USAID Natural Wealth

General

(Colombia): ..The Natural Wealth activity supports the Colombian Government to preserve dry forests and grassland ecosystems, which are among the world's most threatened and under-protected. The activity helps to augment the presence of state institutions in areas where the past presence of illegal armed actors threatened fragile ecosystems by improving natural resource management and a culture of legality. The activity will work with national and regional authorities and the private sector to build the capacity of civil society, indigenous communities, and local government to improve natural resource management and conservation. The activity will develop economic incentives for biodiversity conservation, such as, commercial agreements, premium prices for products, carbon credits, nature tourism, and production costs reduction. Natural Wealth will support the government in the expansion and creation of national protected areas as well as private reserves. The activity will continue to strengthen land use management, early warning on ecosystem deterioration, and community monitoring. .. .The activity will also support the Colombian Government to improve the implementation of community development plans; strengthen civil society advocacy on natural resource management; and consolidate the market feasibility for economic alternatives in the surrounding areas of three Amazonian national parks to counteract deforestation. Natural Wealth contributes to the ICS Mission Objective to improve conditions for inclusive rural economic growth and sustainable development and helps Colombia on its Journey to Self-Reliance by improving biodiversity conservation and habitat protection..

Objectives

Objectives for Colombia: The program aims to increase the land area under legal protection, Natural Wealth will employ a two-pronged approach. The program will: 1) work to strengthen the management of existing, and new national and regional protected areas; and 2) enhance protection through sound, accountable land management by indigenous groups, communities, and the Civil Society Nature Reserves, support Colombia’s green growth strategy, which includes best management practices in the agricultural sector and development of sustainable economic opportunities to complement efforts to enhance biodiversity conservation, focus efforts at the municipal and regional levels to more effectively strengthen and operationalize national-level land use, and sustainable development and conservation policies on the ground, strengthen the environmental governance capacity of local and regional authorities, improve access to better information on threats to biodiversity, conservation, and habitat loss in order to establish conservation priorities and evaluate development options and tradeoffs.