Colombia has launched one of the most ambitious conservation funding efforts in its history — a $245-million initiative called Heritage Colombia that aims to protect nearly 80 million acres of land and marine areas over the next decade, putting the country on track to meet key global conservation targets years ahead of schedule.
At a glance
- Heritage Colombia: A Project Finance for Permanence initiative securing $245 million from public and private donors to create, expand, and improve 32 million hectares (nearly 80 million acres) of protected land and marine areas.
- Protected areas expansion: The project aims to create over 3 million hectares (7.4 million acres) of new protected areas and around 15 million hectares (37 million acres) of new marine protected areas within a decade.
- 30×30 targets: If successful, Heritage Colombia will place 26% of the country’s land and 30% of its oceans under protection — meeting the marine 30×30 commitment eight years early.
Why Colombia matters so much
Colombia holds roughly 10% of the world’s biodiversity in a remarkably compact footprint. Its ecosystems span 12% of the Amazon rainforest, the savannahs and forests of the Orinoco basin, the estuaries and swamps of the Caribbean coast, and the highlands of the Andes.
That biological richness makes Colombia one of the most important countries on Earth for conservation. It also makes the pressures on it especially damaging. Between 2001 C.E. and 2021 C.E., the country lost 4.93 million hectares of tree cover, driven largely by agriculture, cattle ranching, logging, and mining, according to Global Forest Watch. Even many national parks and reserves have not been fully shielded from those activities.
How the funding works
Heritage Colombia uses a model called Project Finance for Permanence, a relatively new approach that pools money from government, international institutions, and private donors to fund wide-reaching, long-term conservation work. The idea is to close the financial gaps that have historically caused conservation programs to stall before they could take hold.
Backers include the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Enduring Earth, Pew Charitable Trusts, and the Wildlife Conservation Society. The World Bank, the European Union, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations are also supporting the project. The Bezos Earth Fund is the initiative’s largest private donor.
“We believe Colombia can be a model for other countries who have ambitions to protect 30% of their land and waters, and the PFP approach is a proven tool to enable nations to meet their goals,” said Dr. Andrew Steer, CEO of the Bezos Earth Fund.
What the project will do on the ground
In its first phase, Heritage Colombia plans to establish new protections in the Serranía de San Lucas, the forests of Cumaribo in eastern Colombia, and several marine areas along the Caribbean and Pacific coasts. The project will also improve management of at least 103 existing public, private, and communal protected areas covering around 11 million hectares (27 million acres).
Seven biological corridors will receive funding to strengthen their governance and ecological connectivity. Community involvement is central to the design. President Iván Duque said at the project’s launch that resources would go toward “working with communities” and “the development of natural conservation agreements,” with a specific goal of including local people in restoring territories that have suffered degradation.
That community dimension is critical for places like the Playón de Acandí Flora and Fauna Sanctuary in Chocó, where local councils are working to protect sea turtle nesting sites. “It’s urgent that we begin to care for, to repopulate, to reforest and restore all the territory that is in grave condition,” said Efraín Ballesteros, a representative of a community council there.
Part of a global push
Heritage Colombia fits into the broader 30×30 framework — a global effort to protect 30% of the world’s most ecologically important land and water by 2030 C.E. Protecting these areas keeps forests and other carbon sinks intact, which means Heritage Colombia serves both biodiversity and climate goals at once.
“Not only can we not achieve 30×30 goals without this additional funding,” said Sandra Valenzuela, Executive Director of WWF-Colombia, “but we also can’t increase the management effectiveness for protected areas. We don’t have the means to make it happen.”
Still, the project faces real challenges. Decades of illegal activity inside nominally protected areas have left governance structures weak in some regions, and the history of deforestation shows how difficult enforcement can be even when protections exist on paper. Whether Heritage Colombia can deliver durable, community-supported protection — rather than boundaries drawn on a map — will determine whether its ambitions hold.
Read more
For more on this story, see: Mongabay
For more from Good News for Humankind, see:
- Ghana expands marine protection at Cape Three Points
- Indigenous land rights advance ahead of COP30
- The Good News for Humankind archive on Colombia
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