Fragua River Agreement

Fragua River Special Conservation Area and Sacred Sites Agreement

Indigenous territories confront many of the problems faced by nature reserves and protected areas. In many cases, these areas overlap creating additional conflicts in resource use and management. An agreement between ACT, the National Park Service of Colombia and the Cabildo Mayor of the Inganos of Southern Colombia (ORINSUC) for the creation of a special conservation area focused on the concept of co-management, represents a unique grassroots effort developed in full partnership with the Ingano Indians of the Alto Caqueta region. In it are detailed and concrete plans for the establishment of a pilot conservation area involving the Ingano in the administration and management of Ingano territory and their sacred sites.

This innovative pilot project holds great potential as an alternative to the commonly advanced systems of sustainable production, such as slash and burn over 30-year cycles, which are no longer viable as a result of increased population density from immigration and the small size of the Indian reserves. For this reason, as the Ingano need space and training for alternative production systems more suited to the current conditions in the Colombian Amazon, where it is calculated that a family of six people requires at least 70 hectares of land to establish sustainable production systems. As a way to achieve wider and stronger territorial control and implement sustainable systems, the Ingano authorities are fully open to cooperate with conservation agencies and develop new management categories within the national protected area system.

At the same time, the new park administration in Colombia is eager to engage in more effective ways to manage the national system and has thus launched a new "parks with the people" policy that will offer greater flexibility and guarantee optimum levels of institutional support for the Ingano initiative. Again, experience has shown that the successful development and implementation of such systems is usually only sustainable if it is the result of this type of process--intercultural dialogue with maximum local participation and mutual respect for the common objectives of conservationists and indigenous peoples.

ACT is seeking support for the development of the special conservation and sustainable management area in the Fragua River region of the Alto Caqueta in the foothills of the Colombian Amazon, known as the Niñeras and Fraguas Special Conservation and Sustainable Management Areas project (or the Parks Agreement). Our approach will focus on training and providing the necessary resources to the Inganos so they can be the major players from start to finish. We are now in a unique position: our Ingano partners are committed to move ahead, and we have the full support of the Colombian national government (U.S. Interior Minister Bruce Babbitt also attended and applauded the signing of this Parks Agreement.) ACT's strategy for successful implementation of this project broadens local participation and places additional responsibility on the Inganos themselves who are ultimately the ones who will determine the future of their culture, lands and way of life.