The Power of International Partnerships

US and Argentina signers of the MOU shake hands after the signing.

US Embassy photo.

The Power of International Partnerships

For well over a century, since even before the creation of the National Park Service, we have worked across the globe to share our best practices with other countries’ parks and likewise benefit from the ideas and experiences of other park agencies. Through these international partnerships, NPS has helped create and improve the management of national parks in dozens of countries, while also adapting new ideas from other countries – ranging from interpretation to inventory and monitoring techniques – here at home.

On December 20, 2018, our most recent international partnership was recognized during a formal signing ceremony of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between NPS and Argentina’s National Park Administration (APN). The event took place at the Casa Rosada (the official residence and office of the President of Argentina), with the MOU signed by the U.S. Ambassador to Argentina, Edward C. Prado, and Eugenio Breard, the President of APN.

NPS’s first official involvement with Argentina was in the 1930s, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt requested that the NPS send a team to South America to learn about efforts in that continent to protect natural and cultural heritage. NPS work with Argentina increased significantly in the late 1980s and 1990s, working closely with Peace Corps volunteers in Argentine national parks. In the 2000’s NPS had two active “sister parks” with APN – between Pinnacles National Park in California and Quebrada del Condorito National Park, focused largely on the conservation of condors, and between Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming and Los Glaciares National Park, emphasizing the development and maintenance of park trails.

The new MOU between NPS and APN calls for collaboration in a variety of park management topics, including park planning, public use, natural resource management, interpretation and education, among others. This collaboration will be conducted through the sharing of information, occasional staff exchanges, workshops and on-line training.

NPS has additional active international partnerships with numerous park agencies ranging from Parks Canada to South African National Parks to China’s National Administration of Forests and Grasslands, as well as several “sister park” partnerships at the park level.

For more information on the NPS’s international partnerships, see:

https://www.nps.gov/orgs/1955/index.htm

https://www.facebook.com/NPSInternationalAffairs/