In 1997, Douglas and Kristine Tompkins founded The Conservation Land Trust (CLT), an organization that has been operating in the country for over 22 years and has achieved its nature conservation goals. The organization promotes rewilding, an innovative restoration technique used to recover the health and functionality of the Iberá Wetlands ecosystem.

During these years, CLT/Tompkins Conservation committed to donating 360,000 hectares of land in Iberá, Monte León, Perito Moreno, and El Impenetrable to create and expand National Parks. They also secured protection for another 550,000 hectares under the category of Corrientes Provincial Park.

Their work culminated in the creation of Iberá National Park in December 2018, which has become a leading nature tourism destination, ensuring a positive synergy between biodiversity conservation and regional economic development. The foundation worked on the restoration of grasslands and wetlands and the reintroduction of extinct species—anteater, pampas deer, collared peccary, and scarlet macaw. With the construction of the Jaguar Reintroduction Center, the return of this magnificent feline, which had been extinct in Corrientes for over 70 years, was solidified with the birth of the first cubs.

Over the past three years, CLT has worked in conjunction with national and provincial governments to achieve the creation of Aconquija National Park in Tucumán, the Yaganes and Namuncurá–Banco Burdwood II Marine National Parks in the Argentine Sea, the taking possession and opening to public use of El Impenetrable National Park in the province of Chaco, the creation of the La Ascensión and Patagonia Wildlife Natural Reserves in the province of Santa Cruz, the creation of Cueva de las Manos Provincial Park, and the start of new projects for the reintroduction of threatened species in Iberá, El Impenetrable and Patagonia.

From January 2020 onward, the entire team that assisted in the creation of parks and the restoration of ecosystems will become part of the Rewilding Argentina Foundation. The foundation was created in 2010 under the name Flora and Fauna Argentina, and is now being renamed to strengthen the ecosystem restoration movement in the country. Its objective is to conserve healthy, functional ecosystems and foster a new local economy that benefits all communities, both human and non-human.

The global climate crisis and biodiversity crisis make it imperative to continue on this path. That is why the Rewilding Argentina Foundation will continue working to reverse species extinction and the socio-economic paradigm.