Initiatives for the Strenghtening of the Conservation and Use of Natural resources
Incentives, compensation and/or payment for environmental services in collective lands of indigenous people and black communities

Photo: Giovanny Melo - Mar VivaIn September 2009, TBI Colombia signed in partnership with “Patrimonio Natural Fondo para la Biodiversidad y Áreas Protegidas”, the cooperation agreement “Incentives, compensation and/or payment for environmental services in collective lands of indigenous people and afro-descendant communities”. One of the components of the agreement is the design, validation and application of methodologies and strategies of evaluation, valuation and negotiation of potential compensation schemes for environmental services in collective lands of indigenous and afro-descendants communities, while contributing to increase in these communities the capacity of management and negotiation around this issue.

This initiative has as expected results the development of at least two pilot cases at national level of compensation schemes in collective lands of indigenous and afro-descendants; generation of inputs for the development of this theme within the Ministry of Environment; strengthening national and local capacities through programme development and the formation of working groups; and the exchange of experiences related to environmental compensation cases.
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Awards Alejandro Angel Escobar
The Alejandro Angel Escobar Foundation has the mission to promote the scientific research and the development social programs. For this reason, annually they open a call for the awards Alejandro Angel Escobar in Sciences - which cover Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences, but also Social and Human Sciences, Environment and sustainable development- and Solidarity. The information about requests and terms for participating can be found in the following: www.faae.org.co.

Additionally, the Alejandro Angel Escobar Foundation directs the Biodiverse Colombian Fund, which annually offers scholarships to undergraduate and graduate university students in topics related with the knowledge, the conservation and the sustainable use of the Colombian biodiversity. The information about requests and terms to participate can be found through the following the link: www.faae.org.co/colombiabiodiversa/index.html

For the year 2010, both calls are open from January 15 to April 7.
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Natural History and Politics Exhibition

The "Natural History and Politics" exhibition is being displayed at the EAFIT University located in Medellín, Colombia (November 2009 - February 2010).This exhibition results from an earlier exposition in 2008 at the Luis Angel Arango Library of the Republic Bank, supervised by the historian Mauricio Nieto Olarte and with the participation of the University Los Andes, EAFIT University and TBI Colombia. The subject is the exploration of nature by Europeans, especially Spaniards, during the Conquest, Colony and the Republican time. 

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International Cooperation invited to participate in the elaboration of the National Development Policy for the Amazon

about_1The Colombian International Cooperation Agency has organized a series of meetings with government and non government organizations to discuss Government plans for the Amazon and how international cooperation can be linked to those actions. TBI Colombia was one of the institutions to be invited together with the Royal Dutch Embassy, the National Planning Department, the research institutions (Alexander von Humboldt and Sinchi), the Ministry of Environment, National Parks and other NGOs. During these meetings the National Planning Department presented a draft of a document which promotes respect to indigenous cultures, conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, land use plans, human welfare and financial investment in the region.

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The Amazon arrived in Bogota

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The Ministry of Culture, through support of the National Museum of Colombia, The Colombian Institute of Antropology and History and Tropenbos International Colombia, presents the exhibition "The Amazon arrived in Bogota. This temporal exhibition presents a view of the Amazon region including the impact of geopolitical, cultural and religious events like the extraction of natural resources and evangelic missions on the people and the territory. It presents the multiple identities and cultures that come together in this region nowadays as consequence of those past events.

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