In the summer of 2001, shortly after the World Wide Fund for Nature in Colombia held a workshop designed to build consensus on a conservation vision for the region, CI convened a strategic planning workshop in Cali that was attended by 80 representatives of the governments of Colombia and Ecuador, NGOs, and scientists to discuss the threats to biodiversity in the region and to articulate a common vision and strategy for the Chocó-Manabí Conservation Corridor through 2010. The corridor would represent a regional planning framework within which to address urgent conservation issues to maintain the environmental, economic and social integrity of the region. The resulting 10-year strategy would catalyze interagency alliances to mobilize human and financial resources for an integrated effort to connect natural areas - e.g., by consolidating and upgrading existing protected areas, rehabilitating degraded areas, and promoting sustainable agriculture and other sources of livelihood which sustain biodiversity, such as shade-grown coffee and agroforestry.
Workshop participants included, from Colombia, representatives of the Ministries of Environment and Agriculture, the Valle del Cauca Autonomous Corporation, ECOFONDO, and the Fundación Natura; and from Ecuador, representatives of the Ministry of Environment, National Parks Programs, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Jatun Sacha, Fundación Maquipucuna, and EcoCiencia.
The participants agreed on a 10-year strategy designed to improve conservation actions by maximizing investments and strengthening existing alliances between national, regional, and local stakeholders to protect biodiversity, while also improving the livelihood and quality of life of communities in the Chocó-Manabí Corridor. Participants also agreed on a process for future decision-making and consensus-building. An action plan was prepared to address conservation, social, and economic priorities in the region; elements of the plan are reflected in commitments and targets for the five-year implementation phase of the Chocó-Manabí Conservation Corridor as laid out in this ecosystem profile.
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