The Colombian Coffee Farmers Working Protecting An Endangered Species – CoffeeTalk

Jhoan Bravo, a coffee farmer in Colombia’s Western Villa de Cauca region, has been working to protect the habitat of the Andean bear, a species that has been a significant threat to the country’s ecosystem. The bear, also known as Andean bears (Tremarctos ornatus), has been hunted for centuries and is now considered vulnerable by The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. The population of these bears has declined due to activities such as logging, mining, cattle ranching, and agricultural expansion.

Today, there are only an estimated 13,000 to 18,000 bears remaining, with Peru having the largest population. Activities such as logging, mining, cattle ranching, and agricultural expansion have led to deforestation and a loss of habitat for the only bear species native to South America. In some areas, the bears have even been killed – shot by farmers to prevent them from attacking livestock on nearby farms.

A small group of coffee producers in the region of Valle de Cauca is helping to reverse this decline. The town of El Aguila, a coffee-growing community in the Western Cordillera, is part of We Conserve Life, a collaboration between local farmers, the nonprofit Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the government agency National Natural Parks of Colombia (PNN), and a small collection of other public and private entities.

The coffee growers receive tools and machinery to help harvest and dry the beans more efficiently, as well as microorganisms to reactivate the soil and enrich it with nutrients, which is crucial for high-quality coffee. This support allows them to concentrate on producing the best beans, which means cultivating a selection of coffee plants, picking the best coffee cherries, and carefully washing, drying, and fermenting the beans that can be sold at a higher price.

The coffee growers are part of We Conserve Life, a collaboration between local farmers, the nonprofit Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the government agency National Natural Parks of Colombia (PNN), and a small collection of other public and private entities. By focusing on the quality of the coffee, rather than the quantity of the harvest, they can focus on producing the best beans.

In conclusion, the coffee industry in Colombia is working to protect the habitat of the Andean bear and restore its natural habitat. By freeing up land used for coffee cultivation, hunting, and logging, coffee producers like Jhoan Bravo are able to focus on producing high-quality coffee and preserving the habitat for future generations.

We Conserve Life, a wildlife organization in Colombia, has partnered with farmers to create’stepping stones’ for spectacled bears, a species of omnivores that play a crucial role in the ecosystem. These omnivores, which weigh between 82-154kg (180-340 pounds) and typically live about 20 years, climb trees or forage on the ground for fruit and nuts, occasionally consuming small rodents, rabbits, and birds. In 2016, We Conserve Life identified five large areas with either a strong presence of the bears or significant habitat loss, totaling 380,000 hectares (939,000 acres).

To address this issue, We Conserve Life partnered with farmers willing to free up some of their land to form biological pathways to link forests and protected areas like Tatamá, Fallarones, and Munchique National Natural Parks, located in Colombia’s Western Andes. The project aims to generate patches of forest where the bears can move and where the landscape becomes more accessible for them.

The farmers involved in the project commit to using it to restore the bears’ habitat, signing voluntary conservation agreements stipulating the responsibilities of each party. Owners agree to keep farming the land and not cut down trees, and the agreement is renewed every five years.

Since 2018, the project has on-boarded 16 farmers in the El Aguila area, most of them coffee growers, who have aggregated 681 hectares (1,683 acres) at altitudes between 1,800 and 2,200 meters (5,900-7,217 feet) to create corridors that allow the spectacled bear to move freely between different zones. They are being rejuvenated by planting the land with seeds to encourage regeneration or leaving it to recuperate naturally without any intervention.

Initially, the coffee producers were not enthusiastic about the conservation project, with many, including coffee grower, expressing resistance. However, in 2021, evidence showed that the project was actually working. Farmers who had given up land were shown footage from cameras set up on their properties to capture the movement of the mountain’s animals, including spectacled bears.

Bravo, a coffee farmer, recalls the excitement of watching the shy but curious bears wandering his land, stating that it was an incredible joy to see the spectacled bears.

Coffee farmer Carlos Rendon, who has been growing coffee all his life near El Aguila, has been involved in a project to protect the spectacled bear and the wider environment. The alliance aims to raise awareness among coffee growers about threats to the bear, such as hunting, and unsustainable farming practices that can endanger animal populations and result in habitat degradation. However, asking coffee producers to give up growing coffee completely was not feasible.

The organization works with farmers to find out their priorities and how they could make their coffee farming processes more efficient. To intensify production on smaller areas of land, companies and organizations within the alliance provide technical expertise, financing for coffee machinery, and items individual farms might need to make life on the farm more efficient, safe, and sustainable.

The Argos Group Foundation, the charitable arm of the Argos Group, a major cement and infrastructure investment firm, is looking for resources that will help different communities become more productive. Today, the farmers in El Aguila are seeing results, such as producing better coffee, making more money, and seeing a resurgence of trees and vegetation on the land they once farmed. They have also received financial assistance and new machinery as part of the project.

Eight of the coffee producers have joined together to launch their own brand of artisan coffee, Café Oso Andino. They also contribute to the local economy by employing locals to help with picking and production during the harvest. The producers visit schools to educate students about the spectacled bear and other native wildlife, as well as the importance of conservation.

For Grisales, coffee represents the heartbeat of the communities in and around El Aguila. If they can produce a better quality coffee, they can sell at a much better price, which improves their quality of life. In El Aguila, the project is also yielding results for the spectacled bears, as their population appears to be increasing. In 2016, the probability that the bears occupied different places around the mountain range was 56%, but in 2021, this probability had increased to 73%.

The WCS is currently in the process of evaluating the density of the spectacled bear population in the Western Andes, where the coffee producers are based, and hopes to have a clearer indication of the number of bears in 2025.

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