More than 50 of these species have some level of threat category registered in the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Bogota, May 31, 2023.With the aim of fighting against the climate crisis affecting the planet and deforestation in the Colombian Amazon, Orinoquia, and Pacific regions, indigenous and Afro-descendant communities continue to carry out activities aimed at reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation through 11 REDD+ projects in partnership with BIOFIX (a multinational company specialized in the development of nature-based solutions).
It is through these activities that a total of 2,385,840 hectares are protected and conserved in the mentioned three regions, including ecosystems such as morichal (palm swamp), transitional Amazon rainforest, very humid tropical forest, and tropical rainforest, which are home to hundreds of species of mammals, amphibians, birds, reptiles, and fish.
Among the species protected through these projects in the Pacific region, specifically in the departments of Cauca, Valle del Cauca, and Chocó (where six of the REDD+ projects are located), we find the harlequin frog, the white-headed tamarin monkey, the Chocó tinamou, the humpback whale, the hawksbill turtle, the scarlet macaw, the sawfish, the West Indian manatee, and other types of turtles, birds, and reptiles.
"A while ago, we had cleared forests, but now we have reforested them, and we have seen animals that we no longer used to see, like tapirs. We didn't used to see panthers or ocelots before, but now we are seeing them in our territory." Says Jhon Ospina Navarro, Governor of the Valdivia Reserve Community Council, belonging to the Palameku Kuwei REDD+ Project, located in Cumaribo, Vichada, Colombia.
Likewise, the jaguar, howler monkey, pink river dolphin, river otter, Andean bear, spider monkey, armadillo, woodpecker, Orinoco crocodile, tapir, striped catfish, puma, tapir, paujil, and various species of turtles, snakes, and amphibians are protected by 5 REDD+ projects located in the Orinoquia and Amazon regions of our country.
BIOFIX will continue working alongside the different communities living in the areas where initiatives are being carried out in Colombia and Brazil, to strengthen the processes that allow for the protection of ecosystems and the ecosystem services they provide.