The Costayaco Forestry Centre

The Costayaco Forestry Centre (CFC) is one of the most innovative reforestation efforts in South America that has grown to 335 hectares, located near the Company’s production facilities in Putumayo. Established in 2010 in coordination with regional environmental regulator Corpoamazonia, the facility has grown into a significant habitat for butterflies, birds, large felines and other wildlife.

The Centre is strategically located in an important environmental corridor connecting the Andean foothills and Amazonian Forest ecosystems, serving as a focal point for the Company’s compensatory requirements as well as many of its voluntary environmental activities. After ten years, the Company is very close to achieving its long-term goal of connecting the corridor to the foothills. The Centre, which was recently officially designated as a protected habitat and has been replicated around the country, also serves as a hub for nearby communities, hosting educational sessions, presentations and briefings.

“As parents, our legacy is protecting the forest so our kids can have good oxygen, diversity of flora and fauna and clean water. It’s incredible what the workers at the CFC have been able to do — now we see a huge amount of trees in what used to be empty lots. The animals have come back and the monkeys go through the trees to cross the road. The CFC helped me plant trees near my home, and people are more aware of the forest here because when they come to take trees to plant, they learn not to cut trees down. For me a place like this is incredible because I’m very concerned about climate change.”

Fabio Montenegro

Member of the El Meson Vereda Community Action Board (JAC)

A Source of Seedlings

The Forestry Centre has cultivated hundreds of thousands of seedlings providing local communities the capability to reforest their land with native trees. Residents have begun planting seedlings on their land, which over the years had been degraded by agriculture, animal husbandry, and other industries that damaged the natural habitats and sensitive ecosystems. The Centre is located in close proximity to the Sacha Wasi nursery which has the capacity to produce over one million seedlings each year as part of NaturAmazonas.

Expanding the Forestry Centre Model

Located on 11 hectares in a mountainous region eight kilometres from San Martín and near the Company’s operations in the Middle Magdalena Valley, the Acordionero Forestry Centre will adopt a similar model to the CFC. It will be a focal point for the Company’s required 1% investments and compensation, as well as its voluntary efforts to address regional environmental challenges. The Centre is located between two interconnected, biodiverse forested areas, through which more than 100 bird species have been recorded travelling. While the geography and ecosystems are different from Costayaco, the location will allow the Centre, which is scheduled to open in 2024, to restore and protect a river-based water source for nearby towns.

A Space for Learning

The Forestry Centre functions as a community learning space with programming for both youth and adults. Visitors can learn about GTE’s operations and environmental stewardship activities. The Centre has welcomed government officials, scientists, community members, companies, academic institutions, students and is open to all.

Monitoring the Restoration of Animal Life

The motion sensor camera and monitoring stations at the Costayaco Forestry Centre have successfully identified 121 species of birds, 15 species of amphibians and 11 mammal species. This is a significant increase from the last wildlife monitoring program in 2016, which shows that the Company’s conservation and reforestation efforts are restoring these natural habitats and attracting wildlife back to these regions.

Image Gallery

Image Gallery

Previous

Previous

Next

Next

Supporting Community Environmental Monitoring in Ecuador

GTE maintains transparency about its environmental practices by ensuring stakeholders are well-equipped to understand, analyze, and respond to the information they receive, some of which can include highly technical data. In 2023, GTE offered an Environmental Monitoring Training workshop to help people living in the community of Unión Balsareña, who live near the Company’s operations […]

Innovative Conservation Agreements Protect Sensitive Areas

One of the highlights of GTE’s work this year with the Putumayo Biodiversity and Development Initiative was the restoration of 29 hectares within the Orito Ingi-Ande Flora Sanctuary for Medicinal Plants. Dialogue with 15 families who were living in the protected zone and cultivating coca, resulted in important conservation agreements to protect the land. As […]

NaturAmazonas: Gran Tierra’s Largest Environmental Initiative

NaturAmazonas, the flagship conservation program started by GTE and Conservation International, has grown into an alliance of public and private institutions working together to address the root causes of deforestation. It works to develop solutions for reversing the process, while increasing the well-being of nearby communities. GTE’s program has grown into a joint effort between […]

GTE's Environmental Management Plan

Gran Tierra Energy’s company-wide Environmental Management Plan (EMP) addresses how it handles environmental issues arising from its exploration and development projects and other operations. The Plan is based on the environmental performance standards of the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation and reflects best industry practices. It will be amended and updated periodically. In any instances […]

Waste Management

Gran Tierra’s Waste Management Plan (WMP) recognizes the Company’s responsibility to manage wastes properly. Waste is handled independently, according to the type (contaminated, organic, unusable or recyclable), through a process of separation at source. One of the goals of internal management is always to reduce at the source the different waste generated by the operation […]

Emissions Reduction: Reporting

Gran Tierra Energy’s environmental policy calls for the Company to track its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and take steps to reduce them wherever economically feasible. Gran Tierra continues to voluntarily retain a respected expert in the field of air quality, to create an assessment of its greenhouse gas emissions in Colombia and Ecuador. This assessment […]

Emissions Reduction: Nature-Based Solutions

Nature-based solutions are an important pillar of Gran Tierra’s emissions reductions efforts, and the company supports environmental projects that aid in natural carbon sequestration. Natural carbon sequestration is the process of capturing and storing atmospheric CO2, as forests, wetlands and vegetation sequester carbon by capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and converting it into organic […]

Emissions Reduction: Gas-to-Power

Gran Tierra’s ongoing effort to reduce direct emissions by converting associated gas produced from its wells into an energy source for its operations, continues to generate results. Additionally, converting gas to electricity significantly reduces the demand on municipal utilities, increases fiscal resilience by lowering unit production costs, and provides a more stable energy supply, while […]

Amazon Butterfly Species Guidebook

Butterflies are an important indicator for maintaining healthy ecosystems and are a critically important part of conservation and management practices in the area. An alliance of public and private institutions led by GTE and the industry group National Business Association of Colombia (ANDI), completed a study on the diversity of butterflies to better understand the […]

The Putumayo Biodiversity Initiative Enters a Second Phase

The Putumayo Biodiversity Initiative, a wide-ranging alliance of public and private institutions dedicated to preserving biodiversity in the Andean-Amazonian foothills in the department of Putumayo, entered its second phase in 2021. The initiative protects, conserves, and restores ecosystem connectivity and biodiversity through sustainable development. The initiative has become an important national benchmark for public-private investment […]

A Partnership with the Humboldt Institute

The partnership between Gran Tierra Energy and the Alexander von Humboldt Biological Resources Research Institute contributes to the understanding of biodiversity in the Putumayo and addressing concerns about industrial development in the area. Colombia has highly biodiverse areas, with large numbers of plant species, microorganisms, and fungi. However, some of the country’s ecosystems have deteriorated […]

An Alliance with ANDI

ANDI (the National Business Association of Colombia), Gran Tierra, the National Natural Parks of Colombia and the Humboldt Biological Research Institute, have partnered together in an alliance that is focused on ecosystem protection, restoration and connectivity, sustainable development of biodiversity and promoting sustainable development in the region. The alliance’s accomplishments thus far include:

Conserving Wild Cats

Gran Tierra’s pioneering initiative to promote wild cat conservation in the Colombian Amazon, has identified six feline species that use its Costayaco Forestry Centre as a habitat. The project, implemented by Corpoamazonia in partnership with Gran Tierra Energy, has achieved a number of accomplishments in the Alto Putumayo, Amazonian Andean Foothills and the Amazon Plain […]

Inviting Communities to Participate in Water Monitoring

In accordance with Company policy and regulations, Gran Tierra regularly monitors and analyzes surface and groundwater using an external lab certified by government authorities; however, a myth that the Company often encounters in local communities is that lab results released by a corporation must be compromised. To counter this, GTE will fund additional independent water […]

Stewardship of Natural Water Resources

Along with voluntary investments that conserve and protect the integrity of water sources near its operations, Gran Tierra continues to reduce freshwater consumption across the lifecycle of its operations. A comprehensive roadmap has been instituted to reduce the use of surface water where possible, with the goal of achieving zero surface water usage in the […]

ISO 14001 Certification

Gran Tierra Energy is ISO 14001 certified for its Environmental Management Systems. This certification is an international standard that specifies requirements for effective environmental management systems and has been granted to all of the Company’s operations and activities in Colombia. The scope determined by Gran Tierra Energy for the Environmental Management System under the ISO […]

Strengthening Human Rights Throughout the Supply Chain

GTE expects contractors and suppliers to maintain business practices consistent with its own standards for its employees and operations including respect for Human Rights. While these expectations are embedded into GTE’s corporate policies and practices, the supply chain is an important Human Rights risk factor, especially with the large number of local vendors without policies […]