FUNDACIÓN TRÓPICO - COLOMBIA
Colombia's Valle del Cauca is an area rich in biodiversity, but its environment faces numerous threats including mining, timber extraction, oil exploration and narcotics plantations.
Fundación Trópico has worked patiently with other local stakeholders to have a major impact over the past 21 years, through the declaration of protected areas and strengthening community participation in different areas of the Cauca valley. It has also helped the rural, indigenous and Afro-Colombian residents of these areas find sustainable ways of making a living and creating dynamic communities to prevent a rural exodus. Trópico believes strongly in social justice and strives to make people aware of their rights and the duties of the institutions that are meant to be there to protect them.
In 2017, the Susila Dharma International Association nominated the Foundation's founder and leader, Nicole Ana Elvia Arana, for the World Women’s Summit Foundation prize for Women’s Creativity in Rural Life. In October we heard that she was one of the 10 laureates who were awarded the prize.
In 2018, Susila Dharma Britain funded a volunteer to visit the Foundation in order to teach English in remote rural communities and to make a film of the Foundation's work, which you can watch below.
