Surviving inside the Selva de Florencia a study case in a colombian National Park

The extension of protected forest in Colombia has significantly increased in the last decade. These new protected areas have been declared over populated areas, with diverse land uses related to human occupation (i.e.... [ view full abstract ]

The extension of protected forest in Colombia has significantly increased in the last decade. These new protected areas have been declared over populated areas, with diverse land uses related to human occupation (i.e. agriculture and cattle ranching). Therefore, the conservation of nature in Colombia have generated process of green grabbing and forced displacement. This reality affects the livelihoods of the individuals and communities living in those areas.    

This work explores the Colombian government conservation policies, as well as the initiatives of international organizations like the World Bank, related to land acquisition to rural people. This study takes the case study of the National Park Selva de Florencia in the Colombian Andes, specifically the municipality of Samaná in the Department of Caldas. The aim of the work is to answer the question of: Which are the consequences of conservation actions on people´s everyday life dynamics? I used different methods of data collection, including semi-structured interviews with individuals directly involved in these dynamics. Officials from the Colombian State and the National Parks Authority were also interviewed. As part of my data gathering techniques I also analyzed technical and legal documents related to the conservation processes in the region and to the land purchase processes.

My study demonstrates that the land purchasing process by different actors, with the purpose of conservation, can lead to dynamics of green grabbing, affecting the livelihoods of local communities, and even causing forced displacement. This result help us to gain a better understanding of the processes, especially those involving the influences and effects over individuals and communities, surrounding the act of declaring an area of conservation, as well the policies behind it. This gets more relevance in the context that in Colombia there are few studies on land grabbing from a conservation perspective, in comparison to the number of protected areas with high land use restrictions that currently exist in the country. Therefore, my results can be of great value for the decision-makers in the field of conservation, as they can be better informed, obtaining a broader perspective and context, for the declaration and administration of conservation areas.