Mario Baudoin

Mario Jorge Baudoin Weeks (September 4, 1942 – May 18, 2019) was a Bolivian biologist and conservationist known for his research in Bolivia and Costa Rica.

He was the first director of Bolivia's national park system,[1] and served as director of several academic and government institutes, including the Museo Nacional de Historia Natural de Bolivia [es], the Institute of Ecology at Higher University of San Andrés, Dirección Nacional Conservación de Biodiversidad (DNCB) and the La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica.

[2][3] In the early 1990s he was involved in the creation of the Servicio Nacional de Áreas Protegidas [es] (SERNAP), which led to the 1995 establishment of Madidi National Park.

[2] He received the 2008 Distinguished Services Award from the Society for Conservation Biology.

Born in Sucre, Baudoin received his education in the United States, earning a B.Sc.