URL: http://www.amazonteam.org/index.php/246/Management_of_Indigenous_Lands_Colombia
Management of Indigenous Lands: Colombia
Following its involvement in the establishment of the 168,000-acre Alto Fragua Indi Wasi National Park in 2002, ACT has helped the resident indigenous groups responsible for co-management of the park to conduct cultural and biological surveys of the area and to subsequently generate a park management plan.
In 2008, the 25,000-acre Orito Ingi-Ande Flora Sanctuary in southwest Colombia, whose creation resulted from extensive participation from the Kofán people and ACT, became the Amazon's first protected area designed specifically for the preservation of medicinal plants (read the press release). The Kofán people and other indigenous communities are heavily reliant on these plants for physical health and for perpetuating many elements of their culture. Now that the reserve has legal recognition, ACT is facilitating the development of the reserve's land management plan, which will involve co-management responsibilities by the Kofán communities in tandem with the Colombian National Park Service. With a plan in place that includes strategies for monitoring by local indigenous populations, the sanctuary will enjoy real on-the-ground protection and management.
Because demarcated indigenous lands can be essential pieces of conservation corridors, ACT works closely with our indigenous partners and other institutions and organizations to enable collaborative reserve management planning. Through partnerships with the Colombian National Park Service and local municipalities, ACT has helped our indigenous partners to create, review, or update land management plans and to develop enforcement activities for these areas. In addition, training is provided to improve the nature of our indigenous partners' involvement in the formulation of public policies at the national, regional, and local levels.
Read more about ACT's Land Management strategy