World Bank Supports Jobs, Conservation, and Sustainable Development in the Colombian Amazon

WASHINGTON, May 15, 2026 - The World Bank's Board of Executive Directors today approved new resources from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to support the Connectivity, Conservation, and Sustainable Forest Management in the Colombian Amazon Landscapes Project - Vida Amazonía. The initiative will strengthen biodiversity conservation, ecological connectivity, and forest governance in key Amazon landscapes, while promoting jobs and sustainable economic opportunities for local communities and scaling up the positive results of previous interventions.

The Colombian Amazon contains 66 percent of the country's forests and plays a critical role in local and global biodiversity, climate regulation, and local livelihoods. However, it faces increasing pressures from deforestation, degradation, and land appropriation.

To address these challenges, the US$24.28 million grant will combine environmental conservation with the creation of sustainable economic opportunities. It will support the protection and restoration of more than 8 million hectares of high-biodiversity areas, strengthen sustainable community forest management across 5.1 million hectares, and improve land and water-use planning to maintain and restore ecological connectivity corridors.

The project will directly benefit more than 48,000 people - 45 percent of them women - by strengthening rural livelihoods and generating sustainable employment and income opportunities across 36 municipalities in 10 departments.

"Protecting the Amazon is essential not only for biodiversity and the global climate, but also for creating inclusive and sustainable economic opportunities for the communities who depend on it," said Mark R. Thomas, World Bank Director for Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela. "This project promotes a development approach that integrates environmental conservation, job creation, and strengthened governance, with a strong focus on Indigenous Peoples, women, youth, and local communities."

The initiative will support a biodiversity-based economy by promoting activities such as community forest management, sustainable tourism, and environmental monitoring, while strengthening traditional and local knowledge, resilience, and food security. Indigenous Peoples and local communities will participate as key partners and stakeholders. The project will also strengthen institutional capacity at national and subnational levels by engaging entities within the National Environmental System.

This initiative is part of the third phase of the Amazon Sustainable Landscapes Program, which brings together eight Amazon countries to advance coordinated conservation and sustainable development across the Amazon biome.

Since 2015, the World Bank and the GEF have supported initiatives in the Colombian Amazon demonstrating that ecosystem conservation can go hand in hand with job creation and sustainable productive opportunities through long-term, integrated approaches.

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