Fernando Trujillo is a National Geographic Explorer, award-winning marine biologist, and conservationist with over 30 years of experience protecting river dolphins and their habitats. Trujillo is also the founder and scientific director of Omacha Foundation and a leading expert on aquatic ecology and conservation, specializing in aquatic vertebrates, endangered species, wetlands, wildlife trafficking, fisheries management and toxics in aquatic systems.

Trujillo has spearheaded major international agreements for the protection of river dolphins and their habitats. His efforts include a river dolphin conservation management plan signed by four South American countries, a global declaration for river dolphins signed by ten countries with river dolphin populations, and a global resolution to protect dolphins and other inland wetland indicator species, signed by 170 countries at the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands COP15.

Trujillo has led or participated in over 80 global expeditions, including the National Geographic and Rolex Perpetual Planet Amazon Expedition. He was named the 2024 Rolex National Geographic Explorer of the Year and elected as the National Geographic Society’s Explorer Trustee in 2026.

His numerous awards include the Whitley Gold Award, the Tallberg-SFN-Elliasson Global Leadership Prize, the Order of National Merit from the Government of Colombia, and the Emily B. Shane Award. He has also been nominated for conservation awards by Rolex and the BBC.

Trujillo serves on the editorial committee for the Latin American Journal of Aquatic Mammals (LAJAM), where he has reviewed over 300 scientific publications, and holds leadership roles in international bodies, including chairing the small cetacean sub-committee of the International Whaling Commission, and membership in the IUCN Specialist Group on Cetaceans, Sirenids and Otters, and the Science Panel for the Amazon. He is a corresponding member of the Colombian Academy of Physical, Exact and Natural Sciences and a member of the Commission of Protected Areas of the Academy of Sciences. He also served as president of SOLAMAC from 2006 to 2008.

Trujillo holds an MSc in environmental sciences from the University of Greenwich and a Ph.D. in zoology from the University of Aberdeen.