While indigenous communities in Colombia need to generate incomes there is a lack of sustainable income-generating initiatives that can successfully contribute to local welfare and the improvement of local livelihoods.

TBI Colombia seeks to answer the following questions:

• How can sustainable economic alternatives be generated at the local level?
• What are the economic, social and cultural constraints on the implementation of such alternatives?
• What basic information is needed to implement such initiatives?

The project aims to facilitate the development of income-generating initiatives in indigenous communities. The vast majority of these types of initiatives have not enjoyed any long-term success because they do not take local situations and problems into account. TBI Colombia ‘believes' it will be possible to provide a framework for developing more successful initiatives in local Amazonian communities by analysing the success (or failure) of these initiatives and generating ecological, socioeconomic and market information.

Objective
To generate information on ecological, socioeconomic and market dynamics to inform the implementation of income generating initiatives for local communities.

Duration
2007 to 2011

Expected outcomes
The implementation of sustainable income-generating initiatives that can contribute to the economic, social, cultural and environmental welfare of the region.

Alexander von Humboldt Biological Resource Research Institute