By Erika Salazar | Program Manager
GlobalGiving Trimester ReportOIOC – Amazon Conservation & Biocultural RevitalizationReporting Period: Last Trimester (2025)
During this trimester, OIOC received approximately $400 USD in support through GlobalGiving. We are deeply grateful for this contribution, which has allowed us to continue advancing Indigenous-led conservation efforts in the Kamëntsá territory of the Colombian Amazon.
While modest in amount, this funding plays an essential role in sustaining long-term ecological and biocultural restoration processes.
From Pilot Chagra to Regional Reforestation Prototype
Last year, OIOC supported the implementation of the first pilot Chagra Forestry model — an ancestral Indigenous agroforestry system that integrates food crops, medicinal plants, native trees, and ecological restoration into a regenerative living ecosystem.
This pilot has now become the prototypical model for a larger community-led reforestation process, currently expanding toward a projected 360 hectares in collaboration with the Kamëntsá Cabildo (traditional Indigenous governance authority).
Under the leadership of our Director, Taita Juan Bautista Agreda — serving as Chief Authority of the Kamëntsá people for 2026 — this initiative is now being strengthened through governmental and international partnerships.
OIOC acts as an allied organization in this Indigenous-led process, contributing coordination experience, conservation strategy, and support built through long-standing partnerships such as GlobalGiving.
Ongoing Amazon Conservation & Medicinal Plant Protection
Alongside the larger reforestation vision, OIOC continues monthly stewardship of the Shanayoy Plant Medicine Garden, a living conservation site that protects native Amazonian species and ancestral ecological knowledge.
This trimester, we:
Maintained over 80 documented medicinal and native species
Completed multilingual educational signage (English, Spanish, and Kamëntsá)
Planted 100 additional seedlings of diverse species to strengthen biodiversity
Continued building restoration micro-ecosystems inspired by internationally recognized “Anderson nuclei” ecological models
This garden serves as a community classroom, a conservation hub, and a bridge between ancestral and scientific knowledge systems.
Biocultural Conservation: Forest and Language
Our conservation efforts remain inseparable from cultural preservation. As shared in our 2025 Annual OIOC Report:
121 students participated in the Kamëntsá Language Revitalization Program
4 teachers were sustained
$18,918 in student motivation bonuses were distributed
$24,117 was raised for language revitalization
We believe Amazon conservation is not only about protecting trees — it is about protecting the people, language, and worldview that sustain the forest.
Looking Ahead
In the coming trimester, we will:
Continue supporting the Cabildo-led 360-hectare reforestation expansion
Maintain and expand plant medicine conservation efforts
Continue developing educational tools linking forest restoration and language revitalization
Strengthen institutional partnerships to scale Indigenous-led ecological restoration
We remain deeply grateful to GlobalGiving donors for supporting Indigenous leadership in conservation and cultural resilience.
Every contribution sustains living ecosystems — ecological and cultural — in the Colombian Amazon.
With gratitude,
The OIOC Team
Kamëntsá Territory, Sibundoy Valley
www.oioc.co
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