Colombia: Community Forestry Project

A young Colombian man proudly holds the seedlings he produced. Photo: Mercy Corps Colombia

Bogota, the capital of Colombia, is located in a valley high in the Andes Mountains. With approximately seven million inhabitants, the urban area sprawls over numerous wetlands and waterways. The 45-year conflict in Colombia has caused mass displacement, with people fleeing from the war-torn countryside to settle into rings of slums that surround large cities like Bogota. The communities of internally displaced people (IDPs) living in these slums suffer from limited access to water, electricity and paved roads, as well as inefficient sewer systems.

The spontaneous and unplanned growth of urban slums has caused numerous environmental and social problems. On the environmental side, loss of vegetation and encroachment into wetland areas is affecting biodiversity, while reducing the potential for taking carbon emissions from the air. From a social perspective, houses are being built of unsteady materials on marginal sites that — due in part to environmental degradation that includes erosion — are prone to landslides, flooding and high winds.

Greenhouse gases are accumulating in the atmosphere due to the excessive pollution in Bogota. This is being exacerbated by the loss of vegetation, land and availability of the wetlands to act as a storm buffer.

How we can help

Your donation will make a difference.

The Community Forestry Project will focus on planting and managing trees in public areas and private backyards, providing the greatest potential for improving the local environment of a heavily polluted and degraded city like Bogota. These activities also increase the absorption of CO2 that is being released into the atmosphere.

Just $550 will provide 100 trees for this project, as well as valuable technical assistance to communities in need — that equates to just $5.50 per tree. This project has received $200 in funding so far.

You can click here to support this project through a donation to our Climate Change fund.

How your investment will be used

The project has a three-fold approach:

1. Mitigating unfavorable trends in climate change by planting trees, which provide wood fuel and fruit, in urban environments and surrounding hillsides,
2. Conserving and restoring waterways and wetlands, while reducing settlement pressure on environmentally important and marginalised areas, and
3. Promoting sustainable resource management practices, which will improve income levels as well as strengthen communities' ability to prevent environmental degradation.

It only costs $5.50 per tree to better the environment for thousands of impoverished Colombian families.

Next in this series: Congo: Fuel Efficient Stoves

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