Religious leaders, presidents of action boards, indigenous authorities, teachers and school principals, territorial planning councilors and representatives of local authorities, participated in the training sessions that IRI-Colombia held in San José del Guaviare (April 1) and Calamar (April 3), aimed at the members of its local chapters in San José del Guaviare. El Capricho, Charras Boquerón, El Retorno, La Libertad, El Unilla, Calamar, Argelia and Itilla.
The conference was attended by 111 leaders, including the mayor of Calamar, Farid Camilo Castaño, who referred to the challenges of the municipality in environmental matters and forest protection. “If the situation of Caño Gravilla continues to advance, it will be the direct entry of deforestation to Chiribiquete Park,” said the president.
Political advocacy for the protection of the Amazon was the central theme of these pedagogical sessions, which included a workshop on political advocacy given by the political scientist and expert on this topic, José Adolfo Castañeda, in which the leaders learned the basic concepts and planning stages of an advocacy project.
In the second part of the sessions, local chapter leaders participated in a hands-on workshop. Gathered in groups, they formulated an advocacy project for the protection of the Guaviar forests, with objectives, implementation strategy, indicators and communications plan.
First cycle of formation of the local chapters of IRI in San José del Guaviare and El Retorno.
As a result of these workshops, the leaders committed to advance advocacy processes for the recovery of degraded areas, through the planting and monitoring of native plant species; to raise awareness and sensitize about the importance of reforestation and its impact on the environment, through radio communication campaigns; encourage community participation in the restoration of ecosystems and promote environmental education, through socialization with schools and colleges; monitoring places threatened by deforestation and recovering water sources in the Serranía de la Lindosa, through the identification of endemic species and the creation of community nurseries; and to raise awareness about the importance of the territory and the care of the water rounds, through the documentation of native trees, among others.
Finally, with the aim of linking them to the formulation of the campaign “Without forests there is no future” prepared by the Initiative, religious leaders and other members of the local chapters of IRI-Colombia participated in a collective exercise of reflection on the values and challenges of the Amazon that the rest of the country should know. This exercise allows them to take advantage of their knowledge about their environment, their environmental and cultural problems, as powerful elements when creating relevant advertising messages, which bring the public closer to the Amazon.
Read the full edition of the April IRI newsletter in Spanish here.
First cycle of formation of the local chapters of IRI in Calamar.
