Newly Created Indigenous Reserve La Victoria in Colombia Strengthens Conservation through Indigenous Sovereignty

Andes Amazon Fund celebrates the creation of a new Indigenous Reserve, La Victoria between the Amazonas, Caquetá, and Vaupés departments of Colombia. The reserve formally protects 150,878 acres (61,058 hectares) of Colombian Amazon forest by recognizing the territorial rights of the Kawiyarí, Barasano, Tatuyo, Taiwano/Eduria, Tuyuca, Tucano, Cubeo, Desano, Siriano, Yurutí, Carapana, Piratapuyo, Wanano and Bara Indigenous Peoples, who are the critical actors in safeguarding the ecosystems within the reserve. Meanwhile the reserve provides key ecological connectivity to a much broader mosaic of protected areas and Indigenous territories, linking over five million hectares between the Chiribiquete and Yaigojé Apaporis National Parks.

La Victoria represents a pilot case for the National Land Agency of Colombia, the entity in charge of processing Indigenous land titling claims. It is the first reserve in the country recognized as a part of the implementation of Decree 2333 of 2014, aimed at establishing mechanisms for the effective protection and legal security of ancestrally held lands of Indigenous Peoples. This protection guarantees the well-being of the communities within the reserve while advancing the recognition of their territory as a political entity equivalent to a municipality according to Decree 632 of 2018; providing the communities with the necessary political agency to protect their territory and its biodiversity while fulfilling Colombia’s constitutional goals for decentralization. Furthermore, it contributes to the implementation of the Leticia Pact, by strengthening the capacities and participation of Indigenous Peoples in the sustainable development of the Amazon and recognizing their fundamental role in conservation.

Biodiversity

The reserve protects highly threatened species such as the Giant River Otter (Pteronura brasiliensis) and Giant Armadillo (Priodontes maximus). It also protects other nearly threatened species such as the Jaguar (Panthera onca), Uakari (Cacajao) and the vulnerable Giant Anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla). At the same, it secures the cultural integrity of the Indigenous Peoples in the area who share origin stories, cosmological ideologies, traditional practices, governance systems, and land use based on caring for their natural resources and sacred sites.

Acknowledgments

Andes Amazon Fund would like to congratulate our grantee Fundación Gaia Amazonas, the local Indigenous Peoples, and Colombia’s National Land Agency for this incredible accomplishment. Further financial support was provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and Andes Amazon Fund.

El Espectador article about the reserve.