Fundación Humedales, in cooperation with the International Climate Initiative (IKI) under the Living Lakes Biodiversity and Climate Project (LLBCP), is leading a pioneering process of productive and environmental transformation using the Biodiversity Performance Tool (BPT) methodology in two of Colombia’s most emblematic watersheds: Fúquene and Tota.
Combining research, training, and on-the-ground action, the initiative has become a national benchmark for sustainable watershed management.
Fúquene: Sustainable Livestock in the Highlands
The Fúquene Lagoon, located between the departments of Cundinamarca and Boyacá, has long been surrounded by dairy farms — a key local economic activity that also places pressure on the ecosystem. Fundación Humedales decided to focus its intervention on this production system.
With support from the National Federation of Cattle Farmers (Fedegán), four pilot farms were selected to adapt a tool originally designed for coffee cultivation. The new version included livestock-specific questionnaires and biodiversity action plan matrices.
Implemented measures range from conserving native vegetation and establishing live fences to protecting water springs and improving water resource management.
On the productive side, the project promotes better pasture management, reduced pesticide and herbicide use, and more efficient fertilizer application. The third monitoring cycle is now underway, showing promising results in both sustainability and replicability.
Tota: Green Roots in Onion Fields
In the Tota Lake basin, in Boyacá, agriculture dominates the landscape, especially the cultivation of long onion (cebolla larga). In partnership with Agrosavia, four pilot farms were also selected to adapt the BPT to agricultural conditions.
As in Fúquene, the approach focused on redesigning tools, applying tailored questionnaires, and developing biodiversity-inclusive action plans.
Both basins face a shared challenge: conserving fragile high-mountain ecosystems while maintaining the competitiveness of key local products — milk and onions — essential to regional and national markets.
Community Training: 25 Producers per Basin
Beyond the pilot farms, the project expanded to train 25 producers in each basin through five theoretical-practical workshops.
These sessions went beyond technical capacity building — they nurtured collective awareness. Participants learned that conservation does not mean producing less, but producing better. The BPT became a space for dialogue between traditional knowledge and scientific expertise.
Extension Workers: Strengthening Technical Bridges
Another cornerstone of the initiative is the training of extension workers — professionals and technicians who advise farmers through municipalities, cooperatives, or institutions. Many of them have strong technical backgrounds but limited environmental training.
Specific workshops were developed to strengthen their understanding of biodiversity, ecosystem services, and sustainability. The goal: to enable more meaningful conversations with producers and help integrate environmental criteria into agricultural advice.
Although this process is still ongoing, early outcomes are encouraging.
Towards a Biodiversity Management App for the Agricultural Sector
The cumulative experience — from pilot farms to workshops and institutional alliances — is paving the way for a digital application designed to make biodiversity action planning more accessible and scalable.
This future tool will enable producers, extensionists, and organizations to manage projects more efficiently, exchange experiences, and monitor biodiversity progress directly from the field.
The vision is clear: to transform the relationship between production and conservation, from local innovation to national impact.
Wetlands as Territories of Innovation
What is happening in Fúquene and Tota is not an isolated experiment. It is proof that wetlands can be territories of innovation, where biodiversity and productivity do not compete — they thrive together.
Through adapted methodologies, strategic partnerships, and community participation, Fundación Humedales is building a replicable model for other ecosystems across Colombia.
For Fundación Humedales, transformation begins with dialogue — between science and the countryside, between institutions and communities, between water and land.