Chiribiquete National Park – “The Maloca of the Jaguar”

The site is managed by the Ministry of the Environment through the Unidad Administrativa Especial del Sistema de Parques Nacionales (UAESPNN). At the institutional level, the Territorial Directorate of Amazonía Orinoquía is responsible for on-ground management of the park.

The conservation of the site is guided by the “Plan de Manejo 2018-2022 Parque Nacional Natural Serrania de Chiribiquete” (Parques Nacionales Naturales de Colombia, 2018) that includes provisions on management activities required for the different land use zones as well as expected biodiversity conservation outputs derived from these actions. The zones in the park are enabled through Decree 622 of 1977 that establishes 6 distinct zones for all Natural National Parks. The management plan prescribes activities that should be implemented in the buffer zone to mitigate threats to the site. Activities to protect the voluntarily isolated indigenous people in the buffer zone and inside the park are also described. The management planning process does include consultation with stakeholders, including local communities. The management plan prioritizes governance, transparent decision-making and conflict resolution.

The management authorities periodically assess the effectiveness of management using a tool called AEMAPPS (Análisis de la Efectividad del Manejo de Áreas Protegidas con Participación). While the latest management plan is well articulated, the plan (Plan de Manejo 2018-2022 Parque Nacional Natural Serrania de Chiribiquete, 2018) notes that there are limitations in the logistics and operations for monitoring, control and surveillance of the protected area and large gaps in information and knowledge of ecological and cultural values that hinder management planning and decision making. The lack of a financial sustainability strategy is also noted as a significant hindrance to overall effectiveness.

More specific limitations in management uncovered through the effectiveness evaluation include: 1) the monitoring and research program to support management decisions, 2) the lack of management capacity to effectively deal with the expansion of the park, 3) alignment of park management with regional and local authorities, especially in the expansion areas, 4) alignment between internal levels of park management, and 5) prevention, control and surveillance.

Various large projects funded through international development assistance are working to overcome the weaknesses listed above.
 

It is challenging to mark the boundaries of a park as large as Chiribiquete. However, much of the park boundary has been drawn to conform to natural features such as rivers and mountains. The large size of the buffer zone also provides a significant barrier for the intrusion of human uses.   

As the management plan (Plan de Manejo 2018-2022 Parque Nacional Natural Serrania de Chiribiquete, 2018) notes in the effectiveness evaluation, particularly in the expansion areas, coordination and integration of the site with national and regional planning systems is difficult and the park lacks sufficient capacity to do this well.
 

In general, relationships with local people are good. Although access to the interior of the park is prohibited, the buffer zone is home to numerous indigenous communities who maintain traditional and modern lifestyles.

Management authorities have signed formal agreements with 5 of 7 indigenous reservations that overlap with the buffer zone of Chiribiquete. These agreements formalize the rights of indigenous people to continue traditional and cultural uses including sustainable use. The park authorities have also pledged to facilitate the participation of community members in the plans, programs, projects and actions that are developed in the areas where interests are shared with the authorities of the indigenous reserves.

However, no formal agreements are yet in place for two of the indigenous reserves as of November 2019, when the current management plan was completed: Monochoa and Puerto Zábalo.

There is a robust legal framework for the site encompassing the park, the buffer zone, the indigenous peoples living in the buffer zone as well as the uncontacted ones living inside the site (IUCN, 2018). Finally, there are legal restrictions on the airspace above the park. The framework is adequate for the maintenance of its World Heritage values.

Law enforcement duties are shared between park managers, the military, municipalities, and Control and Surveillance Committees. The buffer zone is a major area where law enforcement actions are conducted relating to deforestation, illegal mining, etc. As much of the area surrounding the park is in a rebuilding stage due to the recent peace deal, there is a lack of strong local institutions to carry out law enforcement duties. The park managers also have a limited number of staff and rely on the military and their aircraft to implement law enforcement in otherwise inaccessible roadless areas.

All of the Committee requests to maintain and enhance regulations that prevent agricultural development, deforestation, road development, development of projects to enhance the natural and cultural heritage in the buffer zone and strictly prevent possible contact between non-indigenous local communities and others with isolated uncontacted communities are being actively implemented. Current budget information was not available for this assessment to gauge whether the Committee request to increase financial support was implemented. Also, there was no information available to assess whether a basic socio-economic study of the needs of local communities in the buffer zone has yet been implemented.

For indigenous communities living in the buffer zone, sustainable use is practiced in the buffer zone and also allowed inside the site as agreed with 5 indigenous groups that signed agreements with the government during the park enlargement consultation. Sustainable use is also allowed for the voluntarily isolated and uncontacted persons that live inside. There are numerous incidences of deforestation from illegal agricultural in the buffer zone and also some in the interior of the park.

Currently, funding for the park comes mostly in the form of international development projects that are limited in scope and do not allow for reallocation of spending based upon urgent or priority issues. The park has a stated goal in the current management plan to develop a financial sustainability strategy within the time frame of the plan (2018 – 2022) (Parques Nacionales Naturales de Colombia, 2018).

The management effectiveness assessment referenced in the current management plan (Plan de Manejo 2018-2022 Parque Nacional Natural Serrania de Chiribiquete, 2018) notes the lack of management capacity to effectively deal with the expansion of the park.

Currently training programs exist with FUNAI, the Brazilian government agency established to carry out policies on indigenous peoples, for example a training program for peasant settler communities to develop sustainable production of sacha inchi seeds and pepper. The management plan lists numerous planned trainings (Parques Nacionales Naturales de Colombia, 2018).

Park managers have been working to publicize the protected area, the importance of the sustainable use of the environment and the need for protection in the municipalities of Calamar, El Retorno, Solano and at the departmental level in Guaviare and Caquetá and in nearby rural areas. Managers will be focusing on a) support for formal education; b) promotion of inter-institutional coordination; and c) relationship with the communities located in the influence of the protected area.

The park management plans call for the development of a Program on Local Environmental Education aligned with the National Policy of Environmental Education and the National Strategy of Environmental Education which aims to: Support the social assessment of the PNN Serranía de Chiribiquete, highlighting the ecosystem services that it generates at the local, regional and national level, through environmental education, in order to promote changes in attitude, behavior and habits that minimize the risk of possible pressure on the protected area. Hence, it is a central component for the prevention of illegal activities in the area of ​​influence of the PNN Serranía de Chiribiquete (Parques Nacionales Naturales de Colombia, 2018).

Tourism is prohibited inside the national park, except through overflights of the park by registered providers of this service (IUCN, 2018). However, there are known instances of illegal incursions by some tourism providers in two sectors, one in the north near Calamar, sector from Cerro Campana, and another in the southeast near Puerto Abeja by the Mesay River; however, there is no accurate information on the number of people and the frequency with which these incursions occur.

One of the weaknesses pointed out through the management effectiveness assessment referenced in the current management plan (Plan de Manejo 2018-2022 Parque Nacional Natural Serrania de Chiribiquete, 2018) is monitoring to support the park’s management objectives.

However, some monitoring does occur. These monitoring efforts include work done by a) the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) that has uncovered illegal coca plantations, the Corpoamazonia Environmental Monitoring System – SISA and The Environmental Monitoring System of the Amazon that monitors logging in the surrounding area; b) the National Forest and Carbon Monitoring System that monitors deforestation operated by the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies (IDEAM) - a government agency of the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development. The current management plan calls for strengthening inter-institutional coordination to improve the efficiency of monitoring efforts and it notes the existence of a Monitoring Program annexed to the plan (Parques Nacionales Naturales de Colombia, 2018).

There are numerous research programs related to deforestation, indigenous peoples, biodiversity and ecosystem services that focus on Chiribiquete and the surrounding areas. The current management plan describes the potential to develop a research center of international character for Chiribiquete (Parques Nacionales Naturales de Colombia, 2018).