The Maloca of the Jaguar: Protecting a Sacred and Strategic Landscape
Members of the LLF team recently traveled to Colombia to learn about program implementation on the ground in the Chiribiquete legacy landscape – un paisaje para siempre – one of the largest and most emblematic landscapes in the LLF portfolio.
The program is implemented by the Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS) Colombia in collaboration with the Parques Nacionales Naturales de Colombia, Indigenous authorities and local communities.
Chiribiquete stands out for its pristine and remote neotropical Amazon rainforest and its location at the biogeographical convergence of the Amazon, Andes, Orinoco, and Guiana Shield. It plays a vital role in maintaining ecological connectivity, providing ecosystem services and freshwater resources, and supporting overall landscape functionality. The area hosts extraordinary biodiversity, including jaguars, pumas, lowland tapirs, and woolly monkeys. For many Indigenous communities in the surrounding territories, Chiribiquete is not only ecologically important but also a culturally sacred place they have protected for centuries.
During our visit, we had the opportunity to meet and engage with a range of local conservation partners – including park rangers, Indigenous leaders and communities of the territories Miriti-Parana and El Itilla. LLF funding supports e.g., the national park authority and Indigenous communities in their conservation efforts through activities that strengthen environmental monitoring, governance, and sustainable productive initiatives. We were inspired by the dedication and commitment of all program partners working to protect this unique landscape.
As Colombia’s largest nationally protected area, Chiribiquete plays a critical role not only in buffering the agricultural frontier of the Amazon but also in the country’s broader peacebuilding context. Surrounding areas visibly face increasing pressure from deforestation and land appropriation, often linked to illicit activities, making this a highly complex and sensitive environment for conservation work.
We would like to extend our gratitude to the Arcadia Fund for match funding this program and making these conservation efforts possible. This grant also would not have been possible without the generous contributions from the German Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung, France’s Agence Française de Développement, the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, and the UK Government through its Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs.
