Posts Tagged ‘Deforestation’
Using Satellite Technology to Protect Isolated Tribes in the Amazon Rainforest
A field team from ACT traveled to the Curare – Los Ingleses Indigenous Reserve in the Colombian Amazon in July to assist local communities in the creation of a detailed management plan for their rainforest territories that integrates western and traditional perspectives to achieve sound conservation practices. Amazingly, this remote reserve has spearheaded national efforts…
Read MoreWhat is the correlation between the protection of indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation and the protection of the Amazon?
Let’s start with a question. If you lived in South America, and had to run away from society, where would you hide? The most remote areas of the Amazon, where thousands of small rivers are born and eventually become giant waterways—which along the way irrigate millions of trees, and in their final destination feed the…
Read MoreColombian Government Approves Decree for the Protection of Isolated Indigenous Groups
On July 17, 2018, the Colombian government approved a landmark national public policy for the protection of isolated indigenous groups. The policy was developed in a collaboration led by the Colombian Ministry of the Interior with the participation of governmental entities and local and regional indigenous organizations, supported by technical and legal assistance from the nonprofit Amazon Conservation Team (ACT). his groundbreaking national public policy was the first in the Amazon region directly led by the grassroots efforts of neighboring indigenous communities and indigenous organizations undergoing a process of free prior informed consent according to international regulations, thus resulting in an unprecedented integration of traditional spiritual worldviews in modern environmental protection strategies.
Read MoreACT and Opiac Participate in Second International Meeting on “Perspectives on Protection Policies for Indigenous Peoples in Isolation and Initial Contact”
The second international meeting on “Perspectives on Protection Policies for Indigenous Peoples in Isolation and Initial Contact”, held in Brazil, was successfully completed. The Colombia delegation consisted of Robinson Lopez, Human Rights and Peace Coordinator for the National Organization of the Indigenous Peoples of the Colombian Amazon (OPIAC); Oswaldo Silva, a leader of the Curare – Los Ingleses Indigenous Reserve of the Amazonas department; and Daniel Aristizábal of the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT), who presented a paper on the prior consultation process for a proposed decree for the prevention of risks to and the protection of the rights of indigenous peoples in isolation of Colombia.
Read MorePresident Santos Announces a Decision Today
After waiting 27 years, the indigenous governments of non-municipalized areas of the Amazon finally will be able to manage the money from their national government transfers without intermediaries.
In Leticia, the Presidency, the Ministries of the Interior, Finance and Agriculture, DANE (the Colombian national statistics agency and the Colombian National Planning Department recognized the governments of 36 indigenous reserves that occupy 26 million hectares of practically intact territory and that had existed in a state of legal limbo with respect to territorial zoning that prevented them, in effect, from governing what is theirs by law.
Breaking News: The Colombian Amazon Has the Same Rights as a Person
Colombia’s Supreme Court issued a historic ruling combating climate change in Latin America. According to the decision, the Amazon region is now subject to rights, similar to those assigned to the Atrato River, and the Presidency and regional entities must act urgently to protect it from deforestation.
Read MoreRestoring Forest Continuity and Empowering Communities: An Interview with ACT’s María Patricia Navarrete Serna
María Patricia Navarrete Serna is the Program Coordinator for ACT’s large-scale project Connected Landscapes in a Fragua-Churumbelos Conservation Corridor in Colombia. We were able to interview her and learn more about her past work, her current projects, and why she enjoys working for the Amazon Conservation Team.
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