Leticia: Protecting the Heart of the Amazon
Leticia is at the front line of Amazon conservation — the NGOs, the researchers, and the indigenous communities based here are working to protect the Colombian Amazon from deforestation, illegal mining, and wildlife trafficking
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Amazon Conservation Team
The Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) — headquartered near Leticia — supports Tikuna and other indigenous communities in mapping and defending their territories; the GPS mapping program, which puts territory control in indigenous hands, is a model of conservation technology used globally
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SINCHI Research Institute
The Instituto Sinchi — Colombia's main Amazon research institution, with offices in Leticia — monitors the Colombian Amazon's biodiversity, ecology, and indigenous cultures; the institute's research on forest loss, river health, and species distribution is the scientific basis for Amazon policy
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Illegal Wildlife Trafficking
Leticia has historically been a transit point for illegal wildlife trafficking — baby monkeys, macaws, and river turtles have been smuggled through the tri-border area; the conservation organizations based in Leticia work with authorities to intercept trafficking
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Deforestation Monitoring
The Colombian Amazon has suffered significant deforestation since the 2016 peace agreement — coca eradication and agricultural expansion have accelerated forest loss; the satellite monitoring and the indigenous community patrols coordinated from Leticia are responding to this threat
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Ecotourism as Conservation Tool
The community-led ecotourism around Leticia – the Tikuna community visits, the lodge-based wildlife and the river excursions – provides income that makes forest management economically viable for communities that might otherwise clear forest for livestock
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Climate and the Amazon
The Amazon rainforest generates the moisture that drives rainfall throughout South America — the "flying rivers" of atmospheric water vapor originating in the Amazon basin bring rain to the Brazilian agricultural heartland; Leticia is the source of this global climate system