Rare Magnolias of Haiti: An Environmental Adventure with Eladio Fernández

Join us for an environmental adventure with Eladio Fernández, nature photographer and conservationist, in his quest to save the rare Magnolias of Haiti, now listed as a "Critically Endangered" species. This webinar, moderated by Yale International Alliance Board member Maria Lopez Bresnahan, will delve into Eladio’s work to document the Magnolia’s habitat and threats, and his collaborations with key partners to establish in-situ nurseries to prevent their extinction.

To learn more about Eladio’s work, we invite you to watch the following documentaries before the webinar:

1. "Extinction in Progress" This documentary explores the biodiversity under threat of extinction in Haiti's remaining forests. Free on YouTube.

2. "Death by a Thousand Cuts" This award winning film, including the 2017 Grand Jury Prize at the Environmental Film Festival at Yale, investigates the issues of deforestation threatening fragile ecosystems and the illegal wood charcoal trade on the tense border between the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Available on Amazon PrimeVideo for $4.99.

Speaker

Eladio Fernández

Eladio is a Dominican naturalist, author, filmmaker, and researcher. An Associate Fellow in the International League of Conservation Photographers (iLCP), he has one of the most extensive image banks on landscapes, flora and fauna of the Greater Antilles. His photographs have been published in the “Wildlife As Canon Sees It” ad campaign for National Geographic, and in Condor, Nature Conservancy and Living Bird, among others. His photography is represented by Nature Picture Library.

Since 2007, he has produced a series of photography books with funding from local and international corporate sponsors. Among his titles in print are: “Hispaniola: A Photographic Journey Through Island Biodiversity” (Grupo SID/Harvard University Press, 2007), “Orchids of the Dominican Republic and Haiti” (AMCHAM 2007), “Jamaica: A Photographic Journey Through The Land of Wood and Water” (IMCA 2008), “Cuba, Un Encuentro Con Su Naturaleza” (IMCA 2010).

Eladio is also co-author of the field guide “Birds of the Dominican Republic and Haití” (Princeton University Press, 2006), has collaborated in the description of new reptiles, plants, and co-authored several scientific publications. His most recent research publication is "Studies on the Aristolochia of Hispaniola" (Phytotaxa 2019), an article (first of an upcoming series) that describes three new Aristolochia for the island of Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti). This work was made in collaboration with Irina Ferreras, Brian Farrell, Bruno De Medeiros and Gustavo Romero from Harvard University and the Oakes Ames Herbarium.

As a conservationist, Eladio is currently working with both Societé Audubon d'Haiti and Haiti National Trust in an effort to save Haiti's last fragments of primary forest. After 7 years of work, Haiti has its first private natural reserve, Grand Bois, a 2 square-kilometer forest fragment on a mountain top that holds on of the greatest levels of endemic plants and amphibians in that country.

Instagram: @eladiofoto

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