Cesar's Tropical Dry Forest- La Lope Habitat Bank
Hope, initiative, future
Due to the agreement between the USAID Natural Wealth Program, land owners in the Cesar’s Department and Terrasos, Cesar´s Habitat Bank was consolidated. It is private initiative where conservation and restoration actions can be carried out in the Tropical Dry Forest, one of the most threatened ecosystems in the country.This Habitat Bank is the fourth registered for Colombia and the second in this type of ecosystem.
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The development of this project seeks to preserve and recover 930 hectares, located in the towns of Valledupar and Copey. For at least 20 years, these lands were dedicated to beef cattle, undersustainable practices, which allowed a significant extension of mature forests to be conserved. With time and as a result of the violence in Colombia, the territory and with it the productive practices were abandoned, which allowed the recovery of more extensions of forest.
Currently, the owners, who were able to return to the territory after 15 years, have decidedcontinue promoting the conservation and recovery of the forestand be linked to the Habitat Bank Project to contribute not only to the conservation of ecosystems, but also to the rural economic development.
Transformation of the territory
This new Habitat Bank will be able to coexist with infrastructure projects such as roads, power transmission lines and power generation through solar panels, a reality that helps break paradigms related to the fact that conservation projects can only be developed in areas with little or no intervention. Likewise, it opens the door to the possibility of linking areas of properties immersed in transformed matrices, precisely as a measure to contain the expansion of the agricultural frontier.
If your work, project or activity is located in any of the blue areas of the maps that appear on the side, you can comply with your environmental obligations derived from mandatory investments of no less than 1% or biodiversity loss offsets, both mandatory and voluntary, in this Habitat Bank.
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For additional information you can contact us or leave your questions through the Contact tab.
Importance of the selected area
Cesar’s Tropical Dry Forest Habitat Bank is located within a remaining of the Tropical Dry Forest (BsT), fundamental ecosystem for the conservation of diverse endemic species of the region, as well as for water regulation, soil fertility, food production, carbon fixation, contribution to the cultural, environmental, economic and social development of the area, being the reason why the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development has cataloged it as a strategic ecosystem in the country.
Specifically in the Caribbean, it is estimated that about half of the 417,838 ha of the BsT remaining in Colombia is conserved, however, the decrease is considerable in the Cesar River basin where 70.4% of the coverage compared to 1986. Considering the conservation and management needs of this ecosystem. The establishment of the Habitat Bank is configured as a mechanism that contributes to regional conservation processes.
Important species for conservation
According to secondary information and a baseline characterization carried out, in this Habitat Bank we are protecting more than 72 species of vascular plants, 200 bird and 27 mammal species.
This Bank serves as a habitat for species such as Capuchin monkey (Cebus versicolor), a primate that´s endemic to Colombia,6 almost endemic bird species, as well as more than 30 species of fauna and flora listed in some of the CITES appendixes and in some of the IUCN threat categories. The presence of these species validates the importance of directing conservation efforts in the relicts of the Tropical Dry Forest in the Cesar’s Department.