Being surrounded by the jungle, the infinite horizon of Patagonia, and the song of the birds are the things that Sofía Heinonen they allow you not to lose the sense of your place in the world.
For this biologist, environmentalist and executive director of the Foundation Rewilding Argentina, his main occupation for more than 30 years is thinking about strategies to safeguard and conserve the country’s protected areas. His main project, since 2005, is the wetland restoration largest in the country: the Iberá Wetlands.
Today, Heinonen was recognized by the British news portal BBC as one of the 100 most influential women in the world. “It was a great surprise,” said the biologist to THE NATION about the distinction–, but welcome to be able to talk about the importance of having a healthy nature and the need to stop the extinction crisis and climate change, if we want to continue being part of this planet”.
The singer Billie Eilish, the first lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska, the actresses Rita Moreno and Selma Blair, the triple jump champion who broke her own world record Yulimar Rojas, the Colombian writer Velia Vidal, and the activists Ceci Flores and Geraldina Guerra are some of the female leaders accompanying Heinonen at the recognition. “The list reflects the central role of women in conflicts around the world,” the BBC noted.
About the executive director of Rewilding Argentina, the news portal names her as “conservationist” and specifies about her work: “She is a biologist committed to the protection of the biodiversity who led the first attempts to reverse the extinction crisis in South America, with the reintroduction of species in the Esteros del Iberá”.
In this regard, and with great humility, Heinonen congratulated his work group for the work carried out and emphasized: “That in Argentina it has been the restoration work that stood out this year, with the release of jaguars in Iberá, I am very happy . We are a huge team with many women and men working hard on the pitch.”
Currently, he continues to work in the largest wetland in the country, in the Impenetrable Chaco, and in Patagonia. Regarding the main problems they face, he highlighted the “extreme drought is coming”.
“What happened in February – because of the devastating fires that hit the province of Corrientes– shouldn’t happen again. Since then we have been training in fire management, in restoring burned-out infrastructure and building firebreaks, and in better coordination with the National and Provincial Parks Administration to prevent catastrophic fires in time. There is a lot to change at the cultural level regarding the use of fire, such as burning garbage or burning fields for livestock use in dry times, which cannot be achieved in just a few months, ”he explained.
“Activist by nature”, this is how they define it on the website of the Rewilding Argentina Foundation. Her work and her interest in protecting the environment, as she explained, is motivated by the anguish generated by the loss of natural places.
“That leads me to want to act to prevent the extinction of what allows us to live. Since I was a girl I felt that the priority was to save nature. Meanwhile, in my house they take care of social emergencies in the big city. At the end of the day they are both linked,” she noted.
Regarding the future, Heinonen is decisive: “We must act now.” And he added: “The next few years are going to be fundamental for the well-being of our children, and what we leave to future generations. We must stop the extinctions because only with a healthy nature (complete and functional ecosystems) can we reverse the climate change. Nature is the best solution to lower temperatures and restore the mess that we have created with the use of oil since the industrial revolution. We must stop clearing and reintroducing the missing species to accelerate carbon sequestration”.
THE NATION