June 11, 2026 @ 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm CDT
Invasive species are one of the main drivers of biodiversity loss worldwide and different countries have taken different approaches to communicating this to society taking into account culture, language, and local traditions. Let’s hear about two countries in Latin America, Mexico, part of NAISMA, and Chile, on the other side of the continent and learn about the differences and similarities in tackling this common problem.
This webinar is being presented as part of PlayCleanGo Awareness Week, a collaborative initiative led in partnership with NAISMA, Invasives Canada, CONABIO, and partners across North America to help prevent the spread of invasive species. To learn more, visit PlayCleanGo.org.
Sergio Benavides Avendaño is a natural resource conservation engineer with a master’s degree in biodiversity, protected areas, and biological invasions. He is the co-founder of Naturaleza Intrusa (Intrusive Nature), a science outreach initiative focused on biological invasions, which has organized the Week on Biological Invasions in Chile since 2019. Since 2023, he has worked in the invasive alien species management program at the Ministry of the Environment.
Yolanda Barrios is the head of the department of invasive species at the National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (CONABIO) in Mexico where she has worked for almost 20 years. She brings together her knowledge on invasive species and studies in science communication in workshops and talks for the general public and other stakeholders in different sectors.