The Nature Conservancy Helps Establish First Conservation Easement in Colombia

July 27, 2005

The Nature Conservancy, along with the Private Reserves Network of Colombia and Fundación Proaves, has supported the establishment of Colombia’s first-ever conservation easement, which has allowed a private landowner to permanently conserve natural ecosystems on his property.

This 124-acre easement protects habitat for the yellow-eared parrot (Ognorhynchus icterotis), the most critically endangered bird in Colombia. The easement was signed in the municipality of Jardín, in the northwestern Colombian Andes, one of the last habitats for the parrot species, whose total population is estimated to be only 700 individuals.

“Everything began in 2001, when scientists discovered a healthy population of yellow-eared parrots in Jardín,” said Jose Castaño of Fundación Proaves, a local non-governmental organization that has been working in the region from beginning with the support of Spanish Fundación Loro Parque. The yellow-eared parrot is an endemic species that only nests in the wax palm tree (Ceroxylon quindiuense). The endangered wax palm is used in traditional Palm Sunday celebrations in Colombia, where the people use bunches of palm fronds for religious festivities, destroying the entire tree to obtain the fronds. The situation has put both the wax palm and yellow-eared parrots in peril.

With the support of the Conservancy, the Colombian Private Reserves Network has provided education programs for communities about using alternatives to the wax palm in Palm Sunday activities. Another initial strategy led by the Network and supported by the Conservancy to protect the tropical Andean forests harboring the palms and the parrots was to gather landowners in Jardín interested in preserving both species in their properties. As a result, several landowners created the “Jardín Group” as a part of the Network and opted to convert all or part of their lands into private reserves.

Following the success of creating the private reserves, the Conservancy helped the Jardín Group implement its first conservation easement, thus putting private property into permanent protection. “I did it because I’m in love with this beautiful land; I wanted to create tangible results, such as this easement, from these efforts,” said the easement’s new owner, José Humberto Jaramillo. “But this is just the beginning.”

Other landowners in the Jardín Group are going through the legal process of pursuing conservation easements on their properties. “Conservation easements have been a cornerstone of the Conservancy’s work in the United States for decades,” said Aurelio Ramos, director of the Conservancy’s Northern Tropical Andes Conservation Program. “Legal permanent protection of private lands for conservation is a new concept in Colombia. This first conservation easement in Jardín is a small but very important step in helping private landowners protect the biodiversity that they treasure in their country by providing an example that other landowners can follow.”

For more information about Colombia and conservation easements:

• The Nature Conservancy in Colombia
  Working with partners, The Nature Conservancy is helping preserve Colombia's natural riches — from the snow-capped peaks of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta to the lowland jungles of the Colombian Amazon.
• How We Work: Conservation easements
  Conservation easements are one of the most powerful, effective tools available for the permanent conservation of private lands in the United States and around the world. The use of conservation easements has successfully protected millions of acres of wildlife habitat and open space, keeping land in private hands and generating significant public benefits.
• Online Field Guide: Cachalú/Eastern Andes
  High rates of slash-and-burn deforestation have made the oak forests of Colombia one of the rarest of ecosystems in the tropical Andes.
• Our partner: Fundación Proaves
  Fundación Proaves is a nongovernmental, non-profit organization focusing its efforts towards the study of the birds and the conservation of their habitat, promoting and executing scientific research, conservation action, and environmental education.
• Our partner: Loro Parque Fundación (LPF)
  The Loro Parque Fundación is a non-profit, non-governmental organization legally registered with the Ministry of Education and Science of the Government of Spain since 1994 and operating on an international basis to promote the conservation of parrots and their habitats.
• Archive of our Saves of the Week and Success Stories
  Read more about The Nature Conservancy's work to save the last great places on Earth.