SerMacarena: supporting confidence-building measures for the participative implementation of the environmental regulations (AMEM) in the Macarena region
Project description
Title: Supporting confidence-building measures for the participative implementation of the environmental regulations (AMEM) in the Macarena region (SerMacarena)
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: Colombia
Lead executing agency: Government of the Department of Meta
Overall term: 2011 to 2013
Context
The mountain region of Serranía de la Macarena is part of a 3.5 million hectare area in which four national parks are located. The ecosystems of the Andes, Amazon and the Orinoco come together here. Since 1948 it has been regarded as a World Natural Heritage Site (Reserva Biológica de la Humanidad), and the Colombian Government declared it a nature conservation area in 1959. To counteract threats to the ecological stability, its designation as a ‘special environmental management area’ (Area de Manejo Especial de la Macarena – AMEM) in 1989 regulates the authorised use of natural resources from the region by humans.
Unfortunately, so far it has not been possible to prevent the deterioration of this natural treasure. For 50 years the region has suffered from spontaneous, unsystematic settlement and it also serves as a base for illegal armed groups such as FARC, paramilitaries and gangs of drug traffickers. Armed conflict between guerilla and paramilitary forces in the region has led to violence, killings, and the displacement of farming families and the indigenous population from the region. Furthermore the illegal cultivation of marijuana and coca has not only heightened the violence of the conflict, it has also adversely affected the environment.
Over the past five years, with limited success the national government has tried to bring the territory back under government control. Emerging discrepancies between central and territorial administrations, institutional disintegration and differences in interests among the actors connected with the AMEM have all hindered efforts to reinstate the region’s governability.
Objective
State and civil society actors in the region are working together for the participatory implementation of the AMEM’s territorial and environmental regulations.
Approach
The project supports existing platforms of interaction that are relevant to the territorial and environmental regulations (such as council meetings and round tables). In addition, the project advises the ‘Autonomous Regional Corporation’ (Corporación Autónoma Regional – Cormacarena) and the Special Administrative Unit for the System of National Natural Parks (Unidad Administrativa Especial del Sistema de Parques Nacionales Naturales – UAESPNN) in developing environmental education processes.
Together with the ‘Corporation for Development and Peace in Meta’ (Corporación para el Desarrollo y la Paz del Meta – CORDEPAZ) measures are being carried out to strengthen the trust between civil society actors and the state.
The government of the Department of Meta is working to formulate a strategic vision for regional development. The project is advising the government on targeted ways in which it can incorporate the views and expectations of rural communities, the indigenous population, women and young people from the region into the process.
GIZ is working in cooperation with the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the European Union and USAID.
Results achieved so far
Working in a highly polarised setting characterised by conflict, the project initially concentrated primarily on confidence-building measures for the local stakeholders.
A steering group (Grupo Gestor AMEM) has been set up that acts as a participatory platform enabling state players and representatives of civil society to discuss the environmental directives. At the same time, capacity building measures have been delivered to the departmental government of Meta as the central regional body involved and the programme’s lead executing agency.
The project has enabled farmers’ associations, women’s groups and indigenous organisations to participate in important coordinating bodies for the first time. The local and regional governments are now more familiar with AMEM. The work of the project has injected a new, positive dynamic into the issue of spatial and environmental directives.
The departmental government responsible is clearly making a more public commitment to the topic and has assumed a leading role within the steering group. It is thus becoming a driving force in elaborating and coordinating initiatives for developing spatial and environmental directives in the AMEM.