate about supporting the next generation of conservationists by mentoring students and interns in the U.S. and abroad.”

Among her many accomplishments, Alvarez-Clare spearheaded the creation of the world’s first and only Center for Species Survival: Trees, which was established at the Arboretum in 2023 through a strategic partnership with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Species Survival Commission. The center serves as a catalyst for tree conservation and accelerates the actions needed to reverse species loss. Projects are in Alvarez-Clare’s native Costa Rica and five other biodiversity hotspots.

Alvarez-Clare also leads the Global Conservation Consortium for Oak, a network established by Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) to ensure that no species of oak goes extinct. She serves as a conservation officer for BGCI, and is a member of the advisory board for the Global Trees Specialist Group, a voluntary network of more than 300 experts, which operates as part of the IUCN Species Survival Commission. Additionally, Alvarez-Clare’s research in tropical ecology has been published in prestigious academic journals, such as Ecology Letters and Ecology, and she is a National Geographic Society Explorer.