Communitarian Ecotourism in the Colombia Darién and Urabá Region: An Opportunity for Peace-Building
Publisher: Center for Peace Research and Education
Author(s): Natalia Naranjo Ramos
Date: 2014
Topics: Land, Livelihoods, Renewable Resources
Countries: Colombia
The Urabá Gulf is located on the western border of northern Colombia, next to Panamá. The continental part of the Gulf is the Darién and Urabá Region. This area of Colombia is still unknown; its violence and uprooting history have stigmatised a beautiful place, diverse in people and nature. In this area, tourist initiatives have emerged from rural communities, the same ones that have suffered a history of violence and repression. The aim of this article is to show how tourism is an opportunity for peacebuilding in the Darién and Urabá Region; and through this example to show how endogenous development models are essential for local communities. It is an interesting example of how tourism services provided by local people through four ecotourism centres, managed by communitarian organisations, and with more than 100 families directly involved, are an opportunity for the promotion of a local endogenous development; these services – integrating personal, communitarian, commercial and territorial aspects – are leading to a social change in the area. Colombia is located in a strategic position, in the northern corner of South America: it is the main corridor to Central and North America. On the northern border with Panamá, no roads are available for vehicle transit and the only transportation is by boat, or by foot on a dangerous and hidden road. This region is called ‘Tapón del Darién’, or ‘Darién Gap’. Its dense vegetation makes it a region with one of the largest amounts of plant and animal biodiversity in the world, although most species – despite their potential value for scientific, biomedical or industrial purposes – have not yet been identified. It’s considered a strategic ecosystem capable of guaranteeing essential environmental goods and services for sustainable human development, the maintenance of cultural and biological diversity, the protection of endemism and the balance of basic ecological processes. The environmental richness and the cultural diversity in this territory is amazing: indigenous people, Afro-Colombians, farmers and people from different regions in Colombia, who came looking for new opportunities in the region, all live together here. Urabá borders the Darién region, where agriculture and banana farming are the main commercial activities; the land is productive and has access to the sea through the port of Turbo at the Urabá Gulf.