Profile: Environmentalist Kris Tompkins

Americas Now

After serving at the helm of Patagonia outdoor clothing and helping to establish new standards in corporate responsibility, Kristine Tompkins undertook a bigger challenge: establishing millions of acres of national parks in South America.

After acquiring land in Patagonia for over 20 years, the Tompkins Conservation foundation gave it all back to Chile and Argentina, becoming one of the largest land donators in history. 

With her late partner Doug Tompkins, their foundation Tompkins Conservation has helped to establish new national parks and marine parks in Chile and Argentina and works to recover healthy populations of native species crucial to large-scale ecological recovery.

Her rebuilding initiative is considered the most ambitious of its kind in the Americas. 

Correspondent Joel Richards brings us this report.