Photo Story from Paul Schmidt 2024 2nd

Healing the Scarce

The Santuario de Flora Plantas Medicinales (SFPM) Orito - Ingi Ande National Park is located in the heart of Colombia, at the junction of the Andean mountain range and the Amazon basin, in the department of Putumayo. Faced with the encroachment of oil companies and illegal crops, the local indigenous people, led by the Kofán community, urged the Colombian government to create a national park, which was finally done in 2008 to protect the sacred lands. Since then, a process of restoration and healing has been underway. It is characterised by an explicit socio-environmental approach, which includes interaction with neighbouring peoples and the recovery of the national park land as part of their social, ecological and cultural heritage.

The photo story shows a field campaign of assisted ecological restoration, in which national park staff and members of the local communities joined forces to restore the scarce in the forest cover, left by the cultivation of illegal crops. This work involved hours of walking to the affected areas, planting and replanting seedlings, braving the tropical climate and spending nights in the rainforest, all with the aim of restoring the socio-ecological heritage and a biodiversity hotspot of great importance.