Regeneration in the Colombian Orinoquía is key to strengthening sustainability and territorial resilience.
A mission by the German Government (BMUKN) and IKI to discover how regeneration is lived, learned, and scaled in Colombia
Between January 13 and 19, 2026, representatives from the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN) and the International Climate Initiative (IKI) visited Colombia. Their purpose was to witness firsthand how regenerative agriculture and livestock ranching, alongside Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA), actively contribute to national climate priorities and the implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs).
This visit was co-organized by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) , the Future Landscapes, , and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) through its SCALAprogram. The shared purpose: to observe on the ground how regenerative agriculture and livestock ranching, coupled with Ecosystem-based Adaptation, translate into concrete solutions for Colombia's climate targets.
The Orinoquía: a living savanna, a territory that teaches
A focal point of the mission was the visit to the Colombian Orinoquía , one of Latin America's most vital savannas— a landscape where biodiversity, food production, and llanera culture coexist and adapt to the challenges of climate change.
Covering an area comparable to the size of Germany, this iconic landscape is the hydrological heart of Colombia, home to 1,298 bird species, and a refuge for over 5,000 plant species.
The richness of this territory demonstrates that regeneration, rather than a future promise, is an ongoing practice with much to teach.
During the visit to the El Encanto de Guanapalo Nature Reserve, we witnessed how conservation ranching and the collaborative efforts of Civil Society Nature Reserves have catalyzed nature-based tourism. In Guanapalo, regional biodiversity harmoniously coexists with livestock production, birdwatching, and the preservation of the llanera cultural heritage, honoring ecosystem cycles and building landscape resilience.
In partnership with the Casanare Chamber of Commerce, the visit also provided a platform to hear from local entrepreneurs representing strategic clusters geared toward boosting sectors such as livestock, dairy, palm oil, rice, and nature tourism. This initiative, driven by collaboration between business owners and producers, actively propels the transition toward more sustainable production models and demonstrates how regeneration can translate into economic opportunities for the inhabitants of this landscape.
Systems that restore and yield
Furthermore, the mission witnessed the implementation of silvopastoral systems in the Llanos foothills. There, various ranchers and reserves, such as the PalmaritoNature Reserve, have begun integrating diverse agroecological practices—like planting trees and shrubs within their cattle herds—as a strategy to improve metrics such as productivity and profitability, while also contributing to biodiversity restoration in agricultural areas.
These actions directly enhance livestock animal welfare and build adaptive capacity against the challenges posed by climate change in the region, reaffirming that producing food and stewarding ecosystems are not opposing paths, but mutually reinforcing processes.
Finally, no visit to the Orinoquía would be complete without cultural immersion. The music, dance, gastronomy, and llanera way of life made it clear that regeneration is also deeply intertwined with people, their ancestral knowledge, and their relationship with the land. Everything that happens in the territory is part of a greater purpose.
This process strengthens regeneration in the Colombian Orinoquía.
Conversations that enable change
Beyond the Orinoquía visit, the mission included institutional meetings in Bogotá and Yopal, featuring dialogues with key stakeholders driving regeneration in Colombia.
Participants included representatives from Colombia's Ministries of Agriculture and Environment, the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD), industry associations such as the Colombian Federation of Cattle Ranchers (Fedegan) and the National Federation of Oil Palm Growers (Fedepalma), and financial institutions like Finagro and BIOFIN—entities with high impact and scaling potential with whom Future Landscapes is already collaborating.
Their support has enabled the drafting of strategic roadmaps, the creation of knowledge-exchange spaces with producers, and the provision of tangible evidence to develop financial mechanisms that drive regeneratio
Regenerating is transforming the territory
The visit left a shared conviction: regeneration is best understood when it is walked, heard, and experienced directly on the ground. Future Landscapes, led by TNC Latin America’s R2A strategy in consortium with UFZ and Nestlé, and supported by BMUKN and IKI, continues working to ensure that agriculture and livestock ranching serve as allies for ecosystem conservation, economic prosperity, and food security.
"Regions like this one, the Orinoquía, which possess immense capacity for food production as well as conservation, are where changing the way we produce food becomes most vital."
– Mauricio Castro Schmitz, TNC Director of Agriculture for Latin America.
"What we do with the project is… an initial spark. We are testing an approach, working on acceptance of an approach, but it of course needs to be scaled up."
— Ulf Jaeckel, Head of the Division for International Adaptation to Climate Change at the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety.
Transforming agrifood systems goes beyond a technical target: it is a collective decision built step by step, from the landscape and alongside those who inhabit it.
