Case Studies UNDP: NASA PROJECT, Colombia

7/27/2019 Case Studies UNDP: NASA PROJECT, Colombia

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Equator Initiative Case StudiesLocal sustainable development solutions for people, nature, and resilient communities

ColombiaNASA PROJECT

Empowered live

Resilient nation

Empowered live

Resilient nation


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UNDP EQUATOR INITIATIVE CASE STUDY SERIES

Local and indigenous communities across the world are advancing innovative sustainable development solutions that wo

or people and or nature. Few publications or case studies tell the ull story o how such initiatives evolve, the breadth

their impacts, or how they change over time. Fewer still have undertaken to tell these stories with community practition

themselves guiding the narrative.

To mark its 10-year anniversary, the Equator Initiative aims to ll this gap. The ollowing case study is one in a growing ser

that details the work o Equator Prize winners vetted and peer-reviewed best practices in community-based environmenconservation and sustainable livelihoods. These cases are intended to inspire the policy dialogue needed to take local succ

to scale, to improve the global knowledge base on local environment and development solutions, and to serve as models

replication. Case studies are best viewed and understood with reerence to The Power o Local Action: Lessons rom 10 Years

the Equator Prize, a compendium o lessons learned and policy guidance that draws rom the case material.

Click on the map to visit the Equator Initiatives searchable case study database.

EditorsEditor-in-Chie: Joseph Corcoran

Managing Editor: Oliver HughesContributing Editors: Dearbhla Keegan, Matthew Konsa, Erin Lewis, Whitney Wilding

Contributing WritersEdayatu Abieodun Lamptey, Erin Atwell, Toni Blackman, Jonathan Clay, Joseph Corcoran, Larissa Currado, Sarah Gordon, Oliver Hughe

Wen-Juan Jiang, Sonal Kanabar, Dearbhla Keegan, Matthew Konsa, Rachael Lader, Patrick Lee, Erin Lewis, Jona Liebl, Mengning Ma,

Mary McGraw, Gabriele Orlandi, Juliana Quaresma, Peter Schecter, Martin Sommerschuh, Whitney Wilding, Luna Wu

DesignOliver Hughes, Dearbhla Keegan, Matthew Konsa, Amy Korngiebel, Kimberly Koserowski, Erin Lewis, John Mulqueen, Lorena de la

Parra, Brandon Payne, Mariajos Satizbal G.

AcknowledgementsThe Equator Initiative acknowledges with gratitude the guidance and inputs o Jhon Eduardo Amaya Rodrguez. All photo credits court

o the Nasa Project. Maps courtesy o CIA World Factbook and Wikipedia.

Suggested CitationUnited Nations Development Programme. 2012. Nasa Project, Colombia. Equator Initiative Case Study Series. New York, NY.
http://equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/events/2012events/Book_Launch/power%2520of%2520local%2520action%2520final%25202013%25208mb.pdfhttp://equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/events/2012events/Book_Launch/power%2520of%2520local%2520action%2520final%25202013%25208mb.pdfhttp://equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/events/2012events/Book_Launch/power%2520of%2520local%2520action%2520final%25202013%25208mb.pdfhttp://equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/events/2012events/Book_Launch/power%2520of%2520local%2520action%2520final%25202013%25208mb.pdfhttp://equatorinitiative.org/index.php?option=com_winners&view=casestudysearch&Itemid=858


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PROJECT SUMMARYThe Nasa Project (Proyecto Nasa) aims to increase the politicaland organizational capacity o Colombias indigenous Pezpeoples, who have been disproportionately aected byviolence in the Cauca region. By strengthening regionalpolitical autonomy and exercising their political rights, theindigenous groups involved in the project have successullylobbied or access to a greater share o public unds andservices. Their struggle has led to legal recognition othe undamental rights o indigenous peoples, includingrecognition o the autonomy o their communal indigenouslands in the 1991 Colombian Constitution.

This work has been complemented by a programme osustainable natural resource management within the Nasasindigenous lands, which both border and all within keyprotected areas. Sustainable natural resource harvestingand improved agricultural practices have helped tomitigate environmental impacts and underpin sustainablelivelihoods or the Nasa people.

KEY FACTS

EQUATOR PRIZE WINNER: 2004

FOUNDED: 1980

LOCATION: Cauca

BENEFICIARIES: Indigenous Nasa population (app. 186,00

BIODIVERSITY: Los Nevados Protected Area

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NASA PROJECTColombia

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Background and Context 4

Key Activities and Innovations 6

Biodiversity Impacts 7

Socioeconomic Impacts 8

Policy Impacts 8

Sustainability 9

Replication 9


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he Nasa Project is a grassroots indigenous movement dedicated

o securing the undamental rights o Colombias indigenous

Nasa people through the deense, recovery and conservation o

heir ancestral lands. The Nasa (ormerly known as the Pez) have

ought to uniy several indigenous reservations located within the

epartment o Cauca, in the southwestern Colombian highlands, in

rder to gain independence both rom landowning groups backed

y the government and rom the Revolutionary Armed Forces

Colombia (FARC) guerilla insurgents. The group embodies a

olistic approach to community empowerment and environmental

tewardship, articulated in their visionary Lie Plan which is based on

he philosophy that the Earth is a living, spiritual entity o which man

s part and within which everything is interrelated. The Plan servess a constitution or the Nasa people, mandating the development

, a new, aware, united and organized community, that provides

ducational and economic opportunities while preserving the rich

nvironment that abounds in the region.

Conict in Cauca

he Nasa people live primarily within the department o Cauca

nd number roughly 186,000 individuals. Ever since Spanish

onquistador Sebastin de Belalczar ounded the nearby city

Popayn in 1537, the Nasa peoples have dealt with centuries

colonial and military intrusion onto their lands. And over the

ast several decades, indigenous and human rights groups haveocumented how Colombias native peoples have been increasingly

argeted in the regions armed confict. Indigenous groups such as

he Nasa nd themselves caught in a dangerous crossre between

he Colombian military and other paramilitary groups. They are

imultaneously accused by the paramilitary and the army o being

uerrilla supporters, and by the guerrillas o lending support

o the paramilitary orces. The lands they inhabit are coveted as

orridors or the movement o supplies and troops, and provide

ertile ground or the illicit cultivation o lucrative coca crops, whose

ales help to uel the confict. Today, Cauca is considered to be the

epicenter o the Colombian armed confict, and is one o the

violent departments in Colombia. As part o a growing, world

indigenous movement, the Nasa Project is helping to orge a

towards a culture o peace in the region, and a greater appreci

o the value o traditional and cultural heritage.

Traditional livelihoods under threat

The majority o Nasa are subsistence armers. Their primary c

are corn, bean, potato, blackberry, coee, plantain, cassava (Ma

esculenta), white carrot (Arracacia xanthorriza), and rasca

(Xanthosoma). Many Nasa also work as cattle ranchers o

migrant laborers on sugar cane plantations. However, the ruggeomorphological eatures o their lands present multiple challe

or Nasa communities. The steep terrain and shallow alpine so

the region help to accelerate the erosive eects o heavy tro

rainalls. Furthermore, although indigenous lands, called resgua

are recognized as communal in nature, prohibited rom sa

rental, and governed by indigenous authorities under Colom

law, they are rarely acknowledged by the paramilitary and gue

groups operating within the region. As a result, indigenous pres

in many parts o the country is an obstacle or these armed gro

Indigenous communities throughout Colombia have had

lands orcibly expropriated, and suered kidnappings or massa

which have drastically undermined their authority and soverei

Furthermore, the controversial aerial spraying operations to dethe coca and poppy crops used in the production o cocaine

heroin cause signicant environmental, social, and econ

damage, and disproportionately so to the indigenous commun

ound in these regions.

A regional response on behal o indigenous peoples

In response to the many hazards to which indigenous commun

and their leaders are subjected, in 1970 the Nasa, with o

indigenous peoples o Cauca, organized the Regional Indige

Background and Context


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Council o Cauca (CRIC). Their goal was simple: to recover their

ncestral lands and deend their cultural and political autonomy.

our decades later, this movement has impacted the Colombian

olitical landscape, producing a vital array o local, regional, and

ational indigenous organizations that have helped to legitimize

nd strengthen indigenous authority, reclaim lands, and provide

ommunities with the means to transcend the impasse o the armed

onfict. CRIC is now the umbrella organization o over 90% o the

ndigenous communities o the department o Cauca and has serveds a model or organizing native peoples throughout the country.

he Nasa Project was started in 1980 by Nasa priest Father Alvaro Ulcu

Chocu in the resguardos o Toribio Tacuey and San Francisco. The

oal was to reclaim the Nasas indigenous consciousness, identity

nd culture in order to promote concrete and culturally specic

lternatives in education, socio-economic and political development

nd environmental conservation conceived in accordance with the

worldview o the Nasa people. Through the Nasa Project, community

eaders have strengthened civic organizations and businesses,

mpowered the cabildos (councils), which are the traditional orms

authority and democratic governance o an indigenous territory,

nd protected their territorys vast natural resources.


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Key Activities and Innovations

or over thirty years the Nasa Project has been empowering

ndigenous communities throughout the region. It has enabled

he Nasa people to recover over 140,000 hectares o land and has

eveloped important income-generating agricultural and tourism

projects. Locally-developed participation processes have enabled

mechanisms or broad-based decision-making on issues related to

he indigenous movement and the content o the Nasa Project itsel.

hrough dialogue and peaceul resistance, indigenous communities

nited under CRIC and the Nasa Project have managed to regain

heir autonomy and livelihoods. The projects continued success

as infuenced many other indigenous initiatives in the north Cauca

egion as well as nationally.

pecic project activities all into three areas: improving educational

opportunities and income-generating activities or the Nasa people;

ustainably managing the areas natural resources; and lobbying or

mproved indigenous rights and representation in local government

o combat the eects o armed confict on their indigenous lands.

n the rst and second categories, day-to-day project activities have

ought to realize tangible social and economic benets through

he wise use o available resources within the resguardos o Toribio

acuey and San Francisco.

ndigenous communities must balance subsistence livelihoods with

he conservation objectives within the park. Illegal logging and the

xpansion o the agricultural rontier are the greatest challenges toonservation in the park, threatening many endangered species. By

implementing sustainable agricultural, business, and social prac

the Nasa Project is contributing to the development o a m

comprehensive resource conservation and management stra

or the regions natural resources. Examples o low-impact reso

management include: the sustainable harvesting and processi

locally-available bres and plants; the development o eco-tou

and the preservation o an indigenous agricultural system emphasizes agroorestry and the use o organic ertilizers.

Kwesx txiwe nweway (In defense of our territory)

Nasa Project slogan


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Impacts

BIODIVERSITY IMPACTS

The projects main conservation impacts have been seen through

he improved management o the abundant natural resources

within the Nasas indigenous lands, which both border and all

within key protected areas. Sustainable natural resource harvesting

nd improved agricultural practices have reduced the impact o the

Nasa communities on their surrounding environment.

The Macizo Colombiano and Los Nevados Protected Area

ince pre-Colombian times, the Nasa, as well as other indigenous

ommunities, have inhabited the central highlands o the MacizoColombiano. The Macizo Colombiano, known locally as el Nudo de

Almaguer, is a mountainous landscape characterized by extremely

ugged terrain rich in both fora and auna. Covering the departments

o Cauca, Huila and Nario, the region provides approximately 70%

o Colombias reshwater reserves. The headwaters o the Magdalena

nd Cauca Rivers, which fow into the Caribbean Sea, and the

Caquet and Putumayo Rivers, which fow into the Amazon Basin,

re born here. The Macizo also encompasses roughly 13 tropical

lpine biomes composed mainly o giant rosette plants, shrubs and

grasses, and contains more than 360 alpine water sources. Central to

he worldview o the Nasa people is that human beings are stewards

o our living planet. Indeed, the Nasa Lie Plan takes this tenet very

eriously in mandating the preservation o the rich environmenthat abounds in the region.

os Nevados National Natural Park (Parque Nacional Natural Los

Nevados) is located in the Cordillera Central o the Colombian Andes;

pproximately 31% o the parks area overlaps the Nasa resguardos.

The park and surrounding region is home to over 1,250 species o

vascular plants, 200 bryophytes, 300 lichens and 180 macroscopic

ungi. On the lower slopes and in the valleys the Andean wax palms

re dominant. The upper Andean orest has trees reaching up to 30

meters (98 t.) in height. Noteworthy aviauna includes the Blue-

crowned Motmot (Momotus aequatorialis), Yellow-eared P

(Ognorhynchus icterotis), the critically endangered Fuertess P

(Hapalopsittaca uertesi), Ruous-ronted Parakeet (Bolborhyn

errugineirons), Andean Condor (Vultur gryphus), Brown-ba

Antpitta (Grallaria milleri), Ruddy Duck (Oxyura jamaicensis) and

Bearded Helmetcrest Hummingbird (Oxypogon guerinii). Mam

include the endangered Mountain Tapir (Tapirus pinchaSpectacled Bear (Tremarctos ornatus), Northern Pud (mephistophiles), Oncilla (Leopardus tigrinus) and Cougar, and

White-eared Opossum (Didelphis albiventris).

Nasa communities are also enriching local education processes

environmental topics as part o the Project Green school cou

or environmental education. The project aims to streng

socio-environmental relations in a sustainable manner by tra

educational leaders in local municipalities while developing

environmental leadership capacity among the youth.


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SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS

One o the rst priorities o the Nasa Project, and o the Colombian

ndigenous movement in general, was to begin training bilingual

eachers to take charge o primary education in their communities.

Much o the primary education in indigenous communities was

already oriented by ethno-educational principles, and the ormation

o the Nasa Project encouraged the development o specic

pedagogical models that took into account the cultural uniquenesso indigenous worldviews. Soon thereater, indigenous peoples

began arriving at Colombian universities.

The growing presence o indigenous students in Colombian

universities is mainly a phenomenon o the last several decades, and

while the precise number o indigenous university students in the

country is still unknown, there are approximately 2,500 in Bogota

tudying social sciences, engineering and health education. Public

and private universities have also set aside quotas and oered

cholarships and special programs or indigenous students as a

esult o the academic and socio-political advancement o these

communities. Currently, there are seven ethno-education degrees

oered by seven national universities, while specialized mastersdegrees are beginning to appear, as well as PhD programs in

multicultural education.

The Nasa Project is also helping to reduce poverty and strengthen

ivelihoods through business development and sustainable resource

management within indigenous communities and has created a new

generation o empowered indigenous leaders. Agroindustries, such

as ruit pulp and sugar cane processing, dairy collectives, community

arms and the cultivation ofque a natural bre that grows in the

eaves oFurcraea andina add value to local produce, while the vast

natural resource base also provides ample opportunity to develop

he touristic potential o the region. Thermal springs, sport shing,

cultural heritage and archaeological sites, and the abundant fora

and auna are just a ew examples o the attractions that the Nasa

Project is helping to develop into income-generating projects.

The prots generated rom these ventures are now used to scale

up existing projects or are reinvested in other income generating

activities. These small- and medium-sized enterprises oer viable

employment opportunities to communities who are in the process

o dening their role within the national context.

The Nasa Project also plays a leading role in assisting communities

o meet their long-term ood security needs through sustainable

esource management and agricultural strategies. Communities inhe Cauca region have long been vulnerable to a number o threats

o their ood security, including, but not limited to, the widespread

cultivation o illicit crops and adverse topography. However,

hrough the preparation o organic ertilizers and the production

o native ruits, vegetables, aromatics and medicinal plants, panela,

and coee, armers are able to diversiy and strengthen the tul,

heir traditional agroorestry system that has been managed by the

community or centuries.

POLICY IMPACTS

Another principle objective o the Nasa Project is to increase

political and organizational capacity o indigenous people

strengthening regional political autonomy and exercising

political rights, the indigenous groups o the Cauca have success

lobbied or access to a greater share o public unds and serv

They have also petitioned or increased protection and acce

legal recourse rom attacks and occupations by militant gro

And by creating partnerships with other social movements

organizations they continue to legitimize their own traditiona

processes within the national political context.

In an unprecedented wave o electoral victories, indigenous cou

have sent representatives to national and provincial legislatures,

taken control o numerous municipal governments, and have

been voted into executive positions at the provincial level, suppo

by coalitions o indigenous, labor, peasant (campesino), and u

popular organizations. Their struggle, marked by repression, ki

and even massacres o their leaders has led to legal recognitiothe undamental rights o indigenous peoples, such as recogn

o the autonomy and inalienability o the resguardos in the

Colombian Constitution.

The signicance o the entry o indigenous peoples onto

Colombian political stage is more apparent especially given

only two percent o the Colombian population is indigenous; t

organizations represent a small percentage o Colombians, but

achieved a voice that greatly surpasses their numbers in sett

new agenda or the nation.

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Sustainability and Replication

he success o the Nasa Project has led to the scaling up o several

ndigenous initiatives throughout Colombia as part o the Association

Indigenous Cabildos o Northern Cauca (ACIN). The ACIN unites

4 resguardos and 16 indigenous cabildos which help to organize

he ollowing projects: the Nasa Project (since 1980); the Jmbalo

Global Project (1987); the Pez Unity Project o Miranda (1990); the

ntegrated Project o the Cabildos o Huellas, Caloto and Toes (1990);

he Cxacxa Wala (Great Strength) Project o the Cabildo o Corinto

1991); the Yu Lucx (Children o the Water) Project o the Cabildos o

Munchique, los Tigres, Canoas and Urbano (1991); and the Sat Finxi

Kiwe (Chies territory) in the Cabildos o Guadualito, Las Delicias, La

Concepcin, Pueblo Nuevo Ceral, Cerro Tijeras and Alto Naya (2002).

his impressive record o replication rom the original Nasa Projects testament to its eectiveness and transerability. Together, these

ommunity projects currently constitute the Regional Indigenous

Council o Cauca, which in turn orms part o the National Indigenous

Organization o Colombia (ONIC).

hese projects are all based upon the same objective, which

nderscores all indigenous-led initiatives: to transorm community

ctors into leaders responsive to the needs o each community. The

ttention that the Nasa Project, as well as the many other indigenous

movements throughout Colombia, are receiving is a testament to

he courage and determination o indigenous leaders and members

civil society who are risking their lives every day to advance local

eace-building eorts, end violence, and promote peace, human

ghts, and human dignity.

articipants liken the Nasa Project to a tree o lie, rooted in the

ncestral territory o the Nasa cosmology and custom. Its trunk is the

truggle or unity, land and culture, the establishment o democratic

nd participatory orms o government, and the continued growth

community awareness. The branches are the various projects

nd initiatives whose ruits are seeds or the uture that are bound

with the eorts o other peoples and processes taking place within

Colombia and the world. Communities o Cauca are wo

together to promote productive activities in a spiritual, harmon

balanced manner respectul oTierra Madre, or Mother Earth.


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304 East 45th Street, 6th Floor

New York, NY 10017

Tel: +1 646 781 4023

www.equatorinitiative.org

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the UNs global development network, advocating or change and

necting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better lie.

The Equator Initiative brings together the United Nations, governments, civil society, businesses and grassroots organizati

o recognize and advance local sustainable development solutions or people, nature and resilient communities.

2012 by Equator Initiative

All rights reserved

FURTHER REFERENCE

Delgado, E.H. 2002. La Paz y la no violencia adquieren signifcado propio en Colombia en las iniciativas de paz que construyen las b

desde lo local.Ponticia Universidad Javeriana, in Reexin Poltica, 4 No 8, UNAB, Colombia. http://www.equatorinitiative.org/ima

stories/2004winners/Proyecto_Nasa/esperanza.pd

Beltrn, M. El Proyecto Nasa: Resistencia y Esperanza. La Experiencia de Toribo, Cauca . http://www.ronesis.org/immagen/rmt/docu

tosrmt/Experiencia_Nasa_Colombia.pd
http://www.equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/2004winners/Proyecto_Nasa/esperanza.pdfhttp://www.equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/2004winners/Proyecto_Nasa/esperanza.pdfhttp://www.equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/2004winners/Proyecto_Nasa/esperanza.pdfhttp://www.fronesis.org/immagen/rmt/documentosrmt/Experiencia_Nasa_Colombia.pdfhttp://www.fronesis.org/immagen/rmt/documentosrmt/Experiencia_Nasa_Colombia.pdfhttp://www.fronesis.org/immagen/rmt/documentosrmt/Experiencia_Nasa_Colombia.pdfhttp://www.fronesis.org/immagen/rmt/documentosrmt/Experiencia_Nasa_Colombia.pdfhttp://www.equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/2004winners/Proyecto_Nasa/esperanza.pdfhttp://www.equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/2004winners/Proyecto_Nasa/esperanza.pdfhttp://www.equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/com_winners/casestudy/case_1348067785.pdfhttp://www.equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/com_winners/casestudy/case_1348164353.pdfhttp://www.equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/com_winners/casestudy/case_1348261060.pdf

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Case Studies UNDP: NASA PROJECT, Colombia