LocationsCommunities tackle environmental problems resulting from years of conflict
Women leading the way
December 6, 2024
Restoring La Mojana’s wetlands has inspired Colombia’s hanging gardens, which help communities adapt to flooding and drought.
Photo: UNDP Colombia
Doña Zoila Guerra speaks proudly as she surveys the cilantro planted in the garden behind her house. She is among residents in the wetlands who have been trained to measure the waters. When the wetlands start to rise, it’s time to elevate their gardens. When the water starts to drop, the residents filter and save the water for irrigation. “I have guavas, lemons, oranges, tangerines, coconuts, passionfruit, chilies, eggplants, yuccas, yams and rice,” she says, her grey-streaked hair framing her sunburnt face. “Every year in December I sell yuccas, which are thin now, but will be good by Christmas.”
This work restoring La Mojana’s wetlands has inspired Colombia’s hanging gardens, which help communities adapt to flooding and drought, and paved the way for the Mojana Climate and Life project. This follow-up initiative – enabled by US$38.5 million in grant funding from the Green Climate Fund and complemented by $61.8 million in co-financing – aims to protect biodiversity restore water and improve livelihoods.
Doña Zoila Guerra, one of the residents in the wetlands who have been trained to measure the waters.
Photo: UNDP Colombia
Women pioneering change
This work has enabled women like Katia Herrera Beleño, an entrepreneur, to establish their own nurseries and plant thousands of trees. “They taught us so many things that we didn’t know,” she says. “Now, we have a strong understanding that we can pass on to other women. It’s amazing because we’ve already made progress. As women, we’ve been able to support our families and children, even in times when finding employment is tough. This has really helped improve our household situations.”
Such community-based associations have established the ‘La Mojana Restoration Network’ in collaboration with Indigenous communities. Forty crop species resilient to droughts, flooding, temperatures and solar radiation have been identified for protection via research by the University of Córdoba. Simultaneously, bio-space schools, where communities learn about preserving and propagating native seeds with resilient characteristics, have been inaugurated
Photo: UNDP Colombia
Rainwater harvesting tanks now supply communities with quality water during dry spells. More of the wetland area has been rehabilitated than initially expected, enhancing natural flood management across the wetlands and protecting communities from drought and floods. Work is also ongoing to catalogue best practices to develop seedbanks, with similar efforts being replicated in a UNDP-supported project in El Salvador.
La Mojana: The Rehabilitation of Caño Ventanilla begins.
Photo: UNDP Colombia
“To me, this was genius. It ensures that producers are not only planting resilient crops, but it also enables communities to have access to the scientific resources needed to upscale and innovate. It also helps communities break free from the dependence on government-provided seeds that often are not climate-resilient and limit communities to only a couple of crops.”
-Montserrat Xilotl, UNDP Regional Technical Specialist for Climate Change Adaptation
Leaving no one behind
This work is part of UNDP’s broader portfolio of work to tackle multiple challenges in parallel, while ensuring no one is left behind, especially communities who rely on depleting natural resources for their livelihoods. Holistic, ecosystem-based approaches will support Colombia in achieving its Nationally Determined Contributions towards a low-emission future, as well as the goals of its National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan.
Over decades, UNDP has supported the Government of Colombia throughout its peace process, bringing together partners and communities to tackle environmental problems resulting from years of conflict. Deforestation was chief among these, driving devastating biodiversity loss and knock-on livelihood impacts.
“UNDP’s wider environmental portfolio is a vital tool to support national planning efforts while ensuring that these have tangible results for local development. The strategic use of the country office’s portfolio is particularly relevant for a country that has emerged out of decades of conflict with a fragmented society and where inaccessible rural areas have been unable to benefit from national social policies.”
-Sara Ferrer, UNDP Colombia Resident Representative
Yolanda Sepúlveda Hernández, Leader of the Rural Women's Association of El Doce.
Photo: UNDP Colombia
An important shift has been working with communities to support them with finance to move away from illegal or harmful activities. Colombia’s GOLD project, part of the original Global Environment Facility (GEF) flagship programme that initially spanned eight countries and now covers more than 20, aims to improve health conditions for artisanal miners while slashing harmful mercury contamination. UNDP and partners have supported small scale miners to make the switch to clean, mercury-free gold, through access to finance, savings and credit groups.
Sénides Lucumi Mina is a mineral selector in Colombia. A native of Suárez, Cauca, she has known about artisanal mining since she was 10 years old. But she has embraced new ways of mining gold as part of the collective task of achieving a mercury-free Colombia.
"I am a miner because it is something that is in my blood. It has been my family's tradition, and it has become my life. I want the mining of my ancestors to be recovered, a clean mining, free of the mercury that has hurt our rivers, our land, and our own lives so much."
-Sénides Lucumí Mina
By working together with a range of different partners, including communities and the government, twenty-eight government entities have strengthened their ability to move to mercury-free small-scale mining. Since the start of this work in 2016, improved or revised regulations, policies, standards and regulatory framework guidelines have been introduced, supporting communities to eliminate mercury.
“The PlanetGOLD project in Colombia has improved the livelihoods of woman in the Artisanal and small-scale gold mining sector. Women had been neglected within the sector in the past, often taking up the least attractive jobs of the gold value chain. By empowering them with resources through access to finance and trainings, the project has opened doors to more sustainable income opportunities, fostering community resilience and improving the overall quality of life for women and their families.”
-Kasper Koefoed, Senior Regional Advisor for Chemicals and Waste, UNDP
Mining companies in Zaragoza select minerals.
Photo: Juan Manuel Chavarria
Through collaboration with financial cooperatives like the Cooperative Finance Association, women and members of the mining community have been able to use savings and credit facilities to buy equipment for clean, mercury-free production. Such models have paved the way for communities, and especially women, to gain financial freedom for the future and take back control of the natural resources they depend on.
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