The Colombian Amazon represents about 40 percent of the country’s territory and is home to important hydrographic basins that drain the Amazon River, the longest and mightiest in the world. Today its biome is under the greatest threat ever as deforestation of the rainforests and contamination of the world’s largest river continues to increase. This generates risks not only for the world’s largest water cycle and the survival of thousands of species, but also endangers the cultural legacy of hundreds of ethnic groups, including indigenous people living in isolation that have inhabited the territory for millennia.
The Colombian government has designated more than ten national-level protected areas throughout the Colombian Amazon, but the national protected areas agency (Parques Nacionales Naturales de Colombia – PNNC) still lacks the finances and the workforce capacity needed to manage these huge and remote areas effectively. Gold mining, coca cultivation and drug trafficking are increasing, and illegal roads are on the advance – putting at risk the integrity of the parks and the well-being of indigenous and local people. Since 2014, FZS has been contributing to the effective management of this important biome by supporting the governance and monitoring of Colombia’s national parks in the Amazon. A particular focus to strengthen governance is on the involvement of indigenous authorities in the development of management strategies for conservation and FZS’s provision of information to coordinate actions against threats.
FZS focuses its conservation activities on the Colombian Amazon from Chiribiquete National Park to the Putumayo River Basin on the border with northern Peru. This gives the incredible opportunity to contribute to the protection of over 200,000 square kilometres of the Amazonian biome. Transboundary cooperation plays an important role to jointly achieve long-term conservation against a variety of external threats.
- Support the Colombian Protected Area Authority (PNNC) in the revision and implementation of the management plans for five national parks in the Colombian Amazon region.
- Support indigenous committees in improving the management of their territories and coordinating with national agencies to achieve conservation objectives.
- Support for biological monitoring as well as control and surveillance activities in the Colombian Amazon region.
- We strengthen protected area management and infrastructure, for example by providing equipment.
- We conduct monitoring together with the indigenous communities along the Caquetá River and thus contribute to the protection of the giant river turtle.
- Establish and strengthen the bi-national planning and coordination of conservation activities in the Colombian-Peruvian Putumayo border region on the borders of Colombia and Peru.
