Building adaptive capacity through food and nutrition security and peacebuilding actions in vulnerable Afro and indigenous communities in the Colombia-Ecuador border area (Colombia, Ecuador)

The border area between Colombia and Ecuador is one of the most climate sensitive and food-insecure regions in Latin America. The region’s climate is heavily influenced by effects from the Inter-Tropical Convergence zone (ITCZ) and by other meteorological and geographic conditions related to solar radiation and wind and precipitation systems as well as recurrent climate change effects from La Niña and El Niño. These factors influence not only macro- and micro-climates, but also a range of ecosystems within the region, including the coastal mangroves and inland dry and humid forest systems which are prioritized for this project.

The project area encompasses more than 915,000 hectares in two binational watersheds – the Guaitara-Carchi and the Mira-Mataje. The Guaitara-Carchi watershed is key to the project owing its importance as an upland area and major tributary to the Mira-Mataje watershed where targeted communities are located. These watersheds pass through Nariño department in Colombia, and Carchi and Esmeraldas provinces in Ecuador. Approximately 54 percent of the combined watersheds area is in Colombia and 46 percent in Ecuador.

This regional project aims to strengthen food security and nutrition through climate change adaptation measures in two watershed on the Colombia-Ecuador border area in accordance with the binational working groups’, and Awa and Afro community´s priorities. Project actions will contribute to reversing the marginalization that Afro and Awá communities have faced from the social and environmental damage from the conflict and contribute to peace and reconciliation through adaptation to climate change.

The project aims to achieve the following high-level objectives:

1. Reduce climate vulnerabilities of local Afro and indigenous communities and the ecosystems they depend on, promoting food security and nutrition and gender equality, and contributing to the construction of peace; and
2. Strengthen adaptive capacities of Afro and indigenous communities in the cross-border region and strengthen regional institutions to address the threats posed by climate change.

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• In the news
  • WFP: May 4, 2018 Colombia y Ecuador se unen para hacer frente al cambio climático en la zona fronteriza
  • UN Ecuador: May 4, 2018 COLOMBIA Y ECUADOR SE UNEN PARA HACER FRENTE AL CAMBIO CLIMÁTICO EN LA ZONA FRONTERIZA

Project Documents