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A critical time for Colombia

2011 GUARDIANS APPEAL

WWF Guardians are a group of exceptional supporters who agree each year to donate at least £1,000 to a specific project. This year we need your help to fight the destruction threatening the forests of Colombia.

Many people have lost their lives on the treacherous, mountain road that connects the town of Pasto with the state capital Mocoa, in south-west Colombia.

I'm sure you'll be shocked to learn that Colombia's forests are being destroyed at a rate of 360,000 hectares every year, and one of the main reasons is road-building.

Roads slice through the forest, opening up access to remote and vulnerable areas allowing exploitation by loggers, farmers, ranchers, miners, colonists and land speculators. They move in quickly, clearing more and more forest for oil palm plantations, gold mines and to feed the illegal timber trade. This can have a devastating effect on local communities, and forest dwellers like the spectacled bear and other vulnerable wildlife.

A new road is about to be built in south west Colombia, between the towns of Pasto and Mocoa. It will become part of a network connecting the Amazon with ports on the Pacific and Atlantic coasts. It's just 46 km long, but could have a huge impact on the natural environment.

Thankfully, we've been working in Colombia for many years now, and have forged strong relationships with government and local communities. Because of this, we were able to get fully involved in the road planning process.

It's taken huge effort but we've managed to gain unprecedented agreement from the government and the funding bank to protect the forest, including areas where spectacled bears are found. We helped local communities get involved in the planning process, so their views and concerns were taken into account. You can read more in the downloads on the right.

The proposed Pasto-Mocoa road will provide a new, safer route between the two towns

We've reached a crucial point

Construction could begin any day now. And it's vital that as the first bulldozers arrive, we're there to make sure the environmental and social agreements we've worked so hard to achieve are carried out. We must also push for forest-friendly road plans like this one right across Colombia. But that takes time and money, and we need your help.

The Guardians have already played a big part in protecting Colombia's natural environment. In 2007 for instance, a range of projects were supported, including our fight to prevent an international port being built in Malaga Bay – an important breeding ground for humpback whales. Thanks to the Guardians we did it. Malaga Bay was declared a national park in 2010, protecting over 47,000 hectares of sea and coastline.

Incredible successes like Malaga Bay are heartening, but the challenges are immense and the pressures on Colombia's fragile ecosystems are piling up. Unless strong conservation programmes are in place, the balance could be tipped too far.

It's a critical time for Colombia, and for our work there. Will you become a Guardian today by donating £1,000 or more, so we can see critical projects like the forest-friendly Pasto-Mocoa road through, continue to support local people, protect wildlife, and create more national parks like Malaga Bay.

Spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus); La Planada Nature Reserve, Colombia

How your gift could help

£1,000 could help us create more protected areas of forest, preserving the habitats of vulnerable species like the spectacled bear.
£1,500 could help purchase a camera trap monitoring system to track and monitor Amazon wildlife.
£2,000 could help local conservationists plant trees in their private nature reserves, to protect the fragile forest ecosystem.
£5,000 could buy and equip a motorboat to monitor and protect humpback whale breeding areas and vulnerable turtle nesting beaches in Malaga Bay and along the Pacific coast.
£10,000 could help us continue our work with local communities to restore 250 hectares of forest affected by the new Pasto-Mocoa road.