PROTECTING THE PLANETS “LIFE RESERVES”: Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia

PROTECTING THE PLANETS “LIFE RESERVES”:

Indigenous elders and international community join hearts and hands to create a natural reserve and nature healing center in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia.

We are a family from Colombia and Argentina, who have responded to a call made by the native elders of Colombia, to help protect the Heart of the World, the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta Mountains, in the tropical Caribbean, known as one of the most precious biological and cultural reserves in the world.

We were invited by the Kogui indigenous elders and wisdom keepers, to guardian an 80 hectare Sanctuary nested in the mountains with native forests and crystalline waterfalls, surrounded by birds and outstanding diversity of wild animals. We call this the “Colibri” Life Reserve. Here, we are learning with the elders the path towards our Origin, returning to Nature and sustainability as a way of life, creating family-community and joining hearts to protect and care for this unique treasure.

We believe in the potential of bringing like-minded beings who have a passion for protecting Mother Earth and dream of creating a space dedicated to healing and ecology, weaving into a delicate community where visions can come together, in a think-tank environment that fosters loving relationships, family, conservation and sustainability.

To achieve the protection of the Sierra, we have developed three main programs

• Environmental and Sustainability Sensibilization / Climate Change Strategies
  • Workshops and experiences guided towards the local community and youth.
  • Workshops and experiences guided towards international groups.
• Conservation initiatives
  • Reforestation.
  • Medicinal botanical investigation and preservation of endemic medicinal species.
• Support of the local indigenous Ancestral Wisdom
  • 13% of all funds go directly to our native allies, in support in their programs dedicated to promote their culture and spirituality to native youth.

Funding Objectives

For two years, we have organised gatherings and permaculture programs. We have built a 9 meter diameter “Casa Madre,” or Ceremony House, fusing traditional native and innovative techniques for a multi-use space for group healing and gatherings. We have fundraised donations and investments for the first 60 hectares and these first constructions, and now we are searching for funding to co-create this dream!

These seed funds will help us to

• Finish paying the reserve land (only 20 hectares left!)
• Building community kitchen, ecological bathrooms, and guest cabins.

Partners

We are registering the space with the Colombian Government as a “ECC” or a place for “Complimentary Conservation,” which is a recognized program for conservation initiatives so as to protect the natural resources. We are affiliated with the GEN Global Ecovillage Network, an organization that gathers the communities and sustainable initiatives from around the globe. The Colibri Reserve is also a part of a Global Climate Change Strategies initiative called "Awakening Spirit," and our indigenous projects operate in alliance with Aiprodensa Ikwashendwna, an indigenous organization dedicated to preserve ancestral wisdom.

About The Heart of the World - Sierra Nevada

Infinite beaches of sunset horizons, tropical forests, countless species, water-springs and lagoons on snow peak mountains, are what the mamos, or wise men from the Sierra Nevada, are devoted to protecting. This is a Life Reserve for the generations to come… and its protection is a call to humanity.

The Sierra Nevada is the highest Mountain Range which contains the path between the water springs from the snowy peaks till the ocean. Its home of some of the most preserved ancestral cultures of the world, the Koguis, and has one of the planet´s richest biodiversity. UNESCO declarad the Sierra Nevada a Natural Patrimony site in 1979. Its natural and cultural characteristics makes this a very unique and special place in the world.

The arrival of tourism, mining, and the civilized world is threatening this sacred place. For this reason we have created an Alliance with the elders to help preserve it, composed of people from different nations of the world, including permaculture designers, healers, musicians, ecologists, all united to create initiatives of consciousness development and intercultural experiences that reconnect us with Mother Earth.

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It is in the meeting of the worlds in dharma and service, in respect and mutual learning, in forgiving and joining hearts, that we create the vibration that will bring a new horizon of hope to this sacred land, and simultaneously set a precedent, a seed, for other sacred lands, natural and cultural patrimonies around the world, to inspire and empower to protect their sanctuaries through international peaceful coalitions of art, culture, and consciousness awakening.

Join us in this international intercultural protection of the Life Reserves of our Planet.

You can find more information about us at

EARTH WISDOM/SABERES DE LA TIERRA

www.saberesdelatierra.org