Rebuilding the Colombian Rainforest

Colombia is one of our Earth’s most biodiverse and carbon-dense green areas. Sixty million hectares of land in Colombia is covered with forest, and amazingly, most of that lies within the region known as the Amazon.  

Deforestation in Colombia, however, is occurring at an alarming rate. In fact, in 2021 alone, Colombia lost 259 thousand hectares of forest land. This loss translates to 159 MT of CO2 emissions. That is an increase from the 171 thousand hectares of forests – an area double the size of NYC – that were lost in 2020.

Can Reforestation and Land Management Help Mitigate Climate Change?

Reforestation is a natural way to promote carbon sequestration. Trees, soils, and other vegetation absorb and store damaging CO2 from the atmosphere through photosynthesis, so basically, less CO2 in the atmosphere means less climate change and a healthier, happier planet for generations to come.

How is TERRA Foundation Helping?

TERRA is helping rebuild the rainforest by working closely with the Association of Traditional Miners with Environmental Consciousness (ASMINTRACONAL) in Puerto Guzman, Colombia.

This association of 12 indigenous families, formerly miners, is working to regenerate the soil and restore endemic forests, including Amazonian fruits. They are dedicated to recreating healthy soil composition and rebuilding the forest by planting a mixture of 22 endemic tree species.

So far, ASMINTRACONAL has fully recovered 17 hectares of land and planted 50,000 trees.

The reforestation project in Puerto Guzman has the potential for far-reaching and positive socioeconomic change for the indigenous culture.  We are hopeful that the project will provide

  • A sustainable community economy
  • Food Security
  • Career development in sustanable land management for residents
  • Financial sustainment of restored forests with funds from programs like selling healthy, indigenous forest fruits.

We've Made a Lot of Progress, but We Want to Do Much More

Would you like to help?

Your contributions to TERRA allow us to support groups like ASOMINTRACONAL in their work to reforest their  homeland and to build a solid economic future.