ECA is collaborating with Pro Natura International (PNI) to develop the Global Institute of Sustainable Development (GISD). The initial outcome of GISD will be an established headquarters that will be home to a network of resources that drastically reduce the costs associated with learning, institutional development and investment of sustainable development initiatives. Those resources will include a set of interactive training modules, convening power, communication and governance infrastructure and best-practices knowledge.

GISD is an iterative, four-sided “square table” learning dialog between poor communities, their NGO’s, their local/national governments, and concerned business corporations, with the objective of establishing regional sustainable development. Establishing the GISD is a logical next-step for PNI, ECA’s South American program partner, whose acclaimed trans-boundary conservation areas have been established in various regions of the world.

Initial funding for purchasing the headquarters for GISD has already been secured, and partners are presently drawing up plans to convert a former school, located on 25 acres in the heart of Rio de Janeiro, into a center for sustainable development training, dialog, and action in countries around the world.