The Medio Atrato region, between the departments of Chocó and Antioquia, is one of the areas with the highest deforestation rates in the country. In addition, the extraction of wood, which is one of the main economic activities of the communities that inhabit this territory, is largely done illegally and puts great pressure on the forests.

In this scenario Unión Natural is born, a project that seeks to strengthen the communities of the Medio Atrato region in the sustainable management of their forests for the legal and sustainable use of wood and non-wood forest products.

With an investment of 1,200,000 euros from the French Fund for the Global Environment, FFEM, this project will be implemented by 16 Afro-Colombian communities in Antioquia and Chocó, belonging to the COCOMACIA Community Council, Fondo Acción, ONF Andina, and the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development. A union of willpower that hopes to become a real example for the sustainable use of forests in the Pacific.

This project will implement sustainable forest management in more than 36,000 hectares of forest, consolidate a least two productive changes, and strengthen the capacities of local populations on the use, transport, transformation, and commercialization of wood. Likewise, a scientific research program will be developed to collect information that will contribute to the conservation and reconstruction of these ecosystems.

These efforts will make it possible to move from an irregular commercialization of wood that currently has between 20 and 30 intermediaries to a fair forestry business with traceability.

Finally, these actions will help fulfill the objectives that the country has with the new National Development Plan (2018-2020), especially the components of forest economy and the creation of a nucleus of sustainable forest management in the Medio Atrato region.