Living the Territory: A Life in Service of the Amazon

Luz Adriana Rodríguez was born in Bogotá, Colombia, but life led her to live in the vastness of the Amazon for many years. From a young age, she felt a deep connection with nature, which motivated her to study geography. This allowed her to understand the intersection between territory, planning, and community. In the 1980s, she decided that her place was in the field, working directly with communities. Thus began her journey and work in the Amazon, always seeking to contribute to integrated territorial management.

When she arrived in the Amazon, her personal and professional life intertwined: she arrived with her first child, who was six months old, and took him along on her work travels. Later, with the birth of her daughter, she consolidated her second home in the Amazon. Raising her two children in this environment gave her a unique perspective, marked by resilience and respect for nature, diversity, and difference. Over time, contact with the challenges faced by these marginal territories for most Colombians awakened her life mission, which is service and solidarity, shaping her into the charismatic leader she is today.

Luz Adriana and her children in Raudal del Guayabero, San José de Guaviare in the 1990s

Throughout her career, she has traveled almost the entire Colombian Amazon and the country. Her experience working on the National Rehabilitation Plan, guided by the national government, later in the government of the Guaviare department, the Raíz por Raíz program, which closely resonated with the feelings of indigenous communities, the Bogotá without Hunger program, and her time at National Parks strengthened her conviction that transformations in the territory toward sustainability are achieved through synergistic and coordinated work between local civil society organizations, communities, and public entities. She believes that coordinated work also strengthens governance in marginalized areas and enables the real development of participatory territorial planning.

On this journey, she joined the Heart of the Amazon project, which started in 2015. Here, she was able to apply her previous experience and coordinate the actions of entities from Colombia's National Environmental System around strengthening institutional and community governance, sustainable land use, and biodiversity conservation.

The project later became part of the Amazon Sustainable Landscapes (ASL) Program, which brings together similar projects in other Amazonian countries. The exchange of experiences, challenges, and lessons with other countries allowed Luz Adriana to confirm the connection she had already been establishing in Colombia. Beyond political and social differences, Amazonian countries share a biome that requires an integrated landscape approach. As she says, "Nature has no borders, and this has been made evident at every step of the way."

According to Luz Adriana, one of the ASL's greatest achievements has been the creation of a learning community, where the exchange of knowledge allows projects and their members to broaden their vision of the territory. Before, each country worked within its own regulatory framework, without understanding that decisions in one country can have positive or negative effects on others. With the program, the region is seen as a whole, and its conservation is key to the planet's stability.

Luz Adriana at one of the Heart of the Amazon project's events

In this learning and exchange space created by ASL, the Heart of the Amazon project has been able to share its achievements and lessons regarding community participation and governance and the structuring of strategies that have generated agreements and sustainable behavior changes aimed at forest conservation.

Video: Entrepreneurs in the middle of the jungle
This video was first published by El País and subsequently shared by the Heart of the Amazon project on Facebook page (2020)

One of the most inspiring cases, according to Luz Adriana, is that of the women from the Mirití reserve, whose efforts to recover traditional seeds resulted in opportunities for the recovery and recognition of traditional knowledge as a foundation for conservation, while also strengthening indigenous governance. Additionally, working with the indigenous communities that make up the Ramsar sites of the Estrella Fluvial de Inírida (EFI) and the Tarapoto Lakes, through actions of fishing and wildlife monitoring, has shown how integrating traditional knowledge with scientific tools and capacities helps consolidate and enhance local leadership in sustainable management strategies.

Over the years, it has become clear to Luz Adriana that real transformation does not solely depend on government policies, but also on the people. When a farmer says "my forest is off-limits" or a community chooses conservation over deforestation, a transformation is evident that allows progress toward the care and management of territories.

Looking toward the future, Luz Adriana believes that the Amazon doesn't need more short-term responses to current problems; it requires long-term policies and guarantees for their implementation, recognizing the region's value beyond the economic. She envisions a territory where communities are the protagonists, and where conservation and human well-being are not opposing concepts but a way of life.

She knows there is still much to be done, but what she has learned with ASL is that the Amazon has its own voice, and increasingly, there are those who are willing to listen to and protect it.

10 Years Connecting the Amazon

The Heart of the Amazon project celebrates 10 years of implementation, working for the conservation and sustainable use of the Amazon biome in Colombia. This anniversary coincides with the 10-year milestone of the regional program Amazon Sustainable Landscapes (ASL), of which the project belongs.

To commemorate this milestone, we celebrate the key individuals who have been a fundamental part of this journey.