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With the 'Forest Guardians' program to reduce deforestation in the Colombian Amazon by the Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development, promoted by Vision Amazonía, a community forest monitoring network has been deployed in the territory.
The 'Guardians of the Amazon Forests' program has managed to monitor an area of more than 32,000 hectares in Caquetá and more than 43,000 hectares in Guaviare. In total, more than 75,000 hectares of Amazon forest are monitored and the number is expected to increase throughout this year.
“Much of the degradation of forests occurs due to ignorance. The function of the guardians is not to look for culprits, it is a pedagogical task that allows learning about the dynamics of the forest and its natural resources to protect them; that is why we continue betting on environmental education, ”said José Yunis, coordinator of the Vision Amazonía program.
What are the Forest Guardians?
The guardians of the Amazon forests are local people who have come together to face deforestation in the Amazon and climate change. Four groups of rural environmental watchmen were formed, in which a total of 47 people from 21 villages that make up the monitored area participate.
The rural watchdog network started in 2016 and has been maintained to date. Different social organizations such as Community Action Boards and Peasant Associations have participated in it. This community monitoring consists of the organization of a group of citizens who inhabit the natural forest or who are close to it, and who act as watchdogs to strengthen the monitoring of natural resources.
“Thanks to the monitoring network, the communities managed to approach the environmental authorities to jointly formulate alternatives that help reduce the problems of our territories through the exchange of knowledge. When one acquires that consciousness, one values the jungle and watches over its care. Of course it is without leaving productivity aside, because it is about changing that chip of falling and falling and understanding that you can get more money out of the forest than other activities such as livestock, being respectful of it, ”said Luis Antonio Valencia, member of the community monitoring network of Caquetá.
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