I attended Colombia's 2023 Nature Mart Conference in September 2023 and participated in one of the 6 tour options that were offered prior to the conference in various regions of the country. Each of these focused on community-based initiatives geared to conserve the environment and to help the local people. This is keeping in line with the government's emphasis on Regenerative, instead of Sustainable tourism. The graphic below shows the difference.
The tour that I went on included the support of three important promoters of the conservation of nature:
- Camelias farm, near Cartagena, which is changing the destructive process of agriculture to the safe and clean process of conservation of the dry forest and the species that live there.
- the amazing palafito towns in the Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta - a coastal ecosystem that covers more than 450,000 hectares on the Colombian Caribbean coast and is one of the largest marshes in the world. Here, different local community organizations are implementing conservation actions based on tourism to protect the mangroves and the ecosystems of the swamp and also be able to be a social and economic support for their community
- and a very special farmer initiative to conserve the forest of the Santa Marta Mounta with tourism and the work with the local people of the area.
Camelias is an organic farm where they primarily produce organic honey, free-range eggs, and local fruit like papaya and plantain. But Rafael, the owner's son, is spearheading a new direction: regenerative ecotourism, with a particular focus on birding.
The beautiful and exotic world of the Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta in Colombia is home to a rich biodiversity and a strong stilt culture. The Palafito towns of Nueva Venecia and Buenavista are an incredible example of survival, resistance, and resilience, where water, fishing, wetlands, and mangroves are the basis of life for their 5,000 inhabitants. Local entrepreneurs here have started tourism programs to showcase their culture and the birding opportunities, as well as handicraft skills and programs to economically enhance the local inhabitants. In this area, Salmanca National Park was declared an IBA (important bird area) and is next to the Ciénaga Grande Fauna and Flora Sanctuary of Santa Marta. In 1998, both were declared RAMSAR sites of global importance and, in November 2000, Biosphere Reserves by UNESCO.
The Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta is an endemism hotspot for birds found in the Neotropics, where the geographic isolation and the historic evolution of this mountain range allowed it to be a natural treasure. The owner of the Mountain House, near Minca, is trying to preserve it by promoting birding and ecotourism in this beautiful location.
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