Generales

By: Yenifer Aristizábal Grajales-Journalist

A large part of Colombia's environmental heritage is protected thanks to the National Natural Parks System (NNPS), which amounts to over 142 km2 of the national territory. What are the current challenges for scientific research in those parks? 

One of the main purposes of this expedition was to explore the paramo. Photo: courtesy of Fernando Alzate Guarín.

The Paramillo National Natural Park (NNP) is a natural environment that has survived the war. It served as a stronghold for the FARC guerrillas, and even today, it is a corridor and a disputed area for illegal armed groups. This has prevented easy exploration of the park’s ecosystems, especially its paramo, at 3,850 meters above sea level. Fernando Alzate Guarín, coordinator of Universidad de Antioquia’s Botanical Studies Research Group, together with three other colleagues, entered the area in February of this year after ten years of arranging permits, logistical cooperation from the community and favorable security and climatic conditions.

This is not the only complex natural environment for research. The researcher has entered other NNP’s, such as the Santuario de Fauna y Flora Otún Quimbaya in Pereira, Los Nevados in Tolima and Katíos in the Darién region. "A few years ago, we were working in Katíos, a park with a very complicated public order situation because of the corridors of illegal groups. We had problems with these groups, which told us that we had to stay without going out for more days because there was some work they had to do in the park. It was very tough because we were caught in the crossfire", recalled the researcher.

An August 2020 report by the Fundación Ideas para la Paz (FIP) pointed out that the presence of coca crops in 17 protected areas that are part of Colombia's National Parks System has become one of the main threats to conservation. The existence of illicit crops "is associated with —and driven by— illegal armed groups that affect the security of environmental authorities, the populations of the NNP’s and surrounding areas", the report noted.

Protected areas have historically been disputed scenarios for the control of drug trafficking routes, arms trafficking and the rearguard of war fronts. However, these are not the only risk factors. These places are also susceptible to arson, land concentration and activities such as mining, extensive cattle ranching and illegal hunting. All these factors make field research risky.

The Partly-Open Door of the Agreement

"Those of us who do fieldwork realize that there is a big difference in the post-conflict situation, and I never tire of saying it. We can now access a lot of sites that we couldn't before", said Alzate Guarín after he arrived at Nudo de Paramillo. The peace agreement, signed in 2016 between the national government and the FARC guerrillas, opened a new door for research in these places, where environmental richness is recognized. Samples are collected and then used to make decisions associated with the characteristics of each site. 

"Research goes beyond scientific knowledge", explained Irene Aconcha-Abril, research and monitoring professional at the Subdirectorate of Management and Administration of National Natural Parks. She noted that research also involves issues such as biodiversity conservation, administration of protected areas and guaranteeing ecosystem services.

For this official, it is important to know how the communities within the parks use natural resources. The parks have been inhabited areas even before they were declared protected. The dynamics of use, occupation and land tenure generate pressures related to conservation.

"People are also more cooperative now because they no longer feel they are in the middle of a confrontation, which helps researchers to be more sensitive and safer", explained Sergio Solari, coordinator of Universidad de Antioquia’s Mastozoology Group. He has been working in different NNP’s in Colombia for about 10 years.

For Solari, since these areas are remote and difficult to access, they have not been affected by roads, infrastructure or industrial timber exploitation. This is why the contribution to scientific research made from these areas has had multiple contextual challenges. A normalized situation could further enhance the collection of information for basic biology, natural sciences and social sciences. 

Since April 2019, the military's Campaña Artemisa, with nine phases of operation, has deployed 22,300 men of the public force to guard protected areas and focus on "stopping the increase in deforestation, recovering the tropical rainforest and our forests and prosecuting the criminals responsible for deforestation", Defense Minister Diego Molano Aponte said in a statement on February 26.