Foto: Carlos Solís

From April 18th to 20th in Bogotá, Colombia, CSF held a course on "Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) and their implementation in protected areas". More than 40 officials from National Natural Parks of Colombia (PNNC), from different regions of Colombia, participated in the course, acquiring the necessary knowledge to enable them to implement PES mechanisms in the country's protected areas.

Legal Reserve area aside wheat planting. Photo credit: Daniel Kieling.

CSF's Fernanda Alvarenga doing a presentation during one of the value chains workshops.

CSF participated in a meeting held on October 27th, 2016, at the Federal District Urban Development Agency (Terracap) in Brasília. The meeting’s goal was to contextualize and carry out the facilitation process and data collection with members of the Aliança Cerrado, to be used to support the design of the new Forest Compensation Law of the Federal District.
This meeting was conducted by Pedro Gasparinetti, CSF consultant, and opened by Raul do Valle, from the Environmental Department of the Federal District (SEMA-DF).

CSF conducted a study on the economic impact that São Luiz do Tapajós could have had on local populations if its construction in the Brazilian Amazon had been approved.

We analyzed the loss of subsistence income and the impact on two ecosystem services: water quality reduction and the increase of CO2 equivalent emissions.

Traditional houses in the Tapajós riverside.

Infrastructure WG’s participants during the meeting held in September 2016 .

On September 30th and 31st, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and CSF presented the first results of the “Sustainable Fisheries in the Amazon Coast Project" to our partners in São Luís, Brazil. Sixty representatives from government, universities, the private sector, civil society, associations, cooperatives, fishermen groups, trade unions, and the implementing partners attended the meeting.

Fernanda Alvarenga introducing CSF´s work.

In early August, CSF and the Chico Mendes Institute for Conservation of Biodiversity (ICMBio), in partnership with the United States Forest Service (USFS), held a four day training on Economic and Financial Feasibility of Supporting Services for Visitation of Conservation Units (Unidades de Conservação - UCs) at the Biodiversity National Academy (ACADEBio), in Iperó, Brazil.

Course participants and instructors.

Lazuline Sabrewing, photo credit: Alvaro Jaramillo

Colombia has the greatest bird diversity in the world. Approximately 1,900 bird species have been registered, equivalent to 20% of all species globally. This wealth in species highlights a tremendous potential for birding tourism. Current efforts by the Colombian government to increase security and end decades of armed conflict, as well as to promote ecotourism, can help position the country as one of the most important birding destinations in the world.