Legislation and Policy
Main objective
To analyze, to promote and to affect public policies and spaces related to the participation of the civil society in the conservation and sustainable use of the biodiversity, through institutional support for the creation, modification and/or application of favorable norms to the Natural Reserves of the civil society.
Improvements to and Protection of the Right of Land Possession
In spite of the importance of the activities of conservation advanced by the associate in their Natural Reserves, many of them have not consolidated their right of property. This is the reason for this area to undertake the study of titles within the process of affiliation to Resnatur. The purpose is to provide clarity on the type of rights and acts associated to the estates that compose the Natural Reserves, in order to define, construct and develop together with the nodes and associates, those strategies and actions that allow the improvement, protection and/or consolidation of the rights of land possession, based on required judicial and administrative proceedings.
Many of judicial and administrative actions and proceedings imply processes of several years and the permanent support of a judicial proxy (lawyer). This delay and permanent need of attendance requires some type of long-term support that cannot be offered by Resnatur’s team. Thus we work to identify other alternatives together with the node and the associate, for example via agreements with popular legal offices. We are also formulating a project, which aims to hire professionals (lawyers) that can offer assistance to those nodes with greater needs in this matter.
Legal Tools for Private Land Conservation
Since 2001 Resnatur has researched the viability of applying diverse legal tools in Colombia related to private conservation, such as ecological easements, leases, rental agreements, trusts, testaments and others. The main purpose is to analyze the convenience of the using these instruments to fortify the conservation objectives of the Natural Reserves or other private estates.
The area produces and releases technical documents on the conceptual and legal frame, the negotiation and implementation of these instruments, and also offers technical advice to other associates or interested people.
Furthermore, the Natura Foundation, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) created the Colombian Interinstitutional Group on Private Conservation Tools.
Resnatur has been attending the Interamerican Congresses on Private Conservation since 1999, hoping to share and to know experiences related to the use of tools such as the ecological easements, other private conservation nets, conservation, concessions, protected public areas co-management, leases, rentings and others.
Political and Econocmic Instruments
Resnatur offers qualification to the associates in economic valuation of the environmental goods and services present in the Natural Reserves of the civil society. There are some case studies that next will be soon published.
In addition, Resnatur has also promoted the research, design, management and promotion of incentives for conservation and sustainable use of the biodiversity. Especially the promotion and management of the municipalities approval to estate tax exoneration for the Natural Reserves of the civil society or in general for proprietors who have areas under conservation in their estates. An example of the previous is the Armenia case.
First ecological easement in Colombian’s history
The Nature Conservancy (TNC), the Colombian Network Association for Private Reserves of the Civil Society (Resnatur) and the Proaves Foundation supported the establishment of the country’s first ecological easement. This allows the private owner to permanently conserve the natural ecosystems of his estate.
The 50 hectares of this easement protect part of the distribution area of the yellow-eared parrot (Ognorhynchus icterotis), probably the most threatened bird in Colombia. The easement was established in the municipality of Jardin (Antioquia), one of the few places with propitious habitat for this species, whose population is considered to be around 700 individuals.
“Everything began in the 2001, when some scientists discovered a healthy population of yellow-eared parrots in Jardin” says Jose Castaño of the Proaves Foundation, a not-governmental organization who has been working in the region with the support of the Parrot Park Foundation of Spain. The yellow-eared parrot is an endemic species that only nests in the wax palm of Quindío (Ceroxylon quindiuense). The wax palm also is a threatened species that has been traditionally used in the celebration of the Easter Sunday, where people use the palm shoot to make the traditional bunches, destroying the whole tree. This situation has put in danger to both species.
From the beginning of the work, the Proaves Foundation has facilitated education programs for the communities on alternatives different from the wax palm for the Easter Sunday activities.
Another initial strategy led by Resnatur and supported by TNC to protect the tropical Andean forests that lodge both palms and parrots, was to gather all private estate owners in Jardin interested in preserving both species in its properties. As a result many of these proprietors created the Jardin node (group pf Reserves) subscribed to Resnatur, and chose to declare part or all of their properties as a Natural Reserve of the civil society.
Following the success in creating private Natural Reserves, TNC assisted the Jardin node in the implementation of the first ecological easement and thus to declare private estates in permanent conservation. “I did It because I am in love with this land, I wanted to see tangible results of these efforts” says Jose Humberto Jaramillo, proprietor of the easement. “But this is only the beginning”. Other owners in the Jardin node are carrying out the legal process to establish other easements in their properties.
“The ecological easements have been a key aspect of the TNC’s work in the United States for decades” says Aurelio Ramos, director of the conservation program of Tropical Andes in TNC. “The permanent and legal private land protection is a new concept in Colombia. This first ecological easement in Jardin is a small but very important step in collaborating with private land owners to protect the biodiversity in their estates through practical examples that can be followed by others “
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