Segundo Coello

WCPA-Marine Regional Coordinator for the South East Pacific

WCPA: ecotourism, MPAs and fisheries

Segundo Coello was appointed coordinator of the Southeast Pacific region in August 2006. Segundo is an Ecuadorian marine biologist with a M.Sc. in Fisheries Management and a Ph.D. in Management of Natural Resources from the University of Wales (U.K).

He started his career a fisheries scientist and later moved into coastal management; was the Technical Director of the Coastal Resources Management Programme of Ecuador. In parallel he was a lecturer in the University of Guayaquil.

Segundo joined IUCN in 1998 as Programme Coordinator in the Regional Office for South America. After leaving this post he has continued to be very active within the Union in particular on marine issues in South America. Most recently with other Commission members organised a series of marine workshops in the Second Latin American Parks Congress.

He has worked in a wide range of topics with private, governmental and international cooperation organizations, and was Vice Minister of Environment between 2004 and 2005. In 2003 the founded Ecobiotec a company specialised on sustainable human development.

Segundo is very active in marine work, in 2006 prepared an assessment of marine litter in the Southeast Pacific Ocean and a strategy to establish a national system of marine protected areas in Ecuador, recently drafted the national policy on coastal management, and is currently working on the management of marine tourism in the Galapagos Marine Reserve and an independent evaluation of mangrove concessions to local user groups. Segundo’s main interest at the moment is use of marine protected areas to sustain fisheries.