Ximena Velez-Liendo is an academic visitor at WildCRU and a Conservation Fellow at Chester Zoo. She is the founder of the Andean Carnivore Conservation Programme (ACCP), a Bolivian–UK conservation initiative focused on protecting Andean carnivore species and restoring Bolivia’s inter-Andean dry forests, while fostering peaceful coexistence between people and carnivores.

Ximena is a conservation biologist with over twenty years of experience in Andean bear ecology and conservation. She was initially trained in biology (BSc, San Simón University, Bolivia) and geographical information systems (MSc, University of Leicester), before completing her doctorate in biology (DPhil, University of Antwerp, Belgium). She has served as co-chair of the Andean Bear Expert Team of the IUCN Bear Specialist Group since 2007 and is a former council member of the International Bear Association.

In 2017, Ximena received the Whitley Award, a prestigious international conservation prize often referred to as the “Green Oscars.” The award, donated by the Savitri Waney Charitable Trust, provided her funding to support her work in enabling coexistence between Andean bears and farmers in the Bolivian mountains. In 2021, Ximena received continuation funding from the WFN to further her conservation efforts. This funding supported her work in reducing cattle numbers in the region and promoting nature-positive livelihoods such as beekeeping, contributing to the creation of a Productive Protected Landscape that integrates biodiversity conservation with sustainable economic activities.

Research focus

The ACCP is a pioneering community-based initiative, linking poverty alleviation, improved wellbeing, and the benefits of biodiversity conservation—all while safeguarding the Andean bear. The programme operates in the Inter-Andean dry forest, a Critically Endangered ecosystem of which only 6% of its original extent remains. Despite this, it supports remarkable biodiversity, including the southernmost population of Andean bears and some of Bolivia’s most marginalised communities.

Since their first intervention in 2016, retaliatory killings of bears have fallen to near zero, enabling the population to recover from near-extinction. The ACCP has established the longest-running camera-trap study in a non-protected area of Bolivia, documenting the wildlife of a previously understudied ecosystem. By 2025, the ACCP has recorded new global distribution data for 20 species of medium- to large-sized mammals and confirmed the highest diversity of wild cat species found anywhere in Bolivia. Moreover, the programme has uncovered a previously unknown population of Andean bears—beginning with five individuals identified in 2018 and rising to at least 60 individuals by 2025 as well as tracked movement patterns and dispersal corridors across the project area.