Growing the Next Generation of Indigenous Leaders in Colombia
Written by: Barbara Onkle When Indigenous students leave their communities to pursue higher education, they often face a difficult question: How can they gain new knowledge and opportunities without losing connection to the territories, cultures, and communities that shaped them? For us, the answer lies in investing in Indigenous youth while strengthening their ties to home. Through ACT’s Fellowship…
Read MoreThe Indigenous women protecting the Colombian Amazon by boat
In the Indigenous community of Manacaro in the Colombian Amazon, women are helping to lead the work of territorial protection. Several times a week, Delia Gittoma, an Indigenous leader of the Carijóna people, sets out in a peque peque – a small, motorized canoe – to record animal species and human activity, and document threats to the forest. One person operates the motor, and the other collects data in a…
Read MoreSierra Nevada de Santa Marta Receives a New Level of Protection
The Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) celebrates the Colombian government’s recent decision to permanently designate the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta — known to its Indigenous peoples as the Heart of the World — as a Renewable Natural Resources Reserve. Formalized through Resolution 0663 of 2026, issued by Colombia’s Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, this sweeping protection covers more…
Read MoreThe Invisible Pollinators of the Amazon
Written by: Barbara Onkle How stingless bees are helping communities protect forests, preserve knowledge, and build sustainable futures When people think of bees, they usually imagine the common honeybee. But across the Amazon, hundreds of native stingless bee species quietly sustain forests, food systems, and cultural traditions, often without being noticed at all. Hidden inside…
Read MoreA Bridge Between the Sierra and the World
Ati Villafañe grew up on Colombia’s northern coast, going between the city of Santa Marta and her ancestral village of Kutunsama, which for the Arhuaco Indigenous people means “the root of knowledge.” Ati is one of seven Indigenous students from Colombia who are part of a scholarship program supported by the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) and the Universidad Externado de Colombia in Bogota. For the scholarship students, the goal is not to leave their territory behind: instead, they are encouraged…
Read MoreA Message from Indigenous Leadership Fellows
“I don’t have to choose between who I am, and where I am.” The following letter was written and read aloud by recipients of the Amazon Conservation Team’s Indigenous Leadership Fellowship Program — a scholarship program ACT launched in 2017 in partnership with Colombia’s Universidad Externado. The program supports Indigenous university students through mentorship, peer…
Read MoreEsri highlights ACT mapping work with Indigenous communities
The Amazon Conservation Team works closely with Indigenous communities to create cultural maps that record and preserve traditional knowledge and support the conservation of ecosystems. Brian Hettler, Director of Mapping for the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT), recently spoke with Esri’s StoryScape magazine about using Esri’s GIS software to build maps with local communities. He also explains more…
Read MoreThe Annulment of Decree 1500: What is at Stake for the Indigenous Peoples of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta
February 20, 2026 The original article published in Spanish by La Silla Vacia can be found here. Written by Juana Hofman – Director of Technical Territorial Integration at the Amazon Conservation Team Colombia and professor at the Universidad del Rosario. Yesterday’s decision by Colombia’s Council of State (Consejo de Estado) to annul, for formal and…
Read MoreFlamingo Conservation on Colombia’s Caribbean Coast
In the brackish marshes of Colombia’s northern Caribbean coast, you’ll find one of the largest and most social bird species – the American flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber) gathered in flocks of hundreds. This wetland system, between the sea and tropical dry forests of the Guajira Peninsula, serves as a vital feeding ground for diverse wildlife, including ducks, herons, hummingbirds,…
Read MoreBetween Body and Territory: Indigenous Women Facing the Climate Crisis
The impacts of the climate crisis on the health and ancestral knowledge of Indigenous women By Rudja Santos from Carta AmazôniaEdited by Méle Dornelas As COP30 brought the Amazon to the center of global discussions on the climate crisis at the end of 2025, the daily lives of Indigenous women reveal a dimension still largely absent from official…
Read More