ENVIRONMENTAL WOMEN ORG is a non-profit environmental organisation in Colombia, whose mission is to lead and promote the conservation of biodiversity and the fight against climate change, with a gender approach, to contribute to the sustainable development of the country and guarantee a resilient and equitable future for future generations.
The Project
Environmental Women Org will use a Tikuna-led football and mentoring programme to keep young Amazonian adults out of wildlife-trafficking networks and turn them into biodiversity guardians.
The Issue
In Tikuna Indigenous territory in the Colombian Amazon, wildlife-trafficking networks recruit young adults by paying them to use their forest knowledge to capture and move trafficked animals.
The Project
The project will enrol 600 Tikuna youth, including 340 women, in a structured outdoor football programme with regular sessions, nutritional support and attendance monitoring, alongside training as forest and wildlife guardians.
The Impact
Over 24 months, at least 540 participants are expected to stay engaged in conservation-oriented sport rather than being drawn into poaching, protecting biodiversity across 14,400 hectares of Indigenous forest territory.
