Karim Ledesma is the program coordinator of the Biodiversity Monitoring and Assessment Program at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute’s Center for Conservation and Sustainability. She coordinates the field surveys of the terrestrial and marine research protocols that are implemented along the gas pipeline and marine terminal of a liquid natural gas plant in Peru.

Ledesma accompanies teams to the field to coordinate logistics and ensure scientific design is applied as planned. She also supports the managing directors of the program by reviewing field reports and databases and by coordinating meetings and presentations with the main investigators. 

Ledesma participated in the publication of the analysis of the mitigation hierarchy applied to activities of the liquid natural gas operations. She is particularly interested in understanding the ecology of the desert habitat to support the implementation of restoration activities.

Ledesma studied the diversity and abundance of small mammals in a bamboo forest in Tambopata, Madre de Dios for her master thesis. She worked at World Wildlife Fund on a project that monitored large mammals, such as jaguars, pumas, and peccaries, to understand their home range and establish adequate protected areas. Since 2005, Ledesma has investigated the species and populations of viscachas (Lagidium) in southern Ecuador and northern Peru.