By donating to this appeal you will:

◉ Enable FBC to expand their El Silencio reserve by 1,495 hectares (3,694 acres).

◉ Fund the employment of two rangers to protect and patrol the land for the next three years.

◉ Safeguard the Barbacoas lake and the livelihoods of local fishing communities from the imminent threat of an encroaching man-made canal.

◉ Protect Critically Endangered species, many of which exist nowhere else in the world.

◉ Bring degraded areas of land under protection and begin the process of restoration.

DONATE NOW

FBC’s El Silencio Reserve safeguards one of the most important remnants of tropical forest in the Middle Magdalena Valley. It’s currently a place of safety and beauty, teeming with life.

Without FBC’s intervention, the remaining forests in the area would have already disappeared altogether. Their work is making a huge difference, but critical land remains unprotected, with hundreds of hectares of forest being cleared per year for cattle and buffalo ranching. Poaching, hunting, and illegal logging also persist as serious threats.

Your donations will allow FBC to bring two more key properties into the El Silencio reserve. Securing these properties is a crucial step in FBC’s long-term vision to connect isolated reserves and establish the region’s largest wildlife corridor, stretching from El Silencio to the San Bartolo Civil Society Nature Reserve. This would connect more than 6,000 hectares of forest, wetland, and grassland.

DONATE NOW

The Middle Magdalena Valley is one of Colombia’s most biodiverse regions, with an extraordinary richness of species. It is overflowing with wildlife; amphibians and insects make their homes on the ground, primates occupy the trees, and bats and more than 300 bird species roost and migrate throughout the valley.

The wetlands are home to the Antillean Manatee (Trichechus manatus manatus), an Endangered sub-species with fewer than 7,000 individuals left in the wild. The Critically Endangered Magdalena River Turtle (Podocnemis lewyana) also resides in these waters – this turtle is only found in Colombia and could face extinction without urgent conservation intervention.

High in the canopy, a host of charismatic primates scale the branches, their calls ringing through the trees. Among these, the Critically Endangered Brown Spider Monkey (Ateles hybridus), the distinctive Silvery-brown Tamarin (Saguinus leucopus), and the nocturnal Grey-handed Night Monkey (Aotus griseimembra) often found peering out from the tree trunks with its large umber eyes.

By supporting our appeal, you will help FBC to expand this place of safety, giving all these species the space they need to thrive.

KEY SPECIES

The properties purchased through this appeal will not only secure forest and save wildlife but safeguard Ciénaga de Barbacoas. This vital wetland provides breeding grounds for waterbirds and manatees and supports the traditional fishing practises of local communities.

Here, one of the greatest threats is a man-made canal that connects the Barbacoas lake to the Magdalena River. If the canal continues to grow, it will drastically alter water levels in the wetland, degrade water quality, and allow poachers and loggers easier access deep into the forest, with devastating consequences.

These properties are vital to stopping the encroachment of the man-made canal. If we do not secure this land now and start restoration, the chance to create a conservation corridor will be lost. Worse still, the biodiversity, water systems, and communities that rely on this ecosystem will face irreversible damage.

Your donations will allow FBC to prevent access to the canal, fill the eroded areas to close off the entrance, and reforest the banks to prevent further erosion – essential work to save this wetland habitat.

DONATE NOW