For the implementation of Agreement 073 of 2014, signed by the Regional Autonomous Corporation of Valle del Cauca (CVC) and WCS for the promotion and registration of 20 privately owned nature reserves (in the municipalities of Restrepo and La Cumbre in the Cauca Valley), a participatory workshop was held in relation to the selection and qualification of objectives and targets.
The results of this workshop are considered of high strategic value for the further development of the respective management plans the 20 privately owned reserves require.
In this participatory exercise, each of the owners, together with the technical team, made their selection of conservation values and targets. This can include species, natural communities and ecosystems. The same applies to those natural processes that sustain them; when these are protected, other vital resources for the preservation of a given ecosystem are also protected.
Once this first activity is completed, attendees worked to highlight other natural elements that are also essential for these areas. We refer specifically to the water resources and soil resources, both of great importance in this planning process.
Subsequently, again in a participatory manner and with the same 20 reserves, the prospective component was addressed. Each of the owners made a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) for their farms.
Finally, all the collected information served as the main input for the first drafts of action plans to be implemented in each property. These were structured by the components of conservation, sustainable production and community empowerment.