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PART I - ELIGIBILITY1. Project name:
Conservation and Sustainable Development of the Matavén Forest / 2. GEF Implementing Agency:
The World Bank
3. Country in which the project is being implemented:
Colombia / 4. Country eligibility:
Convention on Biological Diversity ratification: November 28, 1994.
ILO Convention No.169 ratified:
5. GEF field of activity:
Biodiversity / 6. Operational Program:
Operational Programme No.3 - forest ecosystems
7. Project linkage to national priorities, action plans, and programs:
The Matavén Forest is situated in the north Colombian Amazon, between the Vichada, Orinoco, Guaviare and Chupave rivers; and is named after the Matavén river, which crosses from east to west. Administratively, Matavén is governed by the Cumaribo municipality, in the department of Vichada. From a political-administrative perspective, therefore, it falls within the Colombian Orinoco region, and indeed the waters draining the territory flow into the Orinoco river. However, from a bio-geographical perspective, the Matavén Forest forms part of the Colombian Amazon; and within the Amazon is one of the areas in most urgent need of protection (Hurtado, 1992; Andrade, 1992).
Matavén also forms part of the geological, pre-cambrian formation of the Guayana Shield. Its particular biodiversity is due to the fact that it is a zone of 'rapid environmental transition' between the Amazonian rainforest and the savannahs of the Orinoco, where it also shows a great spatial heterogeneity (Walschburger, 1992). As a result, the region contains a veritable mosaic of habitats, including extensive flooded zones (marshes), isolated savannahs in the midst of the rainforest, and enormous rocks (known as “inselbergs”) which rise over the forests like islands, and which make the landscape quite spectacular.
Of the total 2,150,000 hectares of the Matavén Forest, 970,000 hectares belong to 16 indigenous resguardos [1] which border the region and represent a veritable protective belt. Within these 16 resguardos, there is a total of 10,449 indigenous inhabitants, belonging to six different ethno-linguistic groups: Sikuani, Piapoco, Piaroa, Puinave, Curripaco and Cubeo. There is also a central zone to the Matavén Forest, of 1,180,000 hectares, which is surrounded by the resguardos and is largely well-conserved and uninhabited.
Despite its importance as the last well-preserved region of 'transitional forest' between the Orinoco and the Amazon, the central zone of the Matavén Forest has not been incorporated within the national system for protected areas and parks (SPN - Sistema de Parques Nacionales) - although its inclusion and recognition as an official 'protected area' has been proposed since 1992 (Rojas & Castaño, 1992).
In May 1999, the 16 indigenous authorities (cabildos) from the aforementioned resguardos made a formal request to the Ministry of the Environment and to INCORA (Colombian Institute for Agrarian Reform), for the recognition of the central zone of the Matavén Forest as an Indigenous Natural Park and a resguardo for common use, in order to ensure the protection of the region which is considered part of their ancestral territory.
In response to this request by the indigenous cabildos, in June 1999 the INCORA and the Ministry of the Environment, through their administrative unit responsible for national parks, UAESPNN (Unidad Administrativa Especial del Sistema de Parques Nacionales Naturales), formally initiated a process to: a) Provide legal recognition to the 1.180.000 hectares that form the central zone of Matavén, as an indigenous resguardo for common use by the 16 surrounding resguardos (This implies joint ownership rights, that are inalienable and imprescriptible, by the 16 resguardos over the central zone). b) Superimpose a National Natural Park onto this central zone, which will enable the Government to support the cabildos in their efforts to protect and conserve this area. The National Natural Park will be subject to a special type of management and co-administration, to be agreed upon with its indigenous owners. Such an arrangement is entirely acceptable under Colombian Law. Decree 622 of 1997 states that "the declaration of a National Natural Park is not incompatible with the establishment of an indigenous resguardo", and that in such cases it is possible to "establish a special regime which benefits the indigenous population".
The request for legal protection for the central zone of Matavén has received not only national Government support, but also the support of the Departmental Government and the Municipal Mayor's Office.
This initiative for the protection of the heart of Matavén Forest, which is being supported by these and other entities, requires the development and implementation of a series of activities to strengthen the indigenous communities in their knowledge, management, control and sustainable use of the area to be protected; and of the surrounding resguardos, which will necessarily form a buffer-zone and thereby contribute to the fundamental project goal.
International Priorities:
This project is complementary to a wider initiative being developed by a network of Colombian NGOs, COAMA (Consolidation of the Amazon Region), which seeks to contribute to the consolidation of a protected area region covering almost 48.000.000 hectares in the north-west Amazon, within a framework of tri-lateral co-operation. The region would incorporate resguardos and National Natural Parks in the Colombian Amazon (20.000.000 ha) and the Brazilian Amazon (20.000.000 ha), and the Biosphere Reserve in Venezuela (8.000.000 ha).
The Matavén Forest constitutes a strategic part of this initiative, since it lies alongside the Venezuelan Biosphere Reserve in the northern limits of the Colombian Amazon. The continuity of these protected areas is of vital importance within the current conservation policies for the Guyana Shield - a region that extends geologically from French Guyana and Surinam, through Venezuela and northern Brazil, to the Sierra de la Macarena in Colombia, and which contains considerable biological and cultural diversity.
Although there has been very little formal research into the biodiversity of the central forest zone of Matavén, the inventories and preliminary studies made by the communities, from an indigenous perspective, suggest the presence of an enormous variety of plants (palms, fruit trees, medicinal plants and natural dyes) and animals (mammals, reptiles, turtles, fish and birds), some of which are very likely to be endemic species.
Furthermore, the fact that Matavén borders the Venezuelan Biosphere Reserve currently puts pressure on the forest, as local people cross the Orinoco river to carry out commercial activities (hunting, fishing, timber extraction) that are prohibited on the Venezuelan side, thereby exploiting natural resources in the unprotected Colombian area.
National priorities:
Within the process of decentralization being promoted by the Colombian government, the Ministry of the Environment supports the establishment of resguardos and other indigenous territories as appropriate measures for biodiversity protection. In the department of Vichada, the current Departmental Development Plan considers the Matavén Forest as a "natural reserve for biodiversity protection, and site of traditional cultures". Furthermore, at the municipal level, the 1,180,000 hectares that form the central zone of Matavén Forest have been marked as a biodiversity conservation zone within the Land-Use Planning (Plan de Ordenamiento Territorial) of Cumaribo municipality.
The National Program for the Substitution of Illicit Cultivations (PLANTE - Programa de Sustitución de Cultivos Ilícitos de la Presidencia de la República) considers the protection of Matavén Forest a priority, as a strategy to control the expansion of illicit coca cultivation in the region. PLANTE has already assigned resources and is coordinating with INCORA and the Ministry of the Environment, to advance a study into the legal viability of the protection of the central zone of the Matavén Forest as a Natural Park and a resguardo for common use.
Etnollano Foundation and COAMA:
COAMA (Consolidation of the Amazon Region) is a network of non-government organisations, working with indigenous communities and organisations for the protection of biological and cultural diversity in the Colombian Amazon. Since 1989, COAMA has initiated three phases (programs) of activity. The aim is to consolidate, in the hands of the indigenous communities, the management of over 20,000,000 hectares of territory in the Amazon forest which the Colombian government has granted to them as resguardos.
Within the framework of COAMA, Fundación Etnollano has been working with the indigenous communities in the Matavén region, to promote a process of reflection about their situation in terms of health, economic alternatives and environment. Through an agreement with the Departmental Secretary of Health in Vichada, this work has resulted in the training of 43 indigenous health promotors. These promotors now work in different communities in all 16 resguardos that encircle the Matavén Forest, and are leading the process for the protection of the forest - on which the communities' health depends. In September 1997, the European Union supported an addition to the COAMA Program, so that Fundación Etnollano could strengthen its work in the Matavén Forest. This additional support, which is due to end in August 1999, has allowed Etnollano to make a general diagnosis of the zone, in cooperation with local organizations and the Departmental government, with the aim of finding sustainable alternatives for the region.
The Matavén Group:
An inter-institutional group has been formed to support the protection of the Matavén Forest, with the participation of the Ministry of Environment, INCORA, PLANTE, Corpo-Orinoquía, Vichada Commission for Indigenous Affairs, Governor’s Office of Vichada, the Mayor’s Office of Cumaribo, the Apostolic Prefect of Guianía through El Sejal mission in Vichada, CRIVI (Indigenous Regional Council for Vichada), two representatives from the governing council for the Matavén resguardos, OPROSRIVIM (organization of indigenous promotors), and Fundación Etnollano which acts as secretary for the group.
The aim of the Matavén Group is to promote, coordinate and support efforts by the different entities and organizations, for the protection of the Matavén Forest through environmental protection and sustainable use by the indigenous communities of the region.
GEF funds requested in this proposal are vital for the continuity and success of efforts to consolidate this region as a 'protected area' for biodiversity conservation.
Bibliography References:
Andrade, Germán, 1992: La deforestación de la Amazonía colombiana y la extinción de la biodiversidad. Hurtado, Adriana, 1992: Amazonía colombiana : una puesta en lugar. Rojas, Martha y Carlos Castaño, 1992: Conservación y manejo de las áreas del Sistema de Parques Nacionales en la Amazonía colombiana. Walschburger, Thomas, 1992: Cómo surgió y en dónde conservar la biodiversidad en la Amazonía colombiana. In: Andrade, G. et al., Amazonía colombiana: diversidad y conflicto. Santafé de Bogotá: CEGA, 1992.
8. GEF national operational focal point and date of country endorsement:
Ministry of the Environment – June 29, 1999
9. Project rationale and objectives:
Baseline Situation:
Between 1985-1997, and through an agreement with the Secretary for Health in the Department of Vichada, Fundación Etnollano trained a group of indigenous health promotors from different ethnic groups. These promotors are now working in their respective communities, in the 16 resguardos that encircle Matavén. This continuous process of training and education, which has continued for more than 10 years, has centred on the following concepts:
- social health / cultural identity / organization and participation;
- health / quality of life / environment;
- nutrition / biodiversity.
By means of a simple community information system, the promotors make periodic analyses of the social and economic problems of their communities, and propose actions at the local level to try and improve these situations. Programs such as "recuperation of indigenous foods", "exchange of seed", "diversification of traditional crops in family gardens", and "expeditions to know the forest area", are some of the actions that have been instigated and led by the health promotors in recent years, and supported by Etnollano and the Secretary for Health in Vichada, within the framework of the COAMA program.
Within the community information system, the promotors also monitor infant growth in their communities, which has resulted in reliable indicators of the health and nutrition of inhabitants of Matavén. Furthermore, through an analysis with families of underweight infants and children, serious problems have been identified with regards to the management of natural resources. These are generally associated with the new economic needs being experienced by the community: for example, due to the lack of economic alternatives, indigenous youth have begun to work as paid labour for colonists and small coca growers. As a result, the abandonment of traditional poli-cultivation has meant more work for the indigenous women and led to an increase in infant malnutrition and associated illnesses. Contact with the illegal coca cultivation has also led to degrees of social disintigration, and an increase in the exploitation and commercialisation of natural resources.
In addition, regional analyses that are periodically made by the promotors have led them to understand that the physical and social reproduction of their communities depends to a large extent on the use and management of the central zone of the Matavén Forest. It is this area that provides their source of water, an abundance of different vegetable and animal species, and whose conservation and protection is vital for the future of the next generations. For this reason, they call the central zone of Matavén (1,180,000 hectares) the "heart of health" (Corazón de la Salud); and it is with this argument that they have been leading a process to raise awareness among the communities about the ecological unity of the region, and to remind them of the need to protect its biodiversity.
The "heart of health" - supposedly a wasteland - is in fact traditional territory for the ethnic groups that inhabit the surrounding resguardos. Pools, streams, “inselbergs”, petroglyphs and lakes are found there, which form part of the history and mythology of these ethnic groups. For this reason, a zoning and environmental management plan for the region must be based on the recuperation of this cultural memory; and a broad process of intercultural cooperation is required in the development and implementation of such plans, grounded in indigenous knowledge and traditional environmental practices.
MSP Objectives
The proposed MSP project would strengthen the tremendous local work being undertaken by the indigenous health promotors and their organizations, by enabling them to gain an improved scientific and cultural awareness about the Matavén Forest, the "heart of health", and facilitating the implementation of different alternatives for the conservation of its biodiversity. The different health promotor groups are: OPROSRIVIM in the medio-Vichada region, COPRIS in the bajo-Vichada region, ASPRISOM along the Orinoco river, and CESIP in the Brazo Amanavén. General MSP objectives are to:
- Consolidate the central zone of the Matavén Forest as a “protected indigenous area” and strengthen the indigenous communities that surround it in order to create an effective buffer-zone.
- Contribute to the improvement of the quality of life of these communities, and the preservation of their cultural and natural heritage.
- Develop a process of inter-ethnic and inter-institutional agreement between the government entities and the cabildos of the 16 resguardos, in order to support the creation of the new resguardo and protected area of the central zone of the Matavén Forest, and in order to establish commitments and responsibilities for their management, control and administration.
- Train a group of indigenous leaders in the areas of ecology, sustainable development and environmental management.
- Establish, in a participatory manner, an ecological and cultural zoning of the central zone and a plan for environmental management.
- Develop in the buffer-zone of the resguardos a process of research and experimentation about the sustainable management of economically-promising natural resources.
- Raise awareness about the importance of the Matavèn Forest and the risks to which its biodiversity is exposed, in order to create a movement of public opinion favourable to its conservation.
10. Expected outcomes:
The project aims to achieve the following basic results, over the three years:
- Protection of the central zone of the Matavén Forest as a conservation area, under the administration and control of the indigenous councils and indigenous promotors from the surrounding resguardos.
- Environmental management plan for the Matavén Forest, designed with the participation of the indigenous authorities and governmental entities of the region.
- Inventories of flora (palms, fruits, natural resources for dyes and craftwork), and fauna (mammals and fish) of the different ecological zones in the region.
- Special plans for the protection and recuperation of species in danger of extinction.
- Development of alternative and non-timber products, based on the sustainable use of the biodiversity in the resguardos that surround the Matavén Forest.
- Reports and publications about the region.
11. Planned activities to achieve outcomes:
All project activities will be implemented with a focus on multi-cultural and participatory communication, in order to involve the different sectors and ethnic groups in the process.
Through the organisation of trips to different parts of the central zone, carried out by indigenous leaders and elders, the cultural cartography of the region will be reconstructed to include indigenous toponomy and sacred places. The trips will also contribute to the fauna inventories of the zone, which will take the form of a register of mamals, fish and birds; and to the flora inventories, which will have a specific focus on the genus and species of palms (veritable indicators of different ecological zones), fruits and natural resources with a potential for dyes of craftwork. The knowledge and traditional techniques associated with the use and management of these natural resources will also be recuperated. A written and photographic record of the trips will assist in the elaboration of educational and informative materials that are seen as an integral part of the project.
Simultaneously, indigenous leaders from the different zones and ethnic groups will meet, to exchange experiences and share information. This will help raise awareness about the unity of the region, its problems and the alternative management options.
The analysis and systematic collection of information from the different sectors of the Matavén Forest central zone will lead to the design of ecological and cultural zoning, and a management plan. This work will be carried out through meetings with indigenous councils and the indigenous promotors, and with participation by representatives of other entities linked to the region.