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In Colombia’s eastern plains, amid the sunlit savannas and slow-moving rivers of Casanare, Belcy Cerón chose a path few others dared. As neighbors cleared forest for rice and cattle, she let the wild stay wild, preserving patches of land that are home to howler monkeys, eagles, and woodpeckers.
“Many neighbors say that my property is not productive, that there are too many trees,” Cerón says in a cinematic YouTube video that was recently produced by WhereNext Creative. “But for us, it is a great property, because we are surrounded by tranquility. We have oxygen, nature, and a cooler climate.”
Her quiet path is part of a broader movement taking root in Colombia’s Orinoquía region, a mosaic of savannas, wetlands, and forests that is home to some of the planet’s most unique and threatened ecosystems. Over the past five years, 107 families across the region have signed voluntary conservation agreements as part of the World Wildlife Fund’s GEF Orinoquia project, preserving more than 74,000 hectares of land, an area roughly the size of New York City.
But preserving landscapes isn’t enough. If people who have never been to a place are going to care about it, they first need to feel connected. That’s where storytelling comes in.
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