Ex-soldiers of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) are working with researchers from the University of Sydney to enhance their capability to protect their country's biodiversity and attract tourists.
The initiative saw about 30 ex-soldiers take part in the program in July in the rural town of Caquetá, which is 400 kilometres from Bogotá, Colombia's capital city.
There they learnt methods of conservation, including how to incorporate scientific techniques and tools in ecotourism projects. The program's aim is to help ex-soldiers reintegrate into society, following the country's decades-long conflict.
The initiative is led by Sydney University Associate Professor of Conservation Biology and Animal Genetics, Jaime Góngora.
“It's about understanding how binoculars are handled, how plant and animal samples are sampled, how small biodiversity inventories are generated in the area where they are. And above all, how can this be used as part of the ecotourism packages that they are going to offer to arriving tourists,” the Colombian professor tells SBS Spanish.
Juan Camilo Londoño is one of the participants in this initiative. After many years of life as part of the guerrilla in the jungle, he decided to relinquish his arms and take part in this project.
Jaime Góngora Source: Supplied
"The link we have with nature is not only because we lived in the countryside, but because of that close bond our lives depended on many times, so we want to rescue that and make a difference to tourism with the added value that we can give it," Mr Londoño explains.
Since the Colombian government and the FARC guerrillas, opportunities have opened for nearly 10,000 former combatants to enter civilian life.
Juan Camilo Londoño. Image: Jaime Góngora Source: Jaime Góngora
The former guerrillas are now organised in groups through the so-called ETCRs: Territorial spaces for training and reinstatement.
Recently, a committee of ecotourism and biodiversity ETCRs was formed. They are planning to organise a national meeting in the coming months. This positive direction of the project fills Professor Gongora with hope.
“In the process of violence in Colombia, many people have been victims and they have their own stories, but they are very hopeful to see how they can return to civil life and have expressed their commitment to the peace process. All they need are opportunities to be part of the civil society in a way that allows them to survive.”
But getting here has not been easy. To launch these workshops, almost three years of preparatory meetings with scientists, promoters and former combatants were needed.
Participants in the training workshops. Source: Provided. Liliana H
The initiative is run through the GROW-Colombia research program, which is supported by the Global Challenges Research Fund grant led by the Earlham Institute, in partnership with the University of Sydney.
Now, as Prof Góngora explains, the biggest challenge is the continuity of the project and its subsequent financing.
“We have support from the Global Challenge Research of the United Kingdom but only for this year and the next," he says.
"But the continuity of this project is important so that, at the regional level, we can solve or help solving the specific needs that some ETCRs have in order to run their ecotourism projects.”
Biodiversity in Colombia, a threatened treasure
Colombia is the second most biodiverse country in the world behind Brazil, and Prof Góngora points out that since the peace agreement was signed, about 12 scientific expeditions have been conducted in areas that are now accessible again after the cessation of the conflict.
“This has generated an unprecedented discovery of species in history, due to its magnitude. More than 150 new species of animals and plants have been discovered in less than three years.”
This natural wealth is one of the attractions that former guerrillas want to take advantage of in order to attract visitors. Ubaldo Zúñiga, another of the former combatants and participants in the workshops, is very aware of that.
"Through adventure tourism, ecological tourism, nature tourism... are the different ways to attract people from Colombia and other parts of the world so that people know what we call the 'deep Colombia'.
However, the opening of these areas previously occupied by the guerrillas has brought some undesirable adverse consequences.
Ubaldo Zúñiga Source: Provided Jaime Góngora
"It has also opened the doors to uncontrolled deforestation and uncontrolled livestock without any regulation, or even to mining. All of this is impacting forests in Colombia," Prof Góngora says.
“More government presence is required in those areas. The society also has to get involved in the protection of the environment, because this is not only a responsibility of the authorities but of society in general. We all have to protect the biodiversity we have there.”
Threats to the peace process
The recent news of the announcement that a group of senior commanders from the demobilized Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, are taking up arms again is a heavy blow to Colombia’s peace process.
However, prof Gongora says this recent events will not affect the plan.
“Of course you have to be very careful to go to remote areas, but in general it is very important that we continue to aim for peace. Within the Grow-Colombia group, we continue with the training workshops to conserve and protect the biodiversity that is so needed in Colombia.”
Another concern that the professor acknowledges is the spike in murders of Colombian social activists that has claimed hundreds of lives since 2016.
The Colombian prosecutor's office has indicated that armed drug trafficking groups, the National Liberation Army and the public forces are the main responsible for the deaths.
But the immediate challenge for the initiative is to receive more funding so that the project can remain viable.
Source: Provided. Sydney University
And although there may still be certain stigmas about how civil society perceives former combatants, Prof Gongora says there are signs that speak of true peace.
“I think there are still some stigmas, but I think they are committed to changing that. I witnessed something that I did not imagine during the time I lived in Colombia," he says.
"In one of the ETCRs, I could see members of the armed forces, the police, aviation and ex-combatants, talking together about the projects they had and the ecotourism proposals, and I think those stigmata are falling, little by little. There are stigmas on all sides, but we must also recognise that there is a process of building trust, so that this reinstatement can occur.”
