Description:
This project aims to increase the climate resilience of local communities, particularly Indigenous peoples, Afro-descendant communities, women, and youth through integrated wildfire management, forest and ecosystem restoration, and innovative financing. The project targets the communities in the Bio South (Nariño and Putumayo) and Andean Bear (Cundinamarca) corridors of Colombia. Project activities include: (1) facilitating the transfer and adaptation of Canadian wildfire management technologies for use by national and local authorities. This includes the 'CanFIRE' model, which simulates the impacts of wildfires on forests, as well as prescribed burn protocols and the use of long-range cameras and drones; (2) training and equipping community-brigades with wildfires tools, technology and a sustainability strategy that supports the prevention of wildfires and ecosystem recovery processes in their area of influence; (3) identifying, mapping and restoring fire-prone and degraded forest ecosystems, through regenerative restoration using native fire resistant plants; and (4) designing and implementing a pilot financial mechanism, that integrates insurance and sustainability strategies to protect long-term investments and ensure continuity in the face of wildfire impacts.
This project was announced at the June G7 Leader’s Summit, as part of Canada’s G7 Kananaskis Wildfire Charter package of announcements and supports Colombia’s objective to advance forest ecosystem restoration.
Expected Results:
The expected outcomes of this project include: (1) enhanced institutional governance and knowledge systems for gender-responsive and socially equitable integrated wildfire management and climate change adaptation in the Corridors of Resilience (Bio-South and Andean Bear corridors); (2) enhanced resilience of ecosystems and local communities in response to wildfire and climate change risks, focusing on implementing gender-responsive nature-based solutions, especially for women and vulnerable groups, in the corridors of resilience; and (3) enhanced sustainable, gender responsive financial mechanisms established and accessed to support ecosystem restoration, biodiversity conservation, and climate adaptation actions in the corridors of resilience.