CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT OF THE AWÁ TERRITORY OF COLUMBIA AND ECUADOR


(Project 9LO716)

I


n the Awá ethnic forest territory which straddles Colombia and Ecuador, WWF is supporting efforts to rehabilitate natural resources to ensure their sustainable use. The Awá territory is believed to have been an Ice Age refuge. Today, it accounts for the largest areas of tropical moist, pluvial, and montane forest on the southern slopes of the Chocó region. Anteaters, ocelots, jaguars, tapirs, and a variety of primates can be found there. The territory extends over 1.5 million hectares in Colombia and Ecuador, and has a population of some 300,000 including Awá, Embera, Chachis, and black and mestizo (mixed race) communities.

In 1983, WWF became involved on the Ecuadorian side to encourage the delimitation and protection of traditional Awá Indian territories and promote natural resource management. The work extended over the border into Colombia in 1986. Today, 101,000 hectares of virtually continuous primary forests have been delimited and legally transferred to the Awá Indians in Ecuador. In Colombia, some 280,000 hectares of tropical forest lands have either been, or are in the process of being, titled. WWF is also working with non-indigenous communities living around Awá territories to ensure sustainable use of forest resources.

WWF's NGO partner in Ecuador, the Unidad Técnica Ecuatorina para el Plan Awá (UTEPA), has set up an experimental farm and training centre in Chical.

Perched on a high plateau on the Pacific Andean slopes of southwestern Colombia also Awá territory is the 3,500-hectare La Planada Nature Reserve in Colombia, supported by WWF. Sometimes plunging 4,000 metres to sea level, the slopes are home to unique plants and species. The spectacled bear and plate-billed mountain toucan are found in this region, which has the highest percentage of endemic birds in South America. It has an exceptionally high number of epiphytes (non-parasitic plants living off other plants). Some 500 species of orchids have been recorded in this reserve where about 3,000 Awá Indians live.

Here, WWF works with Fundación para la Educación Superior (FES), running courses and workshops on sustainable development, environmental education activities, and demonstration projects on sustainable agriculture.




Back to the previous page

Copyright 1996, The World Wide Fund For Nature