6 December 2024
The NaturAmazonas Alliance Continues to Deliver High Impact Results to Protect the Amazon Rainforest
- Over 2,006 hectares of the Amazonian rainforest have been restored through the NaturAmazonas project including 1.6 million trees planted, equivalent to the size of roughly 1,200 football fields. These efforts have been contributing to the recovery of biodiversity in this region over the last seven years.
- Through this initiative five scientific expeditions have been undertaken documenting more than 800 new species of flora and generating over 10,500 new records, enriching knowledge about Amazonian biodiversity.
- More than 4,150 families from the departments of Putumayo, Caquetá and Cauca have participated and benefited from the initiative. Including through training in conservation techniques and supported to implement sustainable practices such as the production of organic cocoa, honey and açaf.
Villagarzon, December 6, 2024. Over the last seven years the NaturAmazonas Alliance has worked in the departments of Putumayo, Cauca, and Caquetá on a large reforestation and biodiversity protection initiative. The partners and local communities came together this week to celebrate the results achieved so far, including over 250 beneficiaries who had the opportunity to share first-hand their experience and the results of the program. The initiative founded by Conservation International and Gran Tierra Energy with the support of Corpoamazonia and the Ministry of Environment has grown to become the largest project working to protect and reforest the Amazon in this region.
Over the life of the project 2,006 hectares of the Amazonian rainforest have been restored and 1.6 million trees planted, equivalent to the size of roughly 1,200 football fields. The project is also focused on promoting the active participation of local communities. So far over 4,150 local families from Putumayo, Caquetá and Cauca have been involved and benefited from the project, including for example, training through conservation workshops and supported to implement sustainable practices such as the production of organic cocoa, honey and acai.
The NaturAmazonas Alliance shared these significant results with the world at COP16, including the programs latest contribution to the scientific study of the Amazon region called: “A Guide to the Butterflies and Moths of the Andean-Amazonian Hylea of Colombia.” This study is an extension of a previous study of butterflies undertaken by Gran Tierra Energy in 2019 called “The Great Earth of Butterflies” undertaken in Mocoa, Putumayo. This new study was carried out over 3 years in 5 different departments: Putumayo, Huila, Cauca, Caquetá and Amazonas, representing almost a quarter of the national territory. These investigations are researching and cataloging all of the different variations of butterflies and moths in the region, and this study represents the largest one undertaken in Colombia. The guide includes 800 new species and thousands of pictures, representing a significant piece of the complex biodiversity puzzle that makes up the Amazon, Colombia’s greatest natural heritage. Early in 2025 it will be shared with education institutions in the Amazon regions and will be available on GTE’s and Conservation International’s websites.
During the event Diego Perez-Claramunt, GTE’s Vice President of Health, Safety and Environment and CSR, stated that; “Today we are proud to hear first-hand the results of this important partnership that we undertook seven years ago with Conservation International. This initiative was born from a desire to protect the vast biodiversity of this region and the strong partnerships that have been established with local communities and additional partners is a testament to the success of the project so far.”
Fabio Arjona, Vice President of Conservation International Colombia: “After seven years of tireless work, the results are remarkable: the consolidation of concrete actions, the first exports of deforestation-free organic cocoa, valuable contributions to science, and territorial strengthening. Today, being here with each of the beneficiaries and hearing how the Naturamazonas Alliance has transformed their lives, giving them a renewed purpose, fills us with hope and reaffirms that we are on the right path.”
This alliance represents much more than a conservation program: it is an initiative that restores ecosystems and strengthens the bond between people and their environment. In one of the most important regions in the world in terms of biodiversity these efforts become a model of how collaboration can generate a profound and lasting impact.