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Colombia

Return of Colombia's wetlands: In the face of increasing climate volatility, communities rediscover native seeds

"What used to be a wetland, today is a desert."

Leonardo Vergara is secretary of the Agricultural Association of Afro-descendant and Displaced Indigenous Peasants (Asoagrocam) in the district of Las Flores in northern Colombia. He spends a lot of time thinking about how to help his neighbours cope with the impacts of climate change in the region of La Mojana in Colombia.

La Mojana is made up of 500,000 fertile hectares in the departments of Antioquia, Bolívar, Cordoba and Sucre, where some of Colombia's poorest communities live. This flat region is part of the wetland complex of the Momposina Depression, which acts as a regulator of the Magdalena, Cauca and San Jorge rivers. Its swamps serve to contain the floods.

Temperatures have risen in recent years. The dry season lasts longer, and when rains arrive they are torrential, causing flooding, sometimes severe as in 2010 when the wetlands were flooded entirely.

"Most of the crops were washed away. The few animals that belonged to peasants – a cow or a donkey – died, and multiple plant species that thrived in the wetlands, like the mangrove, guarapero and uvero, and that made a rich habitat for fish, dried up. All of it died, fishing started declining, and crops began decaying," Leonardo recalls.

In one of the most biodiverse regions, the effects of climate change are compounded by the isolation of a territory struggling with forced displacement after decades of war. Today, the peace process offers the opportunity to build models of sustainable development in which preservation plays a fundamental role in consolidating security in the territories.

To this end, Leonardo works with a project to reduce risk and vulnerability to climate change in the Momposina Depression area. Implemented by the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development and UNDP, the initiative aims to protect communities and ecosystems from the risks caused by floods and droughts associated with climate change.

According to a Government of Colombia-UNDP vulnerability analysis, all productive activities are affected by climate change. In the dry season, there is a 50 percent loss of rice and maize crops in this area. During floods, maize is totally lost, and rice production is cut in half.

Next to the entrance to the displaced peasants' agricultural association, there are some old wooden shelves loaded with recycled plastic bottles. They contain cashew, loquat, annatto and tamarind seeds, among others. These are native seeds that have fallen into disuse despite being more resistant to erratic rainfall and and high temperatures. To date, more than 80 native species have been recovered and 40 hectares of land restored in the districts of Ayapel, San Marcos and San Benito Abad in La Mojana.

“We conduct day-long collection trips in the field. Then, we bring them here, where we remove the seeds, wash them and put them out to dry," Leonardo explains. "The seeds that aren't stored are planted in the community nursery, where we make a seedbed. When the plant is between 25 and 30 cm high, we take it to the restoration spot."

More than 1,300 families benefit from the restoration work in these wetlands, both in areas devastated by floods or droughts and in livestock farms where the forest has been felled.

"Most of the seeds we plant are timber, like the stick of Iguá. Each plank can be about three metres, and it costs between 50 thousand and 70 thousand pesos. A whole tree can be about 600,000 pesos. This can be of benefit to the owners, so at the beginning of the sustainable restoration plan we make an agreement to ensure the community benefits too", says the secretary of Asoagrocam.

The restoration work aims to bring back the wetlands, which have disappeared because of climate swings and logging for livestock. The restoration of the wetlands, in addition to promoting sustainable livelihoods, will bring back species of animals that have migrated to other parts of Colombia due to a lack of food and vegetation for shelter.

"The return of the wetlands is the best strategy to protect us from climate change and promote the sustainable development of the region," Leonardo says. "It is good for everyone, including farmers, because these trees also provide many nutrients for grazing livestock."