Roberto Salom-Pérez is a Costa Rican biologist who has over 11 years of experience working on mammal research and conservation, with an emphasis on jaguars. His Master´s thesis work, completed in 2003, included the first jaguar and ocelot density estimates in Costa Rica using camera traps. After his MSC, Roberto went on to work with Wildlife Conservation Society and then the worldwide wildcat conservation organization Panthera, as Costa Rican Director and Mesoamerica Coordinator. Currently, Roberto is working on his PhD in a Joint Doctoral Program between University of Idaho and CATIE University in Costa Rica.
Those who wrote letters in support of Roberto’s nomination spoke highly of his work ethic and dedication to working with others to implement policy. Roberto’s work helped build a strong basis for the Jaguar Corridor Initiative and was fundamental for the signing in 2012 of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica and Panthera for the conservation of jaguars. He later collaborated on developing similar agreements with the governments of Panama and Nicaragua.